The Swindle Reviews
In a world filled with overly difficult titles, The Swindle knows how to blend its mechanics together perfectly to deliver one hell of a rewarding experience.
The Swindle is a game that many will end up playing for months to come. The gameplay is the perfect combination of stealth and action, and its difficulty, while brutal, is satisfying. Size Five Games, and publisher Curve Digital, have created an addictive game that needs to be played by anyone who loves a good challenge. Throw in cross-buy and cross-save compatibility, and you'll never leave your house without The Swindle in pocket.
So should you buy The Swindle? Absolutely; the game is, quite simply, fun. It has real stakes, and that makes every jump, every break in, every move all the more intense. With great gameplay, great visuals, and great music, it's hard not to suggest The Swindle; just keep in mind that it has got some issues, and it is not for the faint of heart.
The Swindle is an excellent combination of platformer and stealth game, with a gorgeous steampunk aesthetic that absorbs you completely into the game.
An immensely satisfying mix of platforming, stealth, action, and resource management, with character.
They say that crime never pays, but in The Swindle you can come out ahead if you play your cards right. In this madcap steampunk rendition London, a city of ludicrous buildings filled with robots and traps, the key is learning how to quit while you're ahead. It's all too easy to slip up and foolishly get spotted – and yes, the occasional glitch or quirk of procedural generation can feel unfair – but it makes each success all the more tense and rewarding.
The story laid within the game doesn't drive the game, but that's okay because there's plenty of rogue-like goodness waiting to be found inside of Size Five Games procedurally generated steampunk heist simulator.
The Swindle is frustrating at first glance, but smooths out to spread its steampunk wings thanks to some good depth, variety and quick gameplay style.
Give it a few patches and hopefully we'll have a must-have game on our hands, but even right now you shouldn't regret a purchase. Jolly good burglary, old chap.
The Swindle is not immediately satisfying, but this seems to be a deliberate choice. The randomness of the level generation means that there's every chance the first heist lacks the £100 needed to buy hacking—or the passages are blocked off and inaccessible—which can be a little deflating. But the constant, continual escalation is what keeps The Swindle gripping and satisfying—even when it feels unfair. Which is often, because I am terrible.
When it comes down to it, The Swindle is the perfect kind of game for the Nintendo Switch. It never would have found a home in my PC library but I find myself picking up and playing it on the Switch quite frequently. It's the exact kind of platformer that can thrive in the Switch ecosystem: easy to understand mechanics, difficult to beat in its entirety, but engaging gameplay that keeps you coming back out of pure enjoyment for every level played.
The Swindle is superb: a truly original entry to stand beside Spelunky and a great opportunity to test the player's ability not to snap their controller in half. The stealth combat is an interesting new take on the rogue-like genre, the gadgets and abilities are fun and interesting to experiment with, and - most importantly - there is a quality to the game that makes the player want to come back to play again and again. A trait system and an infinite mode would simply serve to make an already fantastic game even better.
The Swindle is a very fun game, and I would certainly recommend it at its small price point.
The Swindle is nowhere near an entirely negative experience. It's a festival of moments, of anecdotes filled with failures and smiles. I found myself holding my breath as I hacked a computer with just enough time to dodge three heavy guards coming my way, jumped over two electricity traps, clung to a wall to let a patrol pass, and bombed myself a new escape route. These pockets of perfection kept me hooked, and made me boot up The Swindle again and again in order to preserve this world of rogues. That, and my dedication to you guys. Now, the Devil's Basilisk is for all of us to share. You're goddamned welcome.
A stylish new take on the indie stealth genre, The Swindle doesn't have the chops to compete with the very best, but manages to be addictive and likable enough to succeed on its own merit.
The Swindle isn't a revolution in terms of stealth games, but it does offer a compelling challenge for those seeking it.
It's a different take on the stealth genre, one that really impresses the player with an interesting environment. Sadly, the controls lack precision, and that's a real shame for a game that requires so much rigor on the gamepad.
Review in Italian | Read full review
In the end, The Swindle is one of the most rewarding and unique rogue-likes that I've ever played.
A clever spin on the Spelunky style of randomly-generated platformer, and although it asks a lot of its players its rewards are worth the effort.
The Swindle creates a challenging environment for fans of the rogue-like game genre, with a wide variety of ways to achieve heists for maximum profit.