Gun Monkeys dev revives The Swindle as "Spelunky crossed with Deus Ex"
Gameplay video shows off once-cancelled steampunk cybercrime caper.
Dan Marshal, developer of Gun Monkeys and Time Gentlemen, Please, has revived his once-cancelled steampunk cybercrime caper The Swindle.
In The Swindle you break into buildings, hack systems, steal cash and escape. Marshall announced the game in 2011 but cancelled it last year because, as he put it, it just wasn't working.
But in early 2014 he went back to the project, creating a procedurally-generated prototype reboot. "Even in those very early stages with just a rectangle sliding around clobbering other rectangles on the back of their little rectangular heads, it was insanely fun to play," he said, "which is why I brought the whole project back from the dead."
Marshall describes the new The Swindle as more of a role-playing game than a roguelike, as you upgrade your thieves by buying upgrades. It's an RPG-lite, then, but, "eventually I suspect it'll straddle a line between RPG and roguelike.
"There's no random perks, no chance pickups. But there is permadeath and procedurally-generated levels.
"When I first announced The Swindle, I described it as 'Sonic the Hedgehog crossed with Deus Ex' which still kind of hold true, but because of the procedural generation the new version feels more like 'Spelunky crossed with Deus Ex'."
The new The Swindle is due out early 2015 on PC, with the potential for console versions. Check out gameplay in the new video, below, and be sure to check out Christian Donlan's preview, due to be published on Tuesday 4th November.
