Midnight Heist: Fun and different, but will depend heavily on new content

Since 2020, fans of the “Ghost Hunting” subgenre have had a wide range of games where they must discover which ghost is haunting a location and be skilled enough to come out alive to tell the story.

One of those responsible for this popularization is the famous Phasmophobia, which while there is simplicity in the main objective of each game, there is a complexity deep enough for the most avid players. Since then, several other games have tried to surf this idea and few have managed to stand out and survive.

Midnight Heist then comes up with a different and promising idea: What if you are a hacker and suddenly the place where you are going to steal the data is haunted by an evil entity?

“It’s more than hacking… It’s survival!”

First of all, it is important to inform you that the game, at the time of writing this analysis, is in its initial Early Access stage, so things that I am going to tell you about may change or improve in the future. That said, let’s get to the good stuff!

As I mentioned before, Midnight Heist has a very interesting mix of objectives. In the tutorial, the game teaches the player how to use the tools to hack the computers present on the two available maps and obtain the data to complete the match’s objective.

In the meantime, the game also teaches you that there are additional items to be obtained to improve your score. Until then, everything is quite normal, until when leaving the building the player comes across an apparition of a ghost and that’s where the game’s mix lies.

So in addition to having to obtain data from workstations, collect documents and valuable objects, the player will have to survive an entity that is hanging around the offices.

In terms of gameplay, all objectives are very simple. Three items are initially available for the player to use in their invasions: A flashlight, a smartphone and a tablet. All three with their particularities and uses.

The player will enter the offices and use the smartphone to hack the computers to obtain the data and thus complete the objective. But not only that, the smart device is also useful in opening some locks and cameras, which show an image on the tablet so that the player has an image to be aware of movements in the corridors.

There is also, to a lesser extent, a minigame of opening some locks by picking, to give the environments a more believable look or increase the tension if you are being chased by the ghost.

There are also minigames after hacking the stations, where small puzzles need to be solved to count towards the objective. Most of these puzzles are very simple, but things can get complicated because, with the nervousness of not knowing if danger is close, haste ends up becoming the enemy.

In fact, it is necessary to make a brief comment about the sound, where in these games it is an important factor so that the player knows how to identify where the ghost is approaching. In this, I realized that the game needs a little more polish, as sometimes the sounds seem to come from opposite directions in relation to where the entity may be.

But we are talking about a game in Early Access and there is a lot of time for this to be improved and so far in no game I have ended up losing due to disorientation with the audio.

Midnight Heist is (much) better played with friends

A common feature in games in this subgenre is that playing with friends is always much better because of the chances of funny things happening, although playing alone is also a good experience.

In Midnight Heist, unfortunately, it is almost mandatory to play with friends because of the size of the maps available at the time of writing this review. There are two maps that are very similar because they are located in offices, but very large maps that can cause the single player to end up getting lost.

Perhaps this is the developers’ objective, but it would be of great value to have smaller maps so that anyone who wants to try the game can have a better experience.

Playing with four people things change a lot. There is room to complete objectives quickly while the ghost is chasing other players. And playing online I didn’t have any connection problems, players disconnecting due to technical problems, etc.

It’s a fluid and funny experience. Oh, another thing I hope the developers keep is this silly aesthetic, with weird characters and funny racing animations. Embrace the fun!

Not taking yourself seriously can be a huge potential for new players and also for those who decide to broadcast their matches, which can get a lot of laughs from those watching the events in the game on a livestream.

But the solo experience ends up becoming stressful, from my perspective, as the player has no way to defend himself more directly from the ghost. Here the player relies on running and hiding in closets, and depending on the difficulty, the ghost becomes more aggressive and you have less time to complete parts of the objectives.

The game also has a cosmetics store, but all items can be obtained with the money you earn by completing objectives in matches. For now there are not many items, but new ones may appear in the future.

Potential for lots of fun

Midnight Heist puts a lot of potential on the table for fun for players and the public who may not be able to play games of this genre, but who like to have fun with the events that occur in the game. Being able to see the animation of the entity walking through the corridors in a strange way is always an event that makes those who are watching the game via broadcast laugh.

Of course, there are things that need more polish, like doors that only open in one direction and can cause players to die, but that can also be a source of laughter.

It is important to highlight the importance of updates with new content to keep the community active, as this type of game, once it finds its player base, they will play extensively on the same maps and then a constant update schedule can keep the community going. active for a long time.

Technically I had no problems playing the game, which should make it accessible to players with more modest setups who want to stream to their audience.

Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from https://game.press

Katsutoshi