The Swindle is a prime example of unpolished gameplay holding back an otherwise-stellar product.

The art is charming (if a bit limited in that hinged newgrounds-puppet kind of way), the soundtrack is frankly excellent enough I've integrated it into my gaming playlist, and the aesthetic and setting are both consistently entertaining.

Unfortunately, actually PLAYING the game is an excercise in frustration. Static jump physics, buggy collision, and even some sound tracking issues make the game very frustrating to actually play. Let's go over this bit by bit:

-Complaint number one, the way the characters control is very imprecise AND contextual, making tricky jump expectations near-impossible thanks to a lack of ability to control jump height. Quite frequently, for example, I'll try to jump to a window ledge, only for my character to automatically jump too high dodging the window entirely. I'll then scramble back down to the window, only to get caught by the robot guard ten seconds into a level because of this.

-breaking windows takes priority over melee hits, instead of just reacting to melee hits. As a result, if you're fighting enemies near a window you're going to die because the window-smack doesn't do any damage. This is a strange decision on the developer's part, and the source of quite a few of my more frustrating deaths.

-Land Mines near slopes are a nigh-insurmountable challenge, as the window to hack mines when you unlock the ability is so narrow that positioning yourself to do it will almost always just set off the mine. It's very annoying, as your character also tends to have a bit of drift to it.

-The way the game balances its difficulty it ramps up WAY too fast, with levels in the _first area of the game_ throwing multiple new enemy types and obstacles at me when I've yet to successfully complete more than one or two of those starting levels. As a result, I got hit by quite a few alarms and died quite a few deaths simply not knowing what I was looking at. One early level I was pursued by a _flying cop car with a minigun_ that killed me in one hit as I was in the middle of escaping, even after managing to bait out its first volley to make time for myself. This absurd ramp-up in difficulty moves way too fast and seems hell-bent on throwing everything the game has at you before you've even left the slums.

-The single-hit death system in play is kind of frustrating to deal with when paired with the lame controls. You CAN upgrade your thieves to be a bit tankier, but in the end the clumsy controls cause unfair hits to be tragic losses near the ends of levels.

overall, this is a game that does have promise, but the controls and some generation flaws need serious reworks for me to consider touching this again.
The 100 day timer? cool idea. A stealth game that doesn't penalize you for combat? also great! But it NEEDS MORE POLISH ASAP.

The Swindle is a prime example of unpolished gameplay holding back an otherwise-stellar product. The art is charming (if a bit limited in that hinged newgrounds-puppet kind of way), the soundtrack is frankly excellent enough I've integrated it into my gaming playlist, and the aesthetic and setting are both consistently entertaining. Unfortunately, actually PLAYING the game is an excercise in frustration. Static jump physics, buggy collision, and even some sound tracking issues make the game very frustrating to actually play. Let's go over this bit by bit: -Complaint number one, the way the characters control is very imprecise AND contextual, making tricky jump expectations near-impossible thanks to a lack of ability to control jump height. Quite frequently, for example, I'll try to jump to a window ledge, only for my character to automatically jump too high dodging the window entirely. I'll then scramble back down to the window, only to get caught by the robot guard ten seconds into a level because of this. -breaking windows takes priority over melee hits, instead of just reacting to melee hits. As a result, if you're fighting enemies near a window you're going to die because the window-smack doesn't do any damage. This is a strange decision on the developer's part, and the source of quite a few of my more frustrating deaths. -Land Mines near slopes are a nigh-insurmountable challenge, as the window to hack mines when you unlock the ability is so narrow that positioning yourself to do it will almost always just set off the mine. It's very annoying, as your character also tends to have a bit of drift to it. -The way the game balances its difficulty it ramps up WAY too fast, with levels in the _first area of the game_ throwing multiple new enemy types and obstacles at me when I've yet to successfully complete more than one or two of those starting levels. As a result, I got hit by quite a few alarms and died quite a few deaths simply not knowing what I was looking at. One early level I was pursued by a _flying cop car with a minigun_ that killed me in one hit as I was in the middle of escaping, even after managing to bait out its first volley to make time for myself. This absurd ramp-up in difficulty moves way too fast and seems hell-bent on throwing everything the game has at you before you've even left the slums. -The single-hit death system in play is kind of frustrating to deal with when paired with the lame controls. You CAN upgrade your thieves to be a bit tankier, but in the end the clumsy controls cause unfair hits to be tragic losses near the ends of levels. overall, this is a game that does have promise, but the controls and some generation flaws need serious reworks for me to consider touching this again. The 100 day timer? cool idea. A stealth game that doesn't penalize you for combat? also great! But it NEEDS MORE POLISH ASAP.