The Swindle

The master burglar is never seen in the game and does not take part in the action. Instead he sends out lower thieves to perform heists. A thief is sent down from an airship, the main hub, using a pod. When the heist is successful the thief can return to the airship with the haul where the money can be spent in five skill trees: agility, abilities, tools, goggles and miscellaneous. The game consists of six main locations that are randomly generated for level design, enemies and items with each new heist. By earning money the main goal is to buy additional security clearance, opening up new locations, until the Basilisk can be stolen in the final location to win the game.

Each heist takes place in a side-scrolling, fairly small area with connected rooms. There are various approaches through doors, climbing pipes, creating entrances with bombs or smashing windows. The character can move around and jump. By upgrading elements in the agility skill tree additional options can be unlocked and often be upgraded multiple times, such as wall jumping and clinging to walls, double jumping and stealth. Most early enemies have a line of sight that is visible to the player, but from New Belgravia onwards enemies with a microphone icon are sensitive to sound and then the slower sneaking method has to be used for movement.

When a thief is killed, no money is gathered from that heist and a new one needs to be sent out. All levels offer multiple approaches through the tools and abilities. Doors can be opened or closed, many elements can be hacked and custom passages can be created with bombs. Each location introduces new elements to levels and new types of enemies that need to be analyzed.