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The Masterplan breaks into Steam Early Access

The Masterplan

I can’t recall what my first heist movie was, though the earliest one I remember watching clearly was The Italian Job, thinking to myself how I’d really like to be Michael Caine when I grew up. More specifically, I wanted to be involved in a great heist, a “one last job” kind of deal. 

The closest I’ve gotten is in our lovely digital realm, thanks to the likes of Payday, Monaco and Grand Theft Auto V – but none of them scratched my itch. Monaco was too silly, Payday was too focused on violence and shooting and Grand Theft Auto’s heists were too simple and short. The Masterplan, though, recently released through Steam Early Access, well – it has potential. 

The Masterplan’s a tactical heist game inspired by the great ‘70s heist flicks. You put together a crew of ne’erdowells, get the right gear and then attempt to pull off glorious heists from a top-down perspective in a physics-driven world.

The Early Access version only offers a couple of hours of gameplay, but makes a lot of compelling promises:

  • Heist your target silently or go guns blazing – your choice (and your consequences)
  • Holdup civilians and make them do your bidding
  • Carry and hide bodies to avoid detection
  • Deal with eyewitnesses
  • Disable electrical systems
  • Outsmart the police
  • Several playable heists (Minimart, Jewelry Store, Warehouse)
  • No individual goon skills yet
  • Bonus game modes (multiplayer tests)

Forcing hostages to do your bidding is particularly intriguing.

The heists themselves are described as sandboxes, so there are different ways to approach these criminal capers – though probably fewer at this point given the lack of “goon” skills.

It all sounds quite good, but it’s really the music that’s selling me here. And that grimey, hand drawn aesthetic. Take a gander at the trailer.