Bought this blind on the gaf recommendation (and Spelunky comparison) after watching a trailer or two.
This is not even close to Spelunky. Being a random generated pseudo-platformer doesn't make it like Spelunky. Spelunky had perfect controls, this very much does not.
Hoping the agility upgrades make it playable, but ugh. Never again.
I'm not sure, but I know you don 't need to get all of the cash, maybe 90%+ or something?How is a heist sucessful? I go in, steal some money, and leave. Trying to unlock that hacking tool.
I had a few issues, but my skills and strategies - just like in Spelunky/Mark of the Ninja/other modern 2D skill-based games - have increased and far overcome any minor control niggles I had.
I noticed it a little when falling at the start, but otherwise not at all now I'm used to it. I'm about 6 hours in on a Vita.Before I grab it... Is anyone having framerate issues on Vita? I watched some gameplays of the Vita version and it seemed to be okay.
Where it feels the most like Spelunky to me is in learning the tools and enemies and tricks- you are building up your own skills. Once I started being much more aggressive with bombs, using them to take out spikes and mines in annoying places and to make safe indents in shafts for me to wait in if there is a huge pile of trouble at the bottom of it as well as to blow through walls, I started to make much more progress.
This morning I learned:
Failing to hack (entering the wrong command) on a security station automatically calls the police
Bombs can blow up computers (duh!)
If you start setting a bomb on a wall, you'll stay in place until you've finished setting it
When a robot starts hacking your account, his aerial on the roof has a line pointing right to him- you need to take him out and only then can you kill the aerial.
Bugs are way, way too good in comparison to any other upgrade, and give you too much money for zero risk once you've placed it. The fact that the money takes a long time to accumulate means nothing when it's a long game and it carries on past death. I think they should only continue to work while the thief that placed it is alive.
Once you reach the mansions, look for spikes on the ceiling near the doors and windows- they mark security barriers that will come down if the alarm is triggered. I had a great run this morning where I just squeezed out under one as it came down!
At this point, I only have 25 days to go and am just entering the casinos. I don't think I'll pull off the swindle on this run, but everything I learn will make my next run so much better.
They take as long to set up as a bomb, you use them just like setting a bomb near a computer- use the R button to select bugs, then the tool button to set them rather than the hack button which will do a normal hack on the computer instead. Don't do what I did and get bombs and bugs mixed up under pressureAlso, I don't have the Bug upgrade. I have bombs - which are total lifesavers - and the Steam Hide/Invisibility, which I always forget about, but I haven't tried Bugs. Do they take long to set up? And do security cameras reveal/cancel them? I hate how every computer at this point has a security camera above it...
I don't know, haven't got it so can't try it. Hacking a security centre (if there is one, they are the sideways-facing red computers with an eye icon above them, and if you have the skill) will also turn off the cameras though.Do we know if the Strong Arm upgrade, that lets you do more damage, can break Security Cameras? At this point the only thing I've found that can kill cameras is a bomb from above, destroying their ceiling, but that is not a tenable option in most cases.
snip
I don't know, haven't got it so can't try it. Hacking a security centre (if there is one, they are the sideways-facing red computers with an eye icon above them, and if you have the skill) will also turn off the cameras though.
You get so much more money from bugs it's ridiculous. If, say, you get a one-time payout of £3,000 from a hack, you might get £150 a second for a bug. They last for an indeterminite amount of time (about 5-10 minutes or so), but it often works out as around ten times what you would have got for a simple hack, and sometimes even more. I've set a bug then put the Vita in my bag to change trains, and it's carried on collecting around £20,000 in a short space of time. If you always bug the first computer you find, you can have several in operation at once, and they keep collecting even if you die. Sometimes they need to wait for a computer to refill with money, but they are totally overpowered compared to hacking.The RPS review is very unfair in my opinion. The guy wanted Spelunky, it sounds like.
Reviews are so flawed, man. Forcing someone to experience and write about something in depth is a recipe for the person to not enjoy that thing. I've experienced it first hand and sometimes it's so obvious the reviewer is experiencing this when you read reviews like that.
Thanks for all the tips! Not sure whether to get the Bugs. Do you get more money with them than just from hacking normally?
Yes I've noticed the security centres before I need that hack upgrade!!! Cameras are the bane of my life. Everything else is manageable.
You get so much more money from bugs it's ridiculous. If, say, you get a one-time payout of £3,000 from a hack, you might get £150 a second for a bug. They last for an indeterminite amount of time (about 5-10 minutes or so), but it works out as around ten times what you would have got for a simple hack. If you always bug the first computer you find, you can have several at once, and they keep collecting even if you die. Sometimes ey need to wait for a computer to refill with money, but they are totally overpowered compared to hacking.
Yeah, I've bought some upgrades that I don't really use too. Once you have two extra jumps, the third feels like it's needed so rarely in comparison to it's cost. Also I bought the console to buy extra days, it costs a huge amount plus £500 for two extra days, then £750 for the next two extra days etc etc. You really don't need to buy it unless you are on day 95+ with a real chance of both finishing the game and running out of time. Also delaying the police response- it's so rare that it's the police that kill me, usually it's the heightened awareness of the robots when the alarm goes off.Wow. Fo sho doing that tonight. Shouldn't have bought the 'more money from hacking' upgrade, should have just bought the Bug upgrade D=
What a game though, I'm so glad to be learning all this and I can't wait to deploy the newly learned techniques!
Alright I'll try this out myself.
10 days left and I've only just made enough money to unlock The Swindle! Looks like I'm only going to get one attempt at it as there's no way I can steal £400,000 again. One go, with my one hit point, with failure meaning the failure of my entire campaign. No pressure
Looks like my next few heists are going to be all about securing me as many upgrades as possible, am quite excited about my final run.
I guarantee I'll die in the first few seconds...
Willdo pal, I suspect all you'll hear from me is variations on 'ouch!'Seems like it's definitely not everyone's bag, so as you go in, bear this in mind:
- the game gives you almost no direction. check the pause menu for controls. test all your movements ant be careful
- movement isn't super precise, but this gets better as you unlock abilities in the airship. as always, be slow and careful and test moves before you do them
- you can easily lose 40 of your 100 tries just learning the basics, so try to keep yourself alive and make the most out of every level
- buy the computer hacking upgrade as soon as possible. if you don't, the most you can get from early levels is about £100. If you do, you'll be getting £1,000+ most times
- double jump and wall-stick are hugely important
- bugs and bombs are hugely important
- unlocking the next security sector is hugely important. sometimes it's worth doing this rather than buying gadgets/abilities, because it means in one good run you'll make £20,000 instead of £7,000
Spoiler free impressions when you do so, bub. I'd like to get the vibe of the Swindle, but not details of everything in the level
Best of luck
Toodle pip
Don't worry too much- the amount of cash you get increases dramatically, I only spent about five heists in the Casinos before jumping up to bank jobs!Just got this on Steam. Really liking it so far. Reminds me a lot of the old game Impossible Mission. I doubt my first run will be successful. I'm almost down to 40 days and I'm not out of the second area yet.
1. Are you on PS4? PS4 apparently has input issues making the controls imprecise. On the whole my PS4 experience has been good, but I had two moments where the jump button didn't respond and I ran straight into some spikes and died. I've adjusted my skills now, though, and I account for the potential imprecision (which they'll hopefully fix).
I noticed it a little when falling at the start, but otherwise not at all now I'm used to it. I'm about 6 hours in on a Vita.
The issue of jumping occasionally having a problem around spikes is by far the most annoying thing I've found so far (to the point where I use bombs on spikes as a matter of course now that I have loads of them), and that's in all versions.
I also made it to the final mission and failed spectacularly (well, I have enough cash for one more attempt but I'm not expecting much). In general, I have huge problems with the later zones because all the buildings seem to be jam-packed with bots, drones, cameras and everything the game can throw at you. I don't really know how to approach those rooms. EMP and steam purge are occasionally useful and big bombs are practically a necessity; now that I think of it, bot confuse does sound like a good idea. I'll have to give that a shot.
Yeah, if a room has a small army in it, bot confuse works wonders. As does remote detonate on any mines.
I'm flying through my second run though.
Just wanted to touch on this so folks know. I had the same issues with controls on PC/STEAM version. It's not really that the controls are imprecise or do not register. It's that as you approach the edges of something (pit or otherwise) you start to slip down. It "pulls" you into the pit or down the 'stair' thus negating your chance to jump. This happens way too early in my opinion.
You can see evidence of this also occur when on a ledge and something explodes and the screen tilts and then you slide off and fall.
Hopefully it can be fixed. It's just about my ONLY real complaint with the game.
Don't worry about it- spending the first 30+ days there is fine as you won't make serious money until you unlock bugs anyway. You'll spend far more days in the early areas than the later ones, as you'll probably die more too due to little mistakes dealing with mines etc. later on you have the tools to steal a lot of money and get out more easily.My first 10 days meet with failure last night. I didn't even get out of the second area. I'm going to take a break and come back to this game later.
To be fair, I'm at the end of my second run with ten days remaining, and every day is precious. I've had four goes at The Swindle and failed each time, so each heist is now me desperately trying to get as much cash as possible for another attempt at the final mission. A couple of failed days could end my entire campaign without another chance at The Swindle at this point.I do like the concept of this game, but I feel like it would be much more appealing to me if there was a re-balanced mode with fewer days (maybe something like 30-50). In Spelunky, the moment to moment gameplay was always exhilarating because you lived or died by your every movement/action. Your entire game was on the line 100% of the time. In this game, a single failed day seems negligible when you essentially have 100 lives to work with. I just don't get the same sense of risk/reward. Doesn't really help that this game seems to have a lot of cheap deaths due to the sluggish controls.
The beauty of Spelunky was that it only took 20-30 minutes to complete the game from start to finish with a satisfying score. Sure, you could spend additional time on ghosting, but that was completely optional. This game forces you to grind, and having to play the same levels over and over for money gets tedious. I can't see myself sitting down and playing 100 levels of this in 1 sitting, and having to break it up across multiple sessions kind of ruins what momentum the game has going. I always feel inclined to just start fresh each time since none of my runs have been particularly memorable.
I'm not really sure how they are 'the same levels over and over' when it's procedurally generated from a tile set just like Spelunky.
Fair enough, opinions and all thatThe difference is this game gates off levels behind money and equipment/ability unlocks (which in turn also cost money). It forces you to grind until you have enough money to not only unlock the next level, but also deal with its threats adequately. In Spelunky, you could beat the game with just the clothes on your back, if you are skilled enough. I just feel like the game could benefit from being slightly less grindy.
The guards resetting is definitely annoying.Started playing this on Vita at work, the lack of input lag makes it a completely different experience. The loading times are kind of rough, though. 20 seconds to load a new day
EDIT: All right, that was only the initial heist. It's down to 5-10 for doing another day.
EDIT2: Ugh. On Vita, the guards "reset" when they're off screen about half of the time. That wall jump dance you do waiting for someone under you to pass? Most of the time they'll just keep resetting to exactly where they were when you last saw them.
EDITAGAIN: Welp. Occasionally when you press Triangle on the Vita version, you just randomly teleport to a another area of the level. I don't have the teleporter, this is real early game still. By occasionally, I mean 75% of the time there isn't an actual triangle prompt above your head. It'll warp you into walls, into mines, wherever.
Finally stole the Basilisk. The bugs really do destroy the concept of money in this game. I was coming away with 100k every mission once I reached the third area. It definitely makes the game more enjoyable though, the gadgets are a lot of fun to play with.
EDITAGAIN: Welp. Occasionally when you press Triangle on the Vita version, you just randomly teleport to a another area of the level. I don't have the teleporter, this is real early game still. By occasionally, I mean 75% of the time there isn't an actual triangle prompt above your head. It'll warp you into walls, into mines, wherever.
Wow, I didh't even think to try that!Oh hey looks like you can hack computers that you've bugged and the bug will keep ticking. Wish I'd tried that out myself this weekend.
Wow only 3 pages?! That's depressing.
I picked this up over the weekend for vita and PS4 and I've already developed a love/hate relationship with The Swindle.
I'm bad at it. Like really bad. I've died more times from trying to wall jump, then fluffing the last one causing me to fall to my death than any other way.
I am struggling with the economy, since if I get a run of either failed runs, or impossible runs, I panic spend money and buy upgrades that aren't quite as useful as others.
I've had to reset after I had like 20 failed runs in a row. But I'm really loving this game, it's a shame the vita controls aren't fantastic. Had a lot of deaths because of what felt like delayed responses or low frame rate.