Pocketwatch’s co‑op caper goes full 3D, adds smarter planning tools, and keeps the glorious chaos intact.
If Monaco: What’s Yours Is Mine was the slick training montage, Monaco 2 is the actual heist: blueprints on the wall, crew at the table, and a getaway that devolves from precision to panic in the span of a single alarm. Pocketwatch Games’ long‑awaited sequel lands on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S, swapping the original’s 2D blueprint look for a lively 3D isometric style and a bigger focus on planning—without sacrificing the slapstick mayhem that made the first game a cult classic. It launched on April 10, 2025, with four‑player local and online co‑op, and a full single‑player option.
The Job: What’s New in the Sequel
Monaco 2’s headline change is right there in the camera: the action now plays out in a 3D isometric view that makes Monaco’s gilded hotels, clubs, and galleries feel more alive. You can study your targets in Blueprint Mode before you kick off a mission, then zigzag through procedurally generated layouts once boots are on the ground. That blend of pre‑planning and “oh no, the guards saw us” improvising is the sequel’s heartbeat. On paper it’s a stealth game; in practice it’s a heist comedy where foresight and farce share equal billing.
Pocketwatch leans into that duality with smart systems. A cast of eight thieves comes loaded with distinct skills, and the game lets you switch characters mid‑run at checkpoints if your plan needs a new specialist. It’s a clever change from the original that turns “I picked the wrong build” into “okay, we need the Prowler’s dash now.” The upshot: runs feel more adaptive and collaborative, especially with friends.
Crew Check: Archetypes That Matter
The crew isn’t just eight skins. They’re archetypes built for different heist instincts. The Socialite brings a very Monaco kind of distraction: a tiny dog that can pull guard attention while you slip past. Gibson can pilot a drone to disable security from safety. Sake darts between cover with a slick electromagnetic trick, and Una is the “break glass in case of disaster” bruiser who can punch through obstructions. You won’t need every trick every time, but each character solves a different kind of problem—and mid‑mission swapping makes those choices meaningful.
Monaco 2 also rethinks how tools and weapons work for solo players. Instead of picking a single weapon at the start and hoping RNG treats you kindly with ammo, you spend coins during a mission to unlock the gear you find—smoke bombs for a fast vanishing act, a disguise to stroll past a checkpoint, that sort of thing. It turns loot from a passive collect‑a‑thon into an active menu of tactical options.
There’s long‑term build variety, too. “Trinkets” modify characters in substantial ways (often at a health cost), nudging each thief toward speedrunning, team synergy, or quirky riffs on their role. You earn them by hitting optional challenges and racking up diamonds, so your crew grows more interesting the more you play.
Stealth, Panic, and the Monaco Flavor
Andy Schatz—series creator—once described Monaco’s guard AI as purposefully “a flock,” built to cascade from one patrol to a panic spiral. That DNA survives intact. Being seen doesn’t end a heist; it starts the chase. Monaco 2 is generous enough to keep runs alive when plans wobble (you’ve got lives, revives, and quick escapes), but not so easy that you can ignore stealth entirely. You’ll still plan routes, watch cones of vision, and use tools to buy silence. When it all goes loud, the resulting Keystone Cops routine is half the fun.
A welcome concession to stronger solo play: checkpoints where you can change characters and retool, plus that on‑the‑fly gear spending. Even so, not every critic felt Monaco 2 nails a one‑thief experience. Slant Magazine liked the “addictive, cheek‑flushing fun,” but noted the game can “stack the deck too heavily against solo players” in sprawling maps—feedback that tracks with my own sense that Monaco shines brightest with a crew.
Modes, Runs, and the Long Game
Beyond the campaign setup (your crew steals the wrong violin and gets blackmailed by a Monaco crime boss—oops), the sequel loads in variety. Finish a stage and you can replay it in Unreliable Narrator mode, which mixes up layouts and objectives; beat the story and you unlock daily heists that rotate challenges across the week. Combined with hundreds of seeded procedural layouts, it’s a reliable loop of “one more job” nights.
And Pocketwatch didn’t stop at launch content. A June update added a light‑hearted PvP mode—a four‑player free‑for‑all where the first to 200 coins wins—alongside new levels, skins inspired by the original Monaco, and balance tweaks to later campaign missions. It’s a fun palette cleanser between co‑op capers: same sneaky verbs, different social energy.
Co‑Op Reality Check
How you play Monaco 2 changes how much you love it. Local split‑screen makes it an instant couch classic: pointing at the screen and shouting “YOU HAVE THE KEY, I HAVE THE SMOKE” will never get old. Online co‑op is also supported, and progress carries between modes. Early reviews noted that the player pool was modest in the weeks after launch—public lobbies weren’t always bustling—which made friend squads the safest way to guarantee a clean getaway. In my view, that’s also the best way to experience it.
Presentation: From Blueprints to Buskers
The visual pivot will be debated by Monaco diehards. The first game’s stark blueprint style communicated line‑of‑sight perfectly. Monaco 2’s look is warmer and more colorful, with readable geometry and more visible information “beyond” your immediate vision cone. Aftermath’s preview captured the trade‑off well: the sequel keeps the blueprint vibe via a planning view, but shows you more of the world as you move, which often feels more “heisty” in the Hitman sense without losing that crucial uncertainty.
Sonically, the theft is gilded by Austin Wintory’s bouncing, sly score—a return to the ragtime‑meets‑jazz mischief he nailed in 2013. The Monaco 2 (Original Video Game Soundtrack) album hit the same day as the game, full of toe‑tappers like “All According to Plan” and “The Hotel Job.” It’s hard to overstate how much the music sells the tone: it makes every near‑miss feel like a pratfall with panache.
How It Actually Feels to Play
Monaco 2 is at its best when you thematically play like a thief: case the joint in Blueprint Mode, pick the right opener (maybe the Socialite for early distractions), and pivot mid‑run to the Prowler or Gibson when the level’s second act demands a different touch. That cadence—plan, improvise, skedaddle—is baked into the checkpoint system and the way coins let you unlock the right tool at the right time.
When things go wrong (they will), the lives system avoids instant failure while keeping stakes high. Get knocked out and you’ll drop your kit where you fell; the team can retrieve it if they can create a window. That “we almost lost you in the hotel kitchen, but we made it to the stairwell” micro‑drama repeats mission after mission and is the reason Monaco sessions stretch far past bedtime.
Rough Edges & Quibbles
No caper is perfect. A few critiques surfaced across the early reviews:
- Map scale vs. solo pacing. Some missions sprawl, and covering them alone can feel like pushing a vault on a dolly: doable, occasionally tedious. Slant flagged this; it’s less a flaw than a reminder Monaco is, at heart, a co‑op machine.
- Population concerns (online). In the launch window, Italian outlet Multiplayer.it struggled to find public lobbies, though private sessions with friends were great. That will vary by region and community growth—but it’s worth noting.
- Launch‑week fit and finish. WorthPlaying praised performance on desktop but noted small UI text and frame pacing hiccups on Steam Deck at release; subsequent patches have arrived since then, so your mileage may vary today.
That said, the post‑launch PvP update and balance passes show Pocketwatch is still tuning the machine—good news for a game built on nightly replays and friendly rivalries.
The Temperature Check
If you like numbers on the wall, the reception has been generally favorable from critics and mixed‑to‑positive from players. The PC version sits at a 77 on Metacritic (6 critic reviews at the time of writing), while Steam user reviews trend Mixed at about 67% positive overall. That spread lines up with the “stellar with friends, solid solo” reality.
Buy, Try, or Pry the Safe?
Buy it if…
- You have even one co‑conspirator. The game blossoms with local split‑screen or a small Discord heist crew, and mid‑run character swapping turns the whole team into a toolbox.
- You enjoy procedural replayability. Daily heists, Unreliable Narrator variants, and seeded layouts mean this can be your “just one more job” game for months.
- You appreciate style. The 3D look is charming, and Wintory’s soundtrack is pure caper energy.
Hold off if…
- You want a hand‑crafted campaign that’s all bespoke set‑pieces; Monaco 2 favors systems and replay over cinematic linearity.
- You plan to play entirely solo and dislike backtracking across large maps when things get noisy.
Verdict
Monaco 2 is a smart sequel that understands what made the original sing and then reframes it for 2025: a better planning phase, more expressive characters, and a camera that showcases the theatrics of a messy getaway. It is not a stealth puzzle box in the Thief mold; it’s a heist playground, where your best‑laid plans are an invitation for fate to pratfall you into a chase through the kitchen, up the stairs, and out the front door with a dog yapping at a guard’s ankles.
If you can assemble a crew—even a duo—it’s one of the most laugh‑out‑loud co‑op games this year. And if you can’t, Monaco 2 still gives you the tools to feel clever on your own, even as it occasionally reminds you why criminals work in teams. Either way, the city is yours for the taking. Just don’t forget to plan your route… and your exit.
