This October saw the release of Grand Heist Feature Buy from OneTouch, as the iGaming developer revisits an old theme with a new twist. The slot combines popping visuals, dynamic animations, and high-pressure, high-octane scenarios to offer players a gaming experience quite like no other.
So, with this exciting title now available, we thought it might be a good time to analyze the reasons why games based around the idea of a heist are so engaging. What is it that we find so compelling about these diversions? We dive into the whys and wherefores in the article below.
The Robin Hood complex
There’s a reason why the legend of Robin of Loxley has captured the imaginations of so many people across the ages. We’re all instinctively attracted by the idea of taking riches away from the most well-off and dishing it out to those needier and more deserving souls in society – or perhaps simply into our own back pockets. Heist games tap into that fantasy and allow us to indulge in it to our heart’s content, including a variety of titles that focus on that very folkloric figure himself.
Being the baddie
As well as redistributing wealth, heist games also give us a perverse pleasure in simply assuming the role of the bad guy. Indeed, it’s for this reason that the anti-hero has enjoyed such a rise in popularity in literature, cinema, and gaming, since the escapism that this upheaval of the status quo affords us is a real chance to experience something completely different from the humdrum nature of our everyday lives. GTA is an archetypal example of this type of franchise, where you can take your darkest urges to their logical extremes.
Stealth and strategy
Stealth is a commonplace component in espionage games, but it’s less popular in ones where you’re essentially trying to rip someone else off. The novelty of using secrecy and subtlety to get one over on your adversary, as well as the challenge of carefully crafting a strategy that will allow you to do so, is a huge draw for gaming fans the world over. Titles like Payday 2 excel in this respect as they offer players the opportunity to approach the problem from a variety of angles – and try them all out, over and over again.
Pure destruction
Of course, there’s more than one way to skin a cat, and not all heists rely on the dark arts of persuasion, charm, and subterfuge. Some simply fall back on brute force to achieve their goals. In Teardown, for example, pretty much everything in the virtual universe is destructible, allowing for great larks with crash, bangs, and wallops as you explode your way to your objective. Obviously, it’s not quite as simple as that and you’ll still need to devise a route of destruction that gets you in and out in the allotted time, but the kabooms are still rollicking good fun.
Whether by stealth or strength, there’s nothing quite as satisfying as making off with the booty in a heist game.