American Theft 80s: Prologue

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American Theft 80s: Prologue is a single player and multiplayer role playing game. It was developed by Noble Muffins and was released on March 8, 2022. It received mostly positive reviews from players.

Check out some of Jack's first jobs in this prologue before playing the full game. From the creators of Thief Simulator. Every house can be robbed. Just get the right tools and wait for the right time! Meet interesting characters doing shady jobs. KEY FEATURES IN THE PROLOGUE: - explore the first small town from the American Theft 80s - steal from houses, trailers or gas stations - finish…

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79%

Audience ScoreBased on 256 reviews

story9 positive mentions

stability10 negative mentions

Authentic 80s atmosphere with nostalgic items and setting.
Addictive and satisfying core thief gameplay loop with stealth, lockpicking minigames, and police chases.
Good amount of content for a free prologue with missions, side quests, and character progression.
Improvements over original Thief Simulator in graphics, mechanics, and open-world elements.
Enjoyable stealth and planning mechanics, with upgradeable skills and disguises.
Strong audio and voice acting that enhance immersion and atmosphere.

Game has frequent bugs and glitches, including crashes and mission blocking issues.
AI and NPC behavior is limited, occasionally unrealistic, and reduces immersion.
Controls and movement are clunky and sometimes frustrating, requiring precise interaction targeting.
Performance and optimization issues on lower-end PCs, with limited graphics settings and frame rate drops.
Story and worldbuilding are minimal or placeholder level in the demo, with some repetitive mission design.
Visual bloom and lighting effects can be excessive, hurting clarity and texture details.

story
43 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
70%
9%
The game's story is generally seen as a positive aspect, offering a more engaging and structured narrative than similar titles like Thief Simulator, with missions and side quests that contribute to the thieving path. However, some reviews criticize the story as shallow or non-existent, pointing out forced mission designs and a lack of depth in storytelling. Overall, players appreciate the concept and potential of the story but hope for more development and content in the full version.
- “Another charm of this game is that there is complete freedom of action here: you can rob any house and even a gas station, but in addition to this, the game has a fascinating plot that will not let you miss when completing quests.”
- “This game was a little more interesting than Thief Simulator because the story was just better overall.”
- “To the dialogue, NPCs, interactions with various items and even the strategies for each mission felt so challenging yet fun at the same time, truly can't wait for the full version to come out.”
- “The voice acting is god awful; the story is non-existent. The tutorial is annoying, and weirdly, the thing that annoys me the most is that they call it "American Theft 80's" but it's only called that so it can have a vaporwave aesthetic. Nothing else about this is eighties.”
- “For a game about sneaking, they really force you to play exactly how they designed the missions, and it's ridiculously boring.”
- “As it stands I've reached, I think, the fifth mission—stealing a guitar amplifier—and I just don't care enough to continue now that I've been spoonfed a crowbar after previously being spoonfed a specific disguise for the previous house and told exactly how/when/where to use it.”
gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
32%
56%
12%
The gameplay combines solid core mechanics with new features like disguises and an expanded skill system, but is often criticized for clunky controls, bugs, and lack of polish. While many find it addictive and entertaining, several reviews highlight smoothness and refinement issues, buggy elements, and outdated feel that detract from the experience. Overall, gameplay shows promise but needs improvements in mechanics, AI, and optimization for a more satisfying final product.
- “It’s simple, smooth, and entertaining, with great gameplay and good vibes all around.”
- “Yep, it’s as good as the old one and even has a few more gameplay mechanics.”
- “Such an addicting and satisfying gameplay loop, and I really just can't wait for them to hurry up and release it already.”
- “Keeps freezing and ruins the gameplay; not sure about buying the full game due to these issues, and sometimes it boots me back to desktop.”
- “The basic gameplay is lacking, and instead of making the experience enjoyable, someone decided to keep adding features in a shotgun-blast attempt to make the player overlook huge issues with the gameplay loop.”
- “Still quite buggy and unoptimized; overall feels like some PS2 games from 2005 in terms of control, gameplay, and graphics. Hopefully, it will be fixed and addressed in the full version.”
graphics
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
31%
52%
17%
The graphics receive mixed feedback, praised for their aesthetic, atmospheric vibe, and improved visuals over similar games like Thief Simulator, yet criticized for being outdated, occasionally blurry, and poorly optimized on lower-end systems. While some users appreciate the vaporwave and retro-inspired style, others note bugs, inconsistent lighting, and performance issues that detract from the overall experience. Overall, the graphics are considered good but in need of refinement and better optimization.
- “Great graphics, great mechanics, it's an overall great game.”
- “In this part, I was pleasantly surprised by the improved graphics and physics; it can be seen immediately that the developers did a great job.”
- “I really liked the plot, and the graphics... it's just a delight, clear textures and beautiful landscapes.”
- “To that point, the graphics look like Unity from 2005 with 1998 load times.”
- “The graphics in this game are extremely outdated, faded, and washed out with a blurry purplish tone.”
- “Still quite buggy and unoptimized, overall feels from control, gameplay and graphics totally felt like some PS2 games from 2005-ish, hopefully it will be fixed and addressed in the full version.”
stability
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game suffers from various stability issues, including frequent glitches, freezing during loading, and occasional crashes. While some bugs are minor or expected in an early access version, the overall experience is hindered by unoptimized performance and game-breaking errors. Players hope these problems will be resolved in the full release.
- “Good game, but super buggy and you get stuck on some levels.”
- “I played for a little while then shut my PC off and the next day I got on and tried playing again. As soon as I hit continue, it goes to the loading screen and every time it's at exactly 3 bars, it freezes and says not responding.”
- “It doesn't start after I press new game and it freezes my PC.”
optimization
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The game's optimization is currently inconsistent, with some users experiencing poor performance and frame rate issues on lower-end hardware despite minimum requirements being met, while others report smooth gameplay on mid-range GPUs. Several reviewers note it feels unpolished and buggy, suggesting optimization improvements are needed, especially for a flagship release. However, some optimism remains that future patches will enhance performance.
- “In general, the game is well optimized; on my 1050ti, I have not noticed any lag.”
- “Expect modest performance on similar integrated graphics.”
- “Just manage expectations for performance on lower-end hardware and remember it's a demo.”
- “Performance (my setup): playable on my Fujitsu Lifebook U7411 (i5-1135G7, 32GB RAM, Linux Mint LMDE 6), the game is installed on a microSD card, but only around 40 FPS on the absolute lowest settings.”
- “May change to positive after a few more patches, but c'mon, this is your flagship release as a prologue and I experienced game-breaking bugs preventing mission completion, horrific performance issues, poor pathing amongst other things.”
- “Still quite buggy and unoptimized, overall feels like some PS2 games from 2005-ish in terms of control, gameplay, and graphics; hopefully, it will be fixed and addressed in the full version.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
11%
22%
The music in the game is highly praised for enhancing the atmosphere, with users appreciating its simplicity and overall quality. Several players suggest adding more 80s-style rock and pop tracks to further enrich the experience. Some desire clearer in-game cues related to music elements for better gameplay.
- “The soundtrack is great and really helps add to the atmosphere.”
- “The music, sound design, and gritty dialogue make the atmosphere great!”
- “Super cool game, love the music too. Can't wait for the real game to come out.”
- “Where is the music?”
- “For heists like the music shop, there should be an indicator showing where the keys are.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
12%
38%
The game effectively captures a pure 1980s action movie atmosphere, enhanced by great music, sound design, and gritty dialogue. Its graphics and overall vibe are praised for immersiveness, though some users suggest reducing bloom effects for better balance. Overall, the atmosphere stands out as a strong and authentic element.
- “Pure 80s atmosphere: they nail the setting.”
- “The soundtrack is great and really helps add to the atmosphere.”
- “The music, sound design, and gritty dialogue make the atmosphere great!”
- “-80s atmosphere.”
- “Reduce bloom a little; while it helps for atmosphere, it's just a bit too much here and there.”
- “Reconstructs atmosphere of dashing action movie from 80s, still gameplay felt a bit clumsy, worth checking when released”
replayability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players consistently highlight low replayability as a major issue, citing a lack of engaging goals and little incentive to continue once the game is completed. Many report becoming bored quickly and feeling there is minimal content to revisit beyond basic progression elements.
- “Replayability: 0/10 (got bored and never finished it)”
- “One of the biggest problems for me in the original was the lack of replay value, since once you completely beat the game there was really nothing left to do except for maxing out your hideout.”
- “They'd add replayability and goals.”
grinding
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users find the grinding aspect tedious and overly precise, particularly when interacting with car parts like drawers, doors, and trunks, making tasks feel repetitive and frustrating. This meticulous clicking during certain missions, such as the police station heist, adds to the sense of monotony.
- “Why do I care about opening 30 different drawers, each requiring tediously accurate (within a mm of an object) clicking?”
- “You have to look at a specific part of the car door to open it, which feels a bit tedious; same with opening the trunk and putting things in it.”
- “The last heist at the police station felt tedious.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization approach is misleading, with ads that create high expectations not met by the actual game. This has led to user frustration and disappointment upon trying the full experience.
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor is enhanced by funny voice-acting and offers unintended laughs, making it an enjoyable time-waster despite occasional bugs.
- “The voice-acting was funny.”
- “Can be a bit buggy as stated in other reviews, but it's also a good little time waster and unintentionally funny to boot.”

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