Crime Simulator Review Summary

Excellent solo and co-op fun, best with friends, but frequent crashes and unnatural NPCs hinder the experience.

Fun with friends: Players consistently report that the game is highly enjoyable when played with friends, whether in co-op or group settings. This sentiment is echoed across multiple clusters, highlighting strong social gameplay.

Overall great game: General praise for the game's quality is widespread, with many calling it awesome, fantastic, or addictive. The game seems well-liked and satisfying to most players.

Excellent solo and co-op: The game is appreciated for working well in both single-player and co-op modes, offering value in either play style. This versatility is a major positive point.

Lots of content: There is a surprising amount of content and depth, with many activities and items to discover. This exceeds initial expectations and adds replayability.

Good value for money: Players feel the game offers good value, especially when purchased at a discount. The price-to-content ratio is perceived favorably.

NPC behavior is unnatural: NPCs never sleep, stare blankly at ceilings, and exhibit odd behaviors like dancing at 2 AM, which breaks immersion.

Worse than previous Thief Simulator: Multiple reviews compare this game unfavorably to Thief Simulator 1 and 2, calling it a cheap ripoff with worse gameplay.

Solo play is boring: Players find the single-player experience unengaging and difficult, making the game not fun when playing alone.

Early game is too difficult: The beginning of the game is harsh due to low money and slow progression, causing frustration.

Police are too hard to escape: Police are nearly impossible to evade, with fast speeds and constant backup, making theft frustrating.

Best with co-op multiplayer: The game supports online co-op for 1-4 players, with many reviewers noting it is best played with at least two or three. Both solo and cooperative modes are available, but the multiplayer experience is highly praised.

Skill and tool progression: Players start with no skills and progress by unlocking new tools, abilities, and loot-based upgrades. Skill improvement and tool progression are central to the gameplay loop, with random skill books adding a gacha element.

Stealthy house looting core: Core gameplay involves stealthily breaking into houses and businesses to steal items, even when residents are present. Players focus on looting various possessions and carrying them away, emphasizing stealth and theft mechanics.

Thief Simulator meets Lethal Company: The game is frequently described as a hybrid of Thief Simulator and Lethal Company, combining roguelike elements with multiplayer heist gameplay. Players compare it to a harder, multiplayer version of Thief Simulator from the same developer.

Stealth with multiple approaches: The game is a stealth simulator with action elements, offering multiple approaches to theft. Players must use stealth to avoid detection while robbing houses and businesses.

Game crashes frequently: Players report crashes on launch, after 5-10 minutes, in multiplayer, and during tutorial. This is a top stability issue affecting multiple aspects of gameplay.

Poor optimization and performance: Many reviews mention poor optimization, high requirements, and performance issues even on low settings. Complaints include high CPU usage, VRAM demands, and instability.

Multiplayer connection problems: Players face disconnections, server instability, crashes when connecting, and high latency. Multiplayer is a major source of frustration.

Stable performance for some: Contrasting with negative reports, some players experience smooth runs, stable FPS, and good frame rates. This suggests performance varies greatly by system.

Lag and stuttering issues: Several reviews note occasional FPS drops, lags, stutters, and unstable frame rates, especially at higher settings or during gameplay.

Best experienced with friends: Many reviews emphasize that the game is significantly more enjoyable when played with friends, particularly in co-op or multiplayer modes. Solo play is often discouraged.

Strongly recommended for purchase: Players overwhelmingly suggest buying the game, with phrases like 'definitely buy it' and 'worth buying' being common. This feedback indicates high overall satisfaction.

Not recommended by some players: A subset of reviews express strong disapproval, urging others to avoid the game altogether. This suggests significant dissatisfaction among certain users.

Not worth the full price: Some players feel the game is overpriced and recommend buying it only on sale or at a discount. This indicates value concerns.

Recommended for group play: Players recommend the game specifically for groups, with suggestions for at least 2 to 4 players. This highlights the game's social and cooperative appeal.

Community fair range: $1.00 - $5.00.

Game completion: 12.0h.

Story completion: 12.0h.

The game requires overcoming a steep learning curve due to poor tutorials, time pressure, and minimal direction; once players learn NPC patterns, unlock key tools, or switch to co-op, the fun kicks in.

Friction: lack of proper tutorial and direction; solo difficulty spikes; time pressure and quota system; repetitive early gameplay; inventory constraints; NPC hearing and police telepathy bugs.

Unlock drivers: learning NPC movement patterns; playing with friends (co-op); unlocking pistol and ammunition; progression through skills and tools; understanding map layouts.

Cooperative Heist Prankster: Plays in a group of 2-4, often reckless and loud, using distraction and numbers to overcome challenges. Multiplayer is essential for full enjoyment. Motivation: Shared fun and emergent chaos with friends, turning failures into laughs. Stance: buy.

Solo Thief Sim Purist: Prefers solo, methodical planning, and careful observation. Dislikes time pressure and roguelike resets. Wants a detailed open-world to case and revisit. Motivation: Immersive stealth simulation with a narrative and freedom to explore at their own pace. Stance: no buy.

Roguelike Grinder: Plays both solo and coop, focused on efficiency and resource management. Accepts failures as learning opportunities and enjoys optimizing runs. Motivation: Progression through skill unlocks and incremental improvement after each run. Stance: sale.

Lower VRAM Windows users report mixed performance with both praise and complaints about optimization, while higher VRAM users report generally good performance with minor fps drops.

Windows <8GB VRAM: mixed. Some users report stable performance and good optimization, but others criticize poor optimization.

Windows 12-15GB VRAM: positive. Performance is generally good with occasional fps drops.

Steam Deck: The majority of user feedback describes frequent black screens, crashes, and severe multiplayer bugs, alongside a lack of controller support. One positive Linux/Steam Deck review is an outlier; the volume and severity of complaints clearly indicate the game is broken on Steam Deck.

Linux and Proton: The single Linux-related review (Steam Deck) states the game is very compatible. No Linux-specific crashes, performance issues, or required tweaks are mentioned. The game appears to work out-of-the-box on Proton/SteamOS.

Monetization: All user feedback is consistent with a one-time purchase game that may offer traditional paid DLC expansions. There is zero evidence of microtransactions, pay-to-win, gacha, lootboxes, currency obfuscation, or aggressive FOMO mechanics. The only mention of an in-game item purchase (credit card stealer) appears to be with in-game currency, not real money.

Suggest open world and black market: Players propose adding an open world, a black market for cars, large team jobs, and DLC funding to enhance gameplay depth and monetization.

Request for more maps: Players are asking for additional maps to increase variety and replayability in the game.

Suggest selling engine like Unity: A suggestion to license the game engine to other developers, similar to Unity, to generate revenue and expand the game's ecosystem.

Suggest casino or slot machine: A request to include a casino or slot machine feature, likely for entertainment and additional in-game activities.