THE BRiLLiANT COUP (v1.3.4)

England in 1987 provides the suitably grimy, neon-tinged backdrop for a comic heist that begins with an unemployed man making one very bad decision. THE BRiLLiANT COUP follows Matt, an otherwise decent bloke pulled into his old friend Uncle Briggs’s scheme to steal the priceless Arctic Star diamond from Trustman Bank. What starts as a chance to fix their money troubles becomes a sprawling criminal caper full of bad plans, stranger associates, and the constant possibility of police attention. Its tone is knowingly ridiculous rather than hard-boiled, leaning on black humour and sharp exchanges with a cast of eccentric locals.

Matt spends much of the adventure gathering intelligence before the robbery can even begin: photographing building plans, examining the bank’s security, tracing possible entrances, and identifying exploitable mistakes. Traditional adventure-game logic drives the action, with a large inventory of objects to collect, inspect, and combine into increasingly dubious solutions. Conversations use multiple-choice responses, so dialogue can reveal leads, open opportunities, or simply deliver another joke at someone’s expense. Preparation also means acquiring equipment and recruiting a capable—or at least available—crew, while the growing heist keeps the pressure on.

Thirty broad locations give the city more room to breathe than a single-bank premise suggests, and its animated NPCs make each district feel populated by people with their own odd motives. The large amount of dialogue is the main attraction, especially for players who enjoy reading jokes, probing every conversational option, and testing items on everything in sight. Different loot outcomes and three possible conclusions give the story some replay value, even if the focus remains on solving its central chain of puzzles. Fans of classic point-and-click adventures in the vein of Broken Sword or Deponia should find plenty to like, while newcomers get a humorous, comparatively approachable mystery built around planning one spectacular theft.