Heist is easy to understand, difficult to master. As someone who doesn't usually enjoy turn-based strategy games, I find the gameplay loop of small but dense levels to be perfect to drop in, play for an hour, then take a break. I'm a big fan of Pick-up-&-play games, especially when others may overload the player with too much at once. The atmosphere is beautiful and dark whilst still maintaining an aire of humor. Writing isn't anything too groundbreaking, but it's servicable. The characters are all unique and have different strengths and weaknesses that make picking a team yet another layer to the puzzle, though you're likely to find your favorites and stick with them. Limited inventory, though you can expand it as you progress, makes hoarding impossible. Despite this, I find it helpful as you're able to weigh the usage of all your equipment and sell off the excess. My favorite element is the aiming. Instead of your success being tied to pure RNG, you actually have a say in where your bullets go, and utilizing the environment to richochet your bullets precisely where you want to go is incredibly satisfying. Honestly, this game is just a cozy good time and I HIGHLY reccomend it to anyone who even SLIGHTLY likes strategy games. Also, SteamPoweredGiraffe tracks are a BOP!
Bought the deluxe edition around launch and have now sunk over 20 hours into this. I actually played the demo on Series X a while back and had been following this game's release ever since. To quote my review of the demo "This is the most fun I've had in a while. The beautiful neo-neko world is this beautiful cross between Cyberpunk 2077 and Jet Set Radio." And the full game adds several layers of depth and each level is unique and distinc from one another, making for a dense but well-balanced package. The game is well optimized and runs perfectly on my mid-range PC, so you shouldn't be too woried about trying to run it. More errors I experienced were technical in nature, including several bugs and softlocks, especially in the initial months after release. Much of these bugs have been patched but there are still a couple plaguing it, mainly one of the achievments is bugged and won't unlock on GOG, despite the game marking my save with 100% and all other achievements being unlocked. I will update this once it's resolved, but until then, I can't give it a perfect score. The devs are good about getting back to you about bug reports though, so at least they are trying. Having played this game to 100% completion, aside from the aforementioned bug, I definitely wish there were more to do. The total lack of a boss rush or endless survival mode seems like a missed opportunity given the simple but fun combat. The game is a bit short, but there is a lot of replay value in trying to track down all the collectibles, complete the challenge missions, and get a purrfect rank on every level. It's not too bad to complete the game, especially once you've attained all the upgrades, but you definitely have to work hard for them, though this makes them feel less "cheap" and more like a reward. Also, since I got the deluxe, it came with the soundtrack in lossless 44.1khz 16-Bit FLAC/WAV, the equivalent to CD quality. The OST is like if Nine Inch Nails snorted cotton candy. Great stuff.
