The Swindle could well be one of this season's top games
The Swindle is here to ease your summer drought woes, bearing all the hallmarks of one of those break-out summer hits.
Summer. Everyone in the northern hemisphere checks out either literally or mentally, or sometimes both. Globally, the games industry goes into hibernation. This is a perfect opportunity for indies to strike, as Rocket League has already done this year.
I'm tapping The Swindle to do the same. It's got so many selling points for a breakout indie hit - light rogue-like elements, procedural generation guaranteeing a unique experience, risk-reward score attack challenge gameplay, and a charming cartoon steampunk aesthetic.
The Swindle casts you as a thief with 100 days to gather as many resources as possible before pulling off the heist of a lifetime. By breaking into everything from private homes to major corporations and hacking their systems, players can make out like bandits - but must always balance profit margins with the likelihood of being nabbed by the fuzz. Between jobs you'll level up your thief, hopefully licking them into shape before your deadline.
Confused? Intrigued? Take a look at it in action, with helpful commentary from creator Dan Marshall.
The Swindle comes to us from Size Five Games, the team behind Time Gentlemen Please, Ben There Dan That and Gun Monkeys. It arrives on PC, PlayStation 3, PS4 and Vita (with crossbuy on Sony platforms) today, despite what the description o0n that trailer says, and is coming soon to Xbox One and Wii U.