The goal of this guide is to teach you the basics of The Swindle, some upgrade strategies and a general strategy for heists. It focuses on what YOU can do, not on what enemies can do. That's up to you to figure out on your own.

You might already know that you have 100 days to swindle the AI device, or else you'll have to kiss your career goodbye. Each day is 1 heist, and the goal of each heist is to get at least 80% of the loot and get out. With the money you steal, you can upgrade yourself, get new gear, etc. to prepare for the final mission.

You might think, 100 days? I'll need to be efficient! Well, fear not, for this is not the case. There is plenty of time to prepare, even if you fail half of the heists. Once you reach a certain point in your upgrades, cash will start flowing in more quickly than you can spend.

There's also the misconception that death means you'll lose your skills. This is NOT the case. Every upgrade is permanent, except for the final mission unlock, which you will need to unlock again if you fail the final mission.

The 100th day creeping up on you? Fear not! There is an upgrade that allows you to buy more days. Each time you use this, it will get more expensive, but if you're maxed out already then you can easily buy dozens of extra days after a few more heists.

I'll only list the default keyboard controls. WASD is for moving around, although only A and D do something at the start. Space bar is jumping, and B is interacting with the environment. M is your melee attack, which you can use to KO most enemies. And finally we have N and V, but they don't do anything from the start. N is your item wheel, and V uses your selected item.

Got that? Good! Let's continue.

You start in your airship, and you have 0 cash. From your airship, you can select a zone to do a heist in. At the start, only the first zone (the slums) is unlocked. Other zones can be unlocked, each costing a lot of money. So you'll stick to the slums for the first bunch of heists.

There are 2 goals during a heist. They are, ordered by priority:

• Make it out alive
  
• Steal at least 80% of the loot

That's it. Sounds simple, right? Well, in the beginning you'll only be able to do the first, as you don't have the unlocked skills yet to get all the loot.

So in your first few heists, you'll have to get as much cash as possible. Cash can be found throughout the level on floors, and you can pick it up when you walk over it. You'll have to avoid the guards (or knock them on the back of their head) while you do this. If you are spotted, you have a brief window of time before the police show up, which you can use to escape before they arrive, or get more loot and try to escape while they're on your heels.

Failing is ok! You'll have plenty of time to get the hang of it, and if you don't in the end, then that's fine too as you can start a new game. However, never give up! Play until the end, until you can't anymore. Best case scenario, you'll win. Worst case scenario? Training's over, time to do it for real this time!

Once you've acquired 100 cash in the bank, it's time to upgrade!

It's time for your first upgrade! When you're in your airship, you can visit the workbench. Here you'll find all the things you can upgrade. Navigate it using WASD, and buy stuff with space. For now, the only thing you can buy is the hacking upgrade, which is essential for getting all the loot.

Each level has a few terminals you can hack. These terminals have a lot of money in them, and if you hack all terminals in a level, you'll almost always have more than 80% of the loot in the level. Hooray!

So get hacking, and play a few more heists. You'll notice that the heists introduce a few new enemies and traps, but that's ok. Sometimes you won't be able to reach all the consoles, and that's fine. There are upgrades for that, which you will get eventually. And once you're comfortable unlocking the next zone, you can go for it! If you feel you're underequipped, you can always go back to a previous zone.


You'll have to stand close to the target you're hacking (usually on the same tile, or right next to it). Then press and hold B. You'll enter a minigame with quick time events. It will show a direction, and you have to press the corresponding button for that direction. Note: you can use WASD for this. On most devices, it's ok to press the wrong button or stop hacking.

Time doesn't stop while hacking, so make sure you are safe enough to be able to complete the hack without being seen. There are upgrades that increase your hacking speed.

You'll notice that some upgrades are pretty cheap, and some are more expensive. Don't know if something is worth saving for, or what to prioritize? This section covers that. Each zone has a few suggested upgrades, and if you have those, you are ready enough for the next zone. It's fine to deviate from this list by getting more or different things, but in general these upgrades give the most bang for your buck in those zones.

• Get hacking 1
  
• Get double jump 1
  
• Get bombs 1

These are the essential upgrades you'll need. Hacking 1 is obvious, as it's your main source of income. Double jump 1 allows you to reach higher places (including a wall that's 2 tiles above you if you stand at the correct spot when jumping) and it's a clutch way of breaking your fall if needed. And it's a safer way of jumping over things. Finally, bombs allow you to reach places you couldn't reach before. Early on there are rooms that have a wall or ceiling of 1 or 2 thick, with no way in. You can use bombs to get through. Bombs are in your N menu, and you can place them by pressing V. You don't need to hold V, but you can press it again to cancel placement. Once bombs are placed, you'll have to get away quickly as it blows up after roughly 3 seconds, and it has a 3x3 radius.

Once you have gotten this, you are ready to unlock the next stage

• Get hacking 2
  
• Get bug 1
  
• Get wall stick 1
  
• Get remote detonator 1 and/or EMP
  
• (optional) Get one or more of the goggles upgrades
  
• (optional) anything else cheap that you'd like

Here you'll want to get the next level in hacking, and perhaps a hacking speedup. After that, get bug. Bugs are great! They give a lot of money, and they can stay active for multiple heists, giving you a passive income. Place them near computers and watch the money flow. Note: Hack the terminals before you place bugs! They will siphon money from the terminal until it's empty, but money taken this way does NOT count towards the 80% target. If you accidentally blow up a terminal, you can bug it anyway and still get its contents. Always try to place bugs every level.

Update: bugs have been nerfed a bit. Bugs won't drain from hacked or destroyed terminals anymore. They will work during the next day, so it's not a complete waste. But you can't cash in from both hacking and bugs anymore during the same day.

After that, it's time for some optional things. Wall stick is great when you want to stay somewhere safe. Remote detonator is great for triggering things from a distance, but keep in mind that the range is quite short and accidents may happen. EMP is also great, don't be afraid to use it when there's an enemy nearby that you can't take out without him spotting you.

Finally, the goggles upgrades are great in my opinion. One shows the cash terminals, one shows alarm terminals, and one shows details about the map, such as the amount of money to be taken and the amount of security terminals. The last one is helpful in judging if there are more terminals, and if there is a security terminal. The other two act like a compass, for now the cash terminal one is alright.

Get anything else you'd like, such as hacking speed upgrade or other tools. Don't spend too much, though. It's better to move on to the next zone if things get too expensive.

• Get Hacking 3
  
• Get some more double jumps and other movement upgrades
  
• Get more bombs and a bigger radius
  
• Get remote range upgrade
  
• Get confusion and/or a few steam purge upgrades
  
• (optional) anything else that you'd like

From this stage onwards, you'll get more and more security terminals. With hacking 3, you can hack these, which will be very beneficial and makes life easier. Some cash terminals are locked while security terminals are active, which means you can't hack them or else an alarm will sound. (side note: Locked terminals can be bugged safely, and it will drain them dry but not count towards the 80% total)

More bombs are helpful, as is the radius improvement. More mobility is a must if you get the radius improvement, as you'll need to get out quicker.

The extra range on the remote trigger is situationally great, and I'm a big fan of it. confusion is also handy, as it will situationally allow you to get rid of groups of enemies. If that doesn't work, steam purge allows you to get through groups of enemies with ease, so you can try that as well.

And again, get anything else you'd like. You'll notice that these heists give a lot more money, so it's easier to upgrade. When you feel you're ready, it's time to go to the next area.

• You guessed it: Get hacking 4!
  
• Get anything else you want
  
• Get everything you didn't have yet

Basically, from this point onwards, you can just unlock whatever you want, whenever you want. You should be getting enough cash to get even the more expensive upgrades after a few heists. Learn what each zone brings to the table, then upgrade in a way that allows you to deal with it more easily.

Eventually you'll want to have everything unlocked while you're hitting banks. Once you've acquired 400k and have everything unlocked, it's time to do The Swindle. Running out of days? Fear not! Get the upgrade that allows you to stall time, and do so! You'll be able to buy more days so you can prepare more for the final mission (or try again a few times)

Just like the rest of this guide, I won't go into detail about enemies and what each zone brings to the table. But what I will do is give out general advice and strategies.

Try to start out by exploring the level without putting yourself in danger. If that means avoiding the front door, then go via the roof. Look around, try to spot security terminals and money terminals, and look for ways to get there.

It's best to preserve your bombs, as you might need them later for more important things. Use your other tools as much as you'd like. Triggering things with your remote detonator can be quite helpful in order to safely advance. Same goes for confusion and EMP.

Once you've taken the low hanging fruit, it's time to identify which things are your main priority, both in difficulty but also in results. Security terminals are great, because they can do more than just unlock cash terminals. But if a security terminal is very hard to reach, you could also just bug the locked cash terminal instead (if you don't mind about the 80% target).

Always evaluate the risk/reward. Got a decent haul already and that last terminal is a pain to get to? Get out with what you have. You might have enough to get some more upgrades, and you can just try again. Don't forget to plant all your bugs, though. Especially when you're planning on doing something risky. A bug or two will give you loads of money that you'll keep even if you fail, so it's always worth it.

Bombs

Bombs get their own subsection, as they are essential for pretty much every run from zone 2 onwards. With the first upgrade, you'll have 3 bombs. Early on, most closed off rooms have a spot where the wall or ceiling is 1 thick. This is the obvious place to bomb. If it's 2 thick, you'll have to bomb it twice, which means you have a spare bomb for something else.

You can blow up more than just walls. Place it too close to a terminal, and you'll regret it. But there are other things in the levels that you can blow up as well, which might make terminals more accessible.

Bombs can also be great for climbing. Sometimes you won't be able to climb higher because something is in the way. It might be possible to place a bomb at the highest point you can reach, so you can either get inside the room above you, or create a staging area where you can try and get higher (or place more bombs to get through)

Needless to say, don't blow yourself up! And if you can help it, don't blow any terminal up.

That's pretty much it. If you'd like to see more or something else explained, let me know and I might add it. Comments and suggestions are always welcome. I hope you found this guide useful.

Good luck with The Swindle!