No, really - Crime Boss: Rockay City is a fun time now

No, I didn't expect that headline in the year of our lord 2024 either, but hey, it brought you here, didn't it? We reviewed Crime Boss: Rockay City last year, awarding it a 2/5 for focusing on "cast over combat."

There were some nifty ideas buried deep in there, like the roguelike-style campaign and some genuinely great-looking locations, but it was buried beneath a bizarre focus on the likes of Michael Madsen, Chuck Norris, and a leering camera that was a little too keen on Kim Basinger.

Still, while it won't trouble the likes of Cyberpunk 2077 or Final Fantasy 14 for the title of "gaming's greatest redemption arc", Rockay City is a great place to visit these days.

Heat and magazines

Click to enlarge

Let's get one thing clear early on here - Baker's Battle, the game's single-player campaign, is still a confusing, unfocused mess with many characters who are given little to do or simply sound like they don't want to be there.

Of course, post-game patches can only fix so much, but the multiplayer side of Crime Boss has certainly enjoyed quite the glow-up.

Since launch, there have been bug fixes, new weapons, and expansions that add additional heists. There's even a robot-filled sci-fi expansion, Cagnali's Order.

Add to that a genuine effort to rework the game's previously shaky shooting mechanics into something much more steady and refined, and, on the face of it, Crime Boss: Rockay City has become a heisting toybox not unlike the Payday franchise.

That was, in many ways, what I was hoping for - especially after Payday 3 fumbled the bag so heavily at launch (pun absolutely intended). And yet, what I got was even more.

Build(crafting) an Empire

Click to enlarge

I love the movie Heat. It's the movie that initially got me interested in Payday, and even convinced me to pick up Kane and Lynch back in 2007. There's something about heisting that feels unendingly cool - just look at the popularity of GTA Online's own heists, for example.

Still, my complaint with all of those titles had been that no matter how you approached them, you'd invariably end up slinging lead. While that is still the case in Crime Boss: Rockay City (largely due to teammates getting in the way), I'm surprised at how flexible its approaches can be.

In one mission, I robbed a car dealership in broad daylight. I snuck in and began to zip-tie hostages and knock out cameras. It's not quite Dishonored, of course, but the magic is in building out your "Boss" as you see fit.

Click to enlarge

Equipping a silenced pistol and a sensor grenade to locate guards through walls can help you gain an advantage without firing a single shot or moving through a dangerous area. These best-laid plans will almost always go awry, but I found it was usually something someone else did rather than some bizarre glitch.

It's not just a loadout, either, with perks that run the gamut from decreasing detection speed to making your character move more quickly. Once the alarm did go off, I used the two of these to load up my bags with cash, then snuck out of the back door and around to the car without the Police spotting me.

Click to enlarge

These are all playable, solo, too, but you'll naturally have better odds with friends or a matchmade group.

It's not all small-time heists, either. There are shops and warehouses to attack, sure, but you'll also raid luxury yachts, commit a train robbery, and, naturally, rob a bank or two. Doing so earns you cash to hire new crew members and upgrade your gang, too.

Final Thoughts

While Rockay City may never overcome its nature as one of the most poorly-received releases of 2023, Ingame Studios and publisher 505 Games deserve immense credit for building on what can only be described as a foundation that was anything but secure.

If you've not had a chance to check it out and are looking for a fun co-op title that doesn't rhyme with "mayday", it's definitely worth checking out - especially since it's heavily discounted on Steam.