Picklock

Genre: Stealth

Players: 1

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Review:

Picklock is a Stealth game release on PC and Nintendo Switch in 2020 where players take the role of a man who decides that his days of earning an honest living are over and now he’ll be making money by stealing stuff… at least until he makes a million dollars or so, and then he’ll go back to trying to make an honest living.

While this game’s take on the life and motivations of career criminals is unrealistic and oversimplified, it’s clear this game isn’t taking itself too seriously. In the first house players rob, you can steal the olive oil out of the kitchen and the toilet paper out of the bathroom, but not the large TV hanging in one of the front rooms. And in a later mission, the target of the heist is a reel of film for a theater’s new movie premier… you know, those things that minimum-wage employees have access too.

In keeping with the silly plot and premise, this game’s visuals are depicted using a “voxel” style loosely similar to games like Minecraft, with everything constructed out of boxes. It’s a choice, I suppose, and it doesn’t look bad, but the choice of art style doesn’t seem to have much to do with the game’s plot or gameplay either. These visuals are backed by a low-key score befitting a sneaky game like this, so at least in that respect this seems to be catered to the topic matter.

The actual missions are decent, but feel like they really limit what the player can steal, as I noted above. You may be breaking into a large building only to steal three or four things, and need to use the game’s “drone” feature to highlight points of interest as they don’t stick out.

Players don’t really have much in the way of options and abilities to aid in their thievery. They can pick locks and… um… that seems like just about it. On the flipside of things, the AI for guards in this game is dumb as rocks, following a set path in a circuit (the drone mode even highlights this path), and if they spot you they can easily be ditched by rounding a corner, something they just can’t seem to figure out. They also soon forget you after losing track of you – they don’t call for help or anything like that. Metal Gear Solid, this ain’t.

However, probably the worst crime this game commits (ha) is its absolutely terrible controls and hit detection, which can make even something as simple as opening an unlocked door a chore. Your character’s movements are clunky, stiff, and sometimes unresponsive, and even if an item you want to interact with is right in front of him, he may refuse to do so. You’ll also get a prompt to interact with items on the other side of a wall you’re facing, which you naturally can’t do either.

Picklock is an absolute mess, a game that has low ambitions within the Stealth genre and still manages to bungle those up. The Stealth genre may not be what it once was, but even so fans of the genre shouldn’t resort to subjecting themselves to sloppy, poorly-made games like this. Even wannabe criminals can have standards.

tl;dr – Picklock is a Stealth game that puts players in the role of a burglar trying to avoid guards and steal valuables, with a plot that doesn’t take itself too seriously and a voxel-style presentation. Unfortunately, the enemy AI is terrible, and the game’s controls and hit detection are absolutely atrocious. Even fans of the genre should avoid this con job.

Grade: D+

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