Crime Simulator has you don your balaclava and attempt to basically steal anything and everything that isn’t nailed down. Whether it’s in someone’s home, business or a gigantic warehouse in the middle of Arizona the world is rife with opportunity for you to get your grubby little mitts on.
The basic structure of Crime Simulator is not too dissimilar to that of Lethal Company, in essence you’re effectively doing the same thing but instead of horrific monsters chasing you it’s local residents… and quite a few members of the nearby police station. Loot, sneak and steal your way to earning enough money to pay back a debt that got you out of prison in the first place.
There is a particularly deadly side to Crime Simulator with law enforcement, security and some local citizens opting to shoot you near immediately rather than attempt to arrest you, so the stakes are high as your life is quite literally on the line if you’re caught thieving valuables.
Crime Simulator features up to four player co-op which is a lot of fun but also extremely chaotic. The more of you lurking in the shadows the more of you are likely to trigger the police to come running to stop you and can lead to some extremely dangerous situations.
With the stealing side of things I’m reminded of the good old days of Payday 2, just a lot of fun and some thought behind what you’re doing leading to all manner of different situations happening every time you load into a level. A lot of the loot is randomised throughout the days and you do have a chance to find some rarer, more expensive items as well as a few items that can give you semipermanent perks to make life a bit easier.
Some of the perks can be things like removing the cameras from cop cars to help you hide when trying to evade the foot patrols or making it so that cameras in general take a bit longer to spot you. All of these upgrades are extremely helpful and can assist you in committing further crimes and staying on top of your quota.
Crime Simulator does have it’s flaws however, with some citizens having super natural hearing and at times being both blind and deaf yet on some occasions you’ll be spotted a mile away or heard opening a door on the other side of the building leading to us being caught a few more times than we thought we ought to but the game is forgiving enough to let you lick your wounds, wait and try again.
Most NPCs seem to have a structured cycle to their day and with the perception active skill you can plan ahead and see where they are going to be and what they are going to do. This gives you enough insight to figure out how to move around in some buildings but over-relying on it normally led to one of us walking into other NPCs due to only being able to highlight one at a time.
It’s not just items you can steal in Crime Simulator but even cars aren’t safe from your lust for cash as some vehicles dotted around the maps can be broken into and stolen for massive profit. There is also an optional, yet very difficult, heist location that requires you to steal an initial item that is single use to try and get some top tier loot which is very fun.
Back in your hub base you can build it to your hearts content, lots of customisation options are available as well as a number of other ways to make money as well. Furniture can give you access to a few buffs but come at quite an extreme cost, we actually reached the end of standard mode on our first set of runs but never seemed to have enough money to buy some of the more permanent upgrades.
This was a bit annoying as some do help you with earning more money but we were amply rewarded at the end with a point reward system allowing you to choose one of three rewards which include anything from shop upgrades and new items to increased yield from stolen goods and a higher chance to find more valuable items.
With all the carried systems in play you can be sure to find some aspect of Crime Simulator to sink your teeth into, whether it’s from trying to stealth your way into buildings, gather and transport loot effectively or just run and gun to the point no-one is left standing all of these options are entirely viable and can be used to achieve your ultimate goal of paying back you 50k debt.
Overall Crime Simulator is a lot of fun and is definitely best enjoyed with friends. If you enjoyed Payday and simulator games in general this is definitely one to look out for and will most certainly let you live out your wildest burglary dreams.
You can find Crime Simulator on Steam and Xbox.
