Octopus Overlords

We've been discussing this game over on the Video Games Randomness thread, and in keeping with the ideal of creating a new thread if there is going to be extended discussion of a game, I'm creating that new thread. It just released on Steam after being on Epic. For a limited time, buy the game and all the existing DLC is available for free. I'm a solo player myself but it does supposedly have a single player campaign.

In case anyone is interested, it is also available on Green Man Gaming for a more significant discount, -36% off for me as I am a gold tier member.

UPDATE: By the way, for folks wondering why so many people who are doing Steam reviews for this game are showing "Product received for free", apparently if you got it through Epic on some special deal you also go a free Steam key from the publisher.



Which elicited a post from Max Peck and a reply from me:

jztemple2 wrote: Tue Jun 18, 2024 7:49 pm

Max Peck wrote: Tue Jun 18, 2024 4:26 pm Metacritic: Metascore 51, User Score 5.4

I vaguely recall it being panned, but not what the specific criticisms were. Leveraging FOMO by giving away the DLC for a limited time, while supplies last feels like a big ol' red flag, though.

The Metacritic reviews seem to be all more than a year old and the game has apparently been in development since then. The DLC deal is good till July 11th so I'll keep checking the Steam reviews for awhile... or I might grab it since I'm in something of a gaming funk right now

In that respect, I did find a new review on Metacritic from Co-optimus that was published today:

When PAYDAY 3 arrived with a thud last fall, it paved the way for other games to take the “cooperative heist game” crown. Surprisingly, the one to take that crown actually came out before PAYDAY 3, and it came from the same publisher, 505 Games. That’s right, Crime Boss: Rockay City first launched on Epic and then consoles early in 2023, meeting somewhat mixed reviews. Since then, InGame Studios has released numerous updates to address player feedback and overhaul multiplayer progression. Now, Crime Boss: Rockay City has just expanded its territory by launching on Steam, giving us a perfect chance to review it.

After a year of updates, Crime Boss: Rockay City has become a well-oiled and addictive heist game. The campaign has a unique structure and good replayability, and cinematics can be skipped if you don’t care about all the criminal braggadocio. Co-op missions are nice and short for the most part, and the option to play them individually or in a set gives a welcome amount of choice in game session length. The only thing the game lacks a bit at launch is mission variety. Some missions and locations tend to repeat heavily in the shuffle playlist. It’s likely that the DLC (which we haven’t played yet) helps with the variety issue, and the game’s roadmap indicates that more content will arrive in the future. Right now, Crime Boss is a slick-looking game with intuitive gameplay. Find a crew to play with (or even just join up with randoms), and you’re bound to have a deliciously ruthless good time together.

A couple of videos from the publisher:





And a Let's Play video from today which should represent the latest version:

It's hard to know if it's a great 'single-player game' or if its true charm is as a co-op.

I mostly know the game as the game with lots of celebrity cameos. I think Chuck Norris is in it.

Rumpy wrote: Wed Jun 19, 2024 2:05 pm I mostly know the game as the game with lots of celebrity cameos. I think Chuck Norris is in it.

Yes, the voice cast includes Kim Basinger, Chuck Norris, Danny Trejo, Danny Glover, Michael Madsen, Michael Rooker, and most impressive of all: Vanilla Ice.

Bought on Steam, downloading now... 85 GB

I'll be checking out the single player campaign and other content, I might try co-op but only with OO members in a private lobby.

I completed the tutorial and did some other stuff, but for some reason the Nvidia recorder went bonkers and nothing got recorded

Never fear, I did manage to get it to work for the next session. This is my first playthrough of the single player campaign, played on Normal Difficulty. Things go well at first, but then my first heist goes sideways. Playing on Normal apparently made it easier for me to recover from chaos.

I'm really impressed with the game, even after an hour. There is a lot more depth to it than I expected. For instance.

I have an office! I'm not sure what to get her for Secretary's Day


I have an entourage! My performance in the game gives them bonuses which help me.


Each day there are a number of missions you can choose. Some might be against some of the other four bosses or, as in this case, it's just an opportunity to grab loot to fill my war chest.


You can select a short term goal, in this case I've chosen to strong arm Hielo to capture turf and get money from him.

This is the final mission of my first playthrough of the campaign. I'm playing on Normal which doesn't mean the game is easy by any means. I've made myself a goal of strong arming Hielo for money and to do that I choose to kill one of his squad captains. I tried to stay stealthy for the mission and almost succeeded. In fact I did kill the Hielo captain, but my avatar died in the mission and this game being a rogue-lite, I lost the campaign. Still, I really enjoyed the campaign.



I'm now a few missions in on my second campaign and it is very cool that many things have changed. Starting position on the map, starting team members, different early available missions, etc. There was also a multi-mission arcs that start off me needing to obtain something. If I succeeded on the first mission it takes one branch, if I failed (which I did), the other branch. And there was a really cool mission within the arc that didn't involve any of my team members, guns or goons. Just basketballs...

For those interested, there is an excellent Steam Guide tutorial for the game, it really explains how a lot of the game works plus is a great help with icons and whatnot.

I'm playing the single player rogue-lite campaign and have died a couple of times. Each time I start the next try at the campaign I get to carry over perks and other items from the previous rounds. In other words there is carry-over progression.

One of the great things about Crime Boss Rockay City is that even though you are restarting the campaign, the map is randomized so you can go about things in a different way. Missions are also different from one playthrough to another; even if they are set on the same level (area), the starting location or the time of day or the bad guys can be different.

In this video, even though I've played the campaign twice before (well, attempted it twice before), this is the first time I'm seeing this mission. I have to rescue Khan's dealer (Khan being another crime boss). With his capture I can interrogate him for information about Khan.

In this mission you'll see me going stealthy for a good part of the time, but then things go sideways.

This is a short video where I play a multiplayer mission using bots instead of other human players. The jewelry store heist is pretty fast but I included the steps needed at the start to actually set up a private lobby, chose the mission and select the bots. The bots are actually pretty smart and (mostly) do reasonably well.

This is another MP mission, using bots instead of other human players. Things go sideways pretty fast and I had to race through the yacht looking for cocaine while guards, the police and finally SWAT show up.