The Big Con is an adventure game where players take on the role of a con artist in what appears to be the 1990s with the goal of saving the family video store. Players control Ali, a high school junior who has ditched band-camp to focus on the important things in life, which in this case include stealing and hustling enough to pay off the loan sharks threatening the family business.
At its core, the game centers around adventure and puzzles through open exploration. Getting the necessary funds to advance in the story comes from pick pocketing and outright conning people. In a way, its exactly like how many people play Skyrim, robbing everyone blind and hoarding sweet rolls in our home, but without any of the violence.
Developer Mighty Yell Studios has received part of their funding for the game from the 2018 Gaming Pitch Competition at EGLX. For The Big Con they won a total of $50,000, and now they have a lot to prove with this, their first game.
According to Mighty Yell, there is far more to do than simply stealing. Disguises are going to play a key part in sneaking around, making deals and avoiding trouble. Various NPCs will enter into your life, and these are the ones who you will need to rip off, befriend, or even lend a helping hand if you are feeling particularly generous.
Considering that the premise of the game seems to revolve around theft, it will be interesting to see how this is incorporated into the game, because in many other video games the logic behind similar concepts is often ridiculous. If we again consider The Elder Scrolls games, one simply puts enough skill points into sneak and pickpocket and they can crouch behind an individual and steal everything from them, including clothing and armor.
Certainly, in a video game we can suspend disbelief, but as the central theme is theft, one would hope that it is done in an interesting, if not believable way.
The development team looks to be an experienced group with a number of previous projects under their collective belt, including Shadow of the Tomb Raider (Jill Murray), to Jazzpunk (Dan Rodrigues), Guacamelee 2 (Saffron Aurora, George Degenkamp) and Runbow (Dave Proctor).
Mighty Yell Studios will be showcasing The Big Con at PAX West in Seattle from August 30-September 2, and the release date for the game is still to be determined.