2025 was, and still is, one of the best, if not the best, p'n'c year of this decade century millennium.
Many popular and long-awaited games were released this year. However, that means other great games with less publicity were left in the dust.
So here it is, my favorite hidden gem of the year.
The Brilliant Coup - 8/10. Difficulty level: 7/10.
~12h heist game about a British bloke who wants to get rich by robbing a bank.
A little game that could.
I enjoyed it very much, which is strange since it should be a game I wouldn't like. Let's start with the UI. It has old school SCUMM-like verb-based controls, which is fine on its own. But here it feels very clunky, in other similar games you left click on something, the game assumes what action you want to use, e.g. if you click on door you automatically use "open", if you click on NPC it's "talk", item - "pick up" etc. But not here, left-clicking doesn't do anything on its own and you always have to select a verb first, so first click "open" then "door". Same with items, if you want to combine them, first "use", then item, then another item. Luckily, the right-click is always "look at".
Another thing is no VO. Personally I don't mind it. I would rather play a long game without VO than a short one with it. But I guess reading is going out of fashion, so some people might see it as a deal breaker for them.
There is almost no QoL. Pixel hunting is a thing, no map, no fast travel. There are some items that you literaly can throw away in the trash, but there are some that will stay with you for the entire game, cluttering up your inventory. There is no hint system (but the dev has made a walkthrough on the official website).
Despite all this, the game is great. It has the unique promise of planning the heist, gathering information and preparing for the big day. I wish there were more p'n'c games about thieves (especially since almost all p'n'c MCs are kleptomaniacs), there is even a subplot to make sure you have a way out if things go wrong, and the game has 3 different endings.
The puzzles are hard but logical and very satisfying to solve. Some of them have multiple solutions, which is nice, but it means you end up with a few useless items in your inventory.
So for anyone who wants that old school, challenging p'n'c feel, I highly recommend giving it a try.
Many popular and long-awaited games were released this year. However, that means other great games with less publicity were left in the dust.
So here it is, my favorite hidden gem of the year.
The Brilliant Coup - 8/10. Difficulty level: 7/10.
~12h heist game about a British bloke who wants to get rich by robbing a bank.
A little game that could.
I enjoyed it very much, which is strange since it should be a game I wouldn't like. Let's start with the UI. It has old school SCUMM-like verb-based controls, which is fine on its own. But here it feels very clunky, in other similar games you left click on something, the game assumes what action you want to use, e.g. if you click on door you automatically use "open", if you click on NPC it's "talk", item - "pick up" etc. But not here, left-clicking doesn't do anything on its own and you always have to select a verb first, so first click "open" then "door". Same with items, if you want to combine them, first "use", then item, then another item. Luckily, the right-click is always "look at".
Another thing is no VO. Personally I don't mind it. I would rather play a long game without VO than a short one with it. But I guess reading is going out of fashion, so some people might see it as a deal breaker for them.
There is almost no QoL. Pixel hunting is a thing, no map, no fast travel. There are some items that you literaly can throw away in the trash, but there are some that will stay with you for the entire game, cluttering up your inventory. There is no hint system (but the dev has made a walkthrough on the official website).
Despite all this, the game is great. It has the unique promise of planning the heist, gathering information and preparing for the big day. I wish there were more p'n'c games about thieves (especially since almost all p'n'c MCs are kleptomaniacs), there is even a subplot to make sure you have a way out if things go wrong, and the game has 3 different endings.
The puzzles are hard but logical and very satisfying to solve. Some of them have multiple solutions, which is nice, but it means you end up with a few useless items in your inventory.
So for anyone who wants that old school, challenging p'n'c feel, I highly recommend giving it a try.
This post was last modified: 09-28-2025, 07:43 AM by Joe.
Never heard of this, looks a bit Maniac Mansion/Zak McKracken in graphical style, which is awesome. A bit costly for a game with no VO and pixelhunting though (You're not really selling it here!), but I've wishlisted it for whenever my backlog shrinks up or a major sale hits. Thank you for the tip :-)