The Swindle

 PlayStation Vita
User Score
7.5

Generally favorable reviews- based on 12 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 9 out of 12
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 12
  3. Negative: 2 out of 12
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  1. critic_al_hits
    Feb 16, 2017
    0
    Where to even begin with this game? The entire potential of The Swindle is marred by its massive amount of bugs and performance issues. The game demands perfection and precision but then punishes the player when it is completely unable to maintain a reasonable level of performance. The game has very little depth and the levels are extremely small (most likely due to said issues),

    I am    Where to even begin with this game? The entire potential of The Swindle is marred by its massive amount of bugs and performance issues. The game demands perfection and precision but then punishes the player when it is completely unable to maintain a reasonable level of performance. The game has very little depth and the levels are extremely small (most likely due to said issues),

    I am fairly convinced that the positive reviews here either a) did not play this on the Vita or b) did not play past the first ~2 levels. If they had they would have realized the second half of this game is nigh unplayable. Here are just some of the major flaws of this game:
    - any level past 3 has perpetual performance issues, causing the game to skip a multitude of frames and ignore inputs from the player, e.g. jumping
    - crashes often (only vita game I've ever seen that does) which ends up removing a day from the game timer without giving the player any of the cash they earned
    - collision detection is atrocious, including such gems as pulling the player to slide on walls above a ledge instead of landing on the ground, having attacks completely ignore enemies directly below the player (even though the attack covers at least half of the enemy sprite), or causing enemies and objects to be completely stuck in the terrain, unable to move
    - enemies and their vision disappear the moment they exit the screen but will resume from the exact same spot they left off if the player moves that point back onto the screen, meaning if an enemy goes offscreen the player can move into where the enemy vision was without issue but instantly get spotted if the enemy is placed back on the screen
    - enemies and objects do not collide and will cover each other, making it hard or impossible to discern where the hazards actually are (especially an issue in later levels)

    These are just the most pressing of issues that this game has, which hopefully people can see is quite a lot. Even though this game was free on PSN it is still not worth picking up on the Vita (might be a different story on PS4).    … Expand
  2. FriedConsole
    Jan 9, 2016
    9
    This game should be the next Spelunky phenomenon. It is a rougelike but with stealth mechanics and a unique limit on runs to reach the end. Beautiful Steampunk look. Runs excellent on Vita.
  3. chrisse989
    Jan 16, 2017
    9
    Having gotten this game via PS+ and not knowing anything about it, I had no clue what to expect. But it was a very pleasant surprise. Game works great on Vita and I love the artstyle, music and gameplay. I can highly recommend it to everyone.
    Only thing that holds me back from giving it a 10 is a technical hickup where hacking multiple drones (option that becomes available later on)    Having gotten this game via PS+ and not knowing anything about it, I had no clue what to expect. But it was a very pleasant surprise. Game works great on Vita and I love the artstyle, music and gameplay. I can highly recommend it to everyone.
    Only thing that holds me back from giving it a 10 is a technical hickup where hacking multiple drones (option that becomes available later on) renders the game unplayable due to huge drops in performance. But this is only a minor issue, loved the game for the rest and when already multiple times through it.    … Expand

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Vandal
    Sep 13, 2015
    70
    The Swindle is irregular. It feels mediocre, but if you spend enough time with it it becomes pretty addictive. If you have the time and the patience, it'll know how to make you feel rewarded.
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  2. IGN Spain
    Aug 26, 2015
    80
    A nice surprise that we weren't expecting. A stealth game that it's also a roguelike and an RPG, dressed with a steampunk shirt. We love it and hate it at the same time because of its manic difficulty and some control issues.
    Read full review
  3. Gaming Age
    Aug 13, 2015
    50
    The Swindle is impossibly hard, to the point that only masochists need apply.
    Read full review
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