The Masterplan

58%
Game Brain Score Based on 512 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
The Masterplan Game Cover
The Masterplan is an open-ended heist game that is genuinely fun to play. It has some teething issues, but with continued support from its developers it can only go from strength to strength.
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"The Masterplan" is a top-down strategy game that simulates heist operations in the 1970s. Players must plan and execute daring robberies, assemble a crew with unique skills, and manage resources to complete missions and earn rewards. The game emphasizes strategic planning and decision-making, with a variety of tools, weapons, and gadgets at the player's disposal. Tense stealth and action sequences provide a thrilling experience as players navigate increasingly challenging heists.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
  • Linux
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

58%
Audience ScoreBased on 512 reviews
gameplay45 positive mentions
stability34 negative mentions
  • The game offers a unique blend of strategy and action, allowing players to approach heists in various ways.
  • The art style and music create an engaging atmosphere that enhances the overall experience.
  • The hostage mechanics and ability to control multiple characters add depth to the gameplay.
  • The game is plagued by frequent crashes, especially during missions, leading to lost progress.
  • Controls are clunky and unintuitive, making it difficult to execute plans effectively.
  • The AI pathfinding is poor, often resulting in characters getting stuck or failing to follow commands.
  • gameplay119 mentions

    The gameplay of this strategy game, inspired by Payday 2, is marked by a mix of engaging mechanics and significant frustrations, including clunky controls, unresponsive AI, and numerous bugs that can lead to mission failures. While some players appreciate the unique hostage-taking system and diverse level design, many find the overall experience repetitive and marred by poorly explained mechanics and a confusing tutorial. Despite its potential, the gameplay often feels more frustrating than rewarding, suggesting that it may benefit from further refinement and polish.

    • “Great visuals, music, and simple and addictive gameplay.”
    • “High octane, high blood pressure, high testosterone, high cholesterol, action-packed stealth tactics gameplay.”
    • “It adds some new ideas (the threaten/hostage system is interesting and gives new ways to do things) and has solid gameplay overall.”
    • “Concept is super cool, but the gameplay is clunky, frustrating, and not so rewarding.”
    • “The downsides are really all in the mechanics though; a lot of the game's difficulty comes from unresponsive controls and the clunky interface that doesn't do what you want it to do 'in the moment', leaving you frustrated when one of your goons runs off and tries to circle around the building when what you wanted him to do was directly in front of him.”
    • “[i]The Masterplan[/i]'s in-heist gameplay is, without a doubt, the most frustrating part of the entire experience.”
  • story117 mentions

    The game's story revolves around a group of heisters on a quest to execute elaborate robberies, drawing inspiration from heist films. While the thematic elements and mission setups are engaging, many players feel that the narrative lacks depth and progression, with limited story content currently available. Additionally, the game's frequent crashes and lack of a save feature during missions detract from the overall experience, leaving players frustrated despite the potential for a more developed storyline in future updates.

    • “Thematic and subtly detailed story combined with mechanics that are intuitive and enjoyable.”
    • “Funny storyline, interesting setup.”
    • “The story I liked very much, and the levels and art style are addicting enough for multiple playthroughs.”
    • “I played through the entire game hoping that the later missions would show me something new beyond what was in the first three or so missions, and never really got it.”
    • “Unfortunately there's not a lot of depth to this either and the customization ends up coming down to generic thugs with random names and sometimes just redoing missions over again to get the money you need to finance a tool you need for the next mission.”
    • “The first mission is quite confusing to someone who has never seen gameplay or a video of how it's done and the game's version of a 'tutorial' is confusing and quite unhelpful.”
  • graphics53 mentions

    The game's graphics are generally praised for their unique and vibrant art style, which complements the gameplay and theme effectively. While some players appreciate the colorful visuals and 70's aesthetic, others report occasional graphical glitches and lag issues that detract from the experience. Overall, the graphics are considered appealing but secondary to the gameplay, making it a solid choice for fans of crime-themed games.

    • “There is plenty to love in the game; colourful graphics, excellent music, and heist missions in various locations and some alternative ways to complete each of them.”
    • “This game is great, it's so much fun and the graphics are gorgeous.”
    • “Graphics go hand-in-hand with the theme, giving vibrancy to the game.”
    • “Within 30 seconds of starting this game, a massive graphical glitch occurred which put letters and symbols all over the tutorial screen.”
    • “Whereas, if you are looking for HD clean realistic looking graphics, you won't find it here.”
    • “The game can lag for no apparent reason, lag badly, which considering the graphics can only be because of atrocious coding.”
  • stability34 mentions

    The game is widely criticized for its numerous bugs and glitches, which significantly impact gameplay, including graphical issues and frequent crashes. While some players find it enjoyable despite these problems, many recommend waiting for a more stable version before diving in. Overall, the game's current state is seen as highly unstable, detracting from its potential.

    • “The current state of the game, while glorious, is buggy as all get out.”
    • “I don't see why developers decided to release it and remove the 'early access' mark as the game is really buggy.”
    • “It's still very buggy at the moment with the random crashes occurring every hour, but if you look past that, I found it very entertaining.”
  • music24 mentions

    The music in the game is generally praised for its excellent quality and thematic fit, enhancing the overall experience with a decent and dynamic soundtrack. While many players appreciate the vibrant and engaging tunes, some note that the music can become repetitive during certain gameplay moments. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a highlight, with some players even finding it worth purchasing separately.

    • “There is plenty to love in the game; colourful graphics, excellent music, and heist missions in various locations and some alternative ways to complete each of them.”
    • “This game is well presented and has a decent soundtrack which suitably complements the retro theme.”
    • “It was totally worth it to buy the soundtrack as well, because it's awesome.”
    • “This game was a waste of time and it's disappointing that such an interesting concept and a game I looked forward to messing around with ended up being poorly made. If anything, I only paid 5 bucks for the game and soundtrack; hopefully the soundtrack is at least okay.”
    • “Turns out there isn't an options menu. You can toggle fullscreen on and off, you can toggle music on and off, and you can see what the controls are, but you can't even rebind the controls if you don't like the defaults.”
    • “The soundtrack is simple and somewhat dynamic, but still does its job well.”
  • grinding16 mentions

    Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mix of tediousness and engagement, with some appreciating the challenge while others express frustration over repetitive tasks and cumbersome controls. The need for constant clicking and the lack of hotkeys contribute to the tedium, although mechanics like slow-motion help alleviate some of the frustration. Many players desire more variety in missions to reduce the monotony of grinding the same locations.

    • “Save scumming is a big part of the game for the sake of speed and making the learning curve less tedious. It would be nice if there was an iron man mode that killed all crew members if you quit after the cops show up.”
    • “In a sequel, I'd like to see a wider variety of places to hit so you're not farming the same convenience and jewelry stores during the early to mid-game.”
    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “The game requires you to click every time when you want to equip something and to interact with every character around the environments, including yourself. This might sound easy at first, but when you pull out an item or drop something you need, a simple hotkey to activate things could've been used, and it gets tedious.”
    • “Lassoing your units and setting them to perform tasks is not only tedious, but an exercise in frustration when you are attempting to click and it doesn't register.”
  • optimization8 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization has received mixed feedback; while some players report smooth performance and enjoyment after addressing specific issues, others have experienced crashes and sluggish controls, particularly in a 2D environment. A workaround involving user account settings has been suggested to improve performance.

    • “The game right now runs just fine, now with better performance and no more crashes ;)”
    • “I had a few crashes, but besides that it runs smoothly and is a lot of fun.”
    • “Fun but crappy controls and sluggish performance (in a 2D game!)”
    • “So the solution is creating an alternative Windows user with Latin letters or renaming the current one.”
    • “The game right now runs just fine, now with better performance and no more crashes.”
  • humor6 mentions

    The game is consistently praised for its humor, featuring a funny storyline and an interesting setup that contributes to its charm as a quirky indie title. Players appreciate the lighthearted tone and comedic elements throughout the experience.

    • “The game is a funny little indie game.”
    • “Funny storyline, interesting setup.”
    • “The game is a funny little indie game.”
  • replayability6 mentions

    Players find the current level count provides a decent foundation for replayability, but many express a desire for additional levels and features, such as an ironman mode, to enhance the experience. However, some users feel that the game currently lacks significant replay value, with only about an hour of gameplay available.

    • “There is already an acceptable amount of levels to master with a solid amount of replayability, but more levels would be excellent!”
    • “Maybe 1 hour of gameplay currently with no replay value yet.”
    • “Overall, an ironman mode would make this game much more replayable.”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for being engaging and immersive, with players enjoying the fun and challenging elements of planning robberies and heists.

    • “Great atmosphere, fun, challenging, and I like to plan robberies and heists.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

Critic Reviews

55% average critic score

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Play time

6hMedian play time
5hAverage play time
1-8hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 4 analyzed playthroughs

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