Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine Review Summary

Excellent stealth heist action, unique character abilities, and an outstanding soundtrack shine, but poor solo play, a dead online community, and punishing difficulty hold it back.

Excellent stealth heist gameplay: Players highlight the stealth and heist mechanics as top-notch, offering a unique and well-executed experience. The gameplay is described as tight, solid, and perfect for the genre.

Unique character abilities: The game features a cast of characters with distinct skills that significantly alter how each level is approached, adding depth and variety to the gameplay.

Great overall fun: General feedback indicates that the game is simply fun and enjoyable, regardless of mode. The core gameplay loop is engaging and satisfying.

Outstanding soundtrack: Austin Wintory's piano-heavy soundtrack is widely praised for its quality and how well it fits the game's atmosphere. Many reviewers consider it a standout feature.

Good graphics and art style: The visual presentation, including pixel art and character designs, is frequently complimented for being beautiful, colorful, and stylistically cohesive.

Poor Solo Experience: Many players report that the game is incredibly difficult and not fun when played alone, with later missions becoming nearly impossible for a solo player. The game is clearly designed around co-op, leaving solo players frustrated and unable to progress.

Dead Online Multiplayer: Online multiplayer is barren with very few players, making it hard to find matches or buddies for higher levels. The matchmaking system is poor and often leads to disappointment.

Difficult and Punishing Gameplay: The game is very difficult, with sharp difficulty spikes and punishing mechanics that require cautious play. Later missions are disproportionately hard and often require teamwork.

Unclear Level Design and Visuals: Level design is cluttered and confusing, with similar-looking switches and doors, and pixelated characters that are hard to distinguish. The exit is sometimes hard to find.

Weak Story and Campaign: The story is often described as weak, sparse, and minimalistic, with plot dragging in later acts. The campaign structure is linear and repetitive, and the ending is a letdown.

Top-down stealth heist gameplay: The game is a top-down 2D stealth heist game where players control thieves completing heists without being detected, similar to Payday but with a pixel art style. It combines stealth, action, and puzzle elements as players infiltrate guarded locations to steal valuables or rescue people.

Character classes with unique abilities: The game features multiple character classes, each with unique abilities and specialties that affect gameplay. This diversity allows players to choose roles that suit their preferred playstyle and contribute to the team's success.

Eight unique playable characters: There are eight playable characters, each with their own distinct skillset and playstyle, such as Locksmith, Cleaner, Pickpocket, Hacker, Lookout, Mole, Gentleman, and Redhead. These characters provide different abilities that encourage varied approaches to heists.

Single-player and multiplayer modes: Players can enjoy the game solo or with others, as it supports both single-player and multiplayer modes. A single-player campaign is available, and solo play is possible and casual-friendly.

Level editor with Steam Workshop: The game includes a level editor that allows players to create custom levels and share them via Steam Workshop. The editor is powerful enough to recreate the game's official missions, and all levels in the game were made using it.

Various Crash Scenarios Reported: Players report crashes when clearing levels, tabbing out, starting from the menu, and occasional random crashes. These issues impact overall stability and gameplay experience.

Co-op Lag and Server Issues: Players experience lag in co-op games, frequent lag when playing with distant players, and unreliable servers at times. These connectivity problems can hinder multiplayer experiences.

Controller Bug Affects Mouse: A controller bug can prevent mouse usage until the machine is restarted, causing significant inconvenience. This issue disrupts gameplay and requires a system reboot to resolve.

Steam Deck Compatibility Issues: Despite being marked 'Playable' on Steam Deck, some users find the game is not playable on the device. This suggests a mismatch between the official rating and actual performance.

Smooth Performance on Some Systems: Some users experience super smooth performance with hardly any bugs, indicating that the game can run well on certain configurations. This positive feedback contrasts with reports of issues elsewhere.

Best Played With Friends: Many players strongly recommend playing this game cooperatively with friends, noting that the experience is significantly enhanced in multiplayer. Solo play is often described as frustrating or less enjoyable.

Co-op Enhances Experience: The cooperative mode is highlighted as the best way to play, with team-based cooperation making the game more fun and accessible. Playing with others reduces difficulty and increases enjoyment.

Highly Recommended Overall: A large number of reviews give the game a strong recommendation, regardless of specific preferences. Many describe it as a must-play or must-have title.

Worth The Price: Players frequently state that the game is worth its full price, and even better when purchased on sale. Many consider it a great value for the money.

Stealth Game Appeal: Fans of stealth and heist games find this title highly enjoyable, especially those who like games like Payday but want a 2D alternative. It offers stylish stealth with a comedic edge.

Community fair range: $10.00 - $15.00.

Story completion: 9.0h.

Session length: 1.0h.

Endgame: 200.0h.

Monaco is built for co-op, and many players report initial friction from sparse tutorials, trial-and-error learning, and tough solo play before it becomes fun. It clicks after players overcome that early difficulty and play co-op with friends, though some report immediate chaotic fun when starting with friends.

Friction: Sparse tutorial and trial-and-error learning; Initial difficulty and frustration; Solo play is tough and less rewarding; Uncoordinated groups and difficulty balance in co-op; Finding enough players for later levels or online co-op; Local co-op controller support limitations.

Unlock drivers: Overcoming the initial difficulty and frustration; Learning by trial and error; Practicing solo first to understand game systems; Playing co-op with friends; Teamwork and coordination in co-op; Mastering characters and heists.

Co-op Chaos Socialite: Plays four-player online or local co-op, embraces alarms and failed plans, and relies on revives and team scrambles. Motivation: Sharing chaotic, funny stealth-heist moments with friends or strangers. Stance: buy.

Solo Stealth Tactician: Plans routes, avoids detection, uses characters as extra lives or revives, and practices levels patiently. Motivation: Mastering tense, methodical stealth missions alone. Stance: buy.

Completionist Speedrun Maximalist: Replays maps for achievements, collects all coins, attempts no-death or no-detection clears, and engages with speedrunning and workshop content. Motivation: Mastering levels fully through achievements, collectibles, leaderboards, and optimized runs. Stance: buy.

Steam Deck: The audit finds significant Steam Deck friction. One user reports that the game is marked 'Playable' on Steam Deck but does not actually work, and another reports repeated crashes when about to clear a level, calling it completely unplayable. Controller support is also contested: multiple users criticize it as terrible or outdated, while another praises it. Positive feedback on story, campaign, music, and presentation confirms the game's quality but does not resolve the Deck-specific failures. Under the scoring criteria, evidence of frequent crashes and the game not working on Steam Deck places this in the Broken range.

Stealth Co-op Gameplay Compared: The game is frequently compared to Hotline Miami and Payday, blending stealth and cooperative elements. Players describe it as a mix of Pac-Man, Metal Gear Solid, and Hotline Miami, emphasizing strategic avoidance over direct combat.

Steam Workshop Adds Longevity: The Steam Workshop provides extensive user-created content, including high-quality custom maps and tutorial levels. This integration significantly extends the game's replayability and lifespan.

Rich Cooperative Multiplayer Experience: The game is widely regarded as one of the best cooperative games, offering local and online multiplayer for up to four players. Players often make friends through the community, though online matchmaking can be sparse outside of sales.

Heist Movie Inspired Narrative: The story is inspired by heist films like Ocean's Eleven and is presented through dialogue during a police interview. It is optional and minimal, focusing on fleshing out thief personalities.

Substantial Content and Replayability: The game offers four campaigns with numerous levels, providing many hours of gameplay and high replay value. Players report spending hundreds of hours discovering content.