In 2013, Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine was released; the heist game focused on jobs that are silly capers rather than serious simulations. It was a fine solo experience, but it really shone in multiplayer — both online and in local co-op — a space that was starting to come to life on the PC. Twelve years have passed, and we finally have a sequel, which is simply named Monaco 2. Plenty has changed between the games, but there's also a lot that has remained the same, in a good way.

The premise is similar to a number of heist movies. You control a quartet of small-time thieves looking to pull off its next big heist: the theft of a valuable violin. The job goes well, but it turns out that you stole something from one of the most important crime bosses in the city of Monaco, and he has the surveillance footage to put you away. Instead of doing that, he blackmails you into working a few odd jobs for him, and your crew has no choice but to comply.

For those who haven't played the first game, the gameplay loop is pretty simple. You pick your desired thief based on their abilities and selection based on the story mission. You get a blueprint of the area, along with markers noting the major points of interest. Most of the heists deal with retrieving a certain object and returning to your getaway van. Those who deviate only do so slightly, as you'll be asked to do things like upload a program to a computer, for example. During the heist, you can see just about everything at all times, but you can only see guards via line of sight or in a general radius around you. Everything you need to do is executed via a button hold, so you'll always need to account for that.

For the most part, each thief plays similarly since they can do everything for the job: picking locks, disabling laser traps, sneaking past personnel, and temporarily disabling alarms via spider programs. Coins can be collected to buy tools, such as smoke bombs, lockpicks and first-aid kits. The abilities are what makes each character distinct, and they influence your overall approach to a level. For example, Cosmo sends out her Pomeranian to provide a distraction against guards. Sake uses her diving ability to go from one object to another to break line of sight against others. Una punches her way out of trouble, and Gibson uses his drones to carry out one action while you can move on to something else. Compared to the first game, it's the same ratio of characters who are fine in solo play to those who work best in co-op play.

For a game about sneaking around and stealing things, it's funny to see Monaco 2 be so forgiving in this aspect. Most of the guards take a while before noticing your presence. Unless you actively trip a laser trap or bump into them directly, it'll take a few moments before they give chase. The guards are good enough to keep chasing you through rooms, but dropping a smoke bomb or going up and down stairs will cause them to give up. Even when a guard catches up to you, only a few of the higher-class ones are powerful enough to end your run in one blow. You have plenty of leeway to have things go imperfectly and still get the job done.

Monaco 2 also contains the various multiplayer options from the first title. Beyond solo play, the game has local co-op for up to four players, and online multiplayer follows suit with four-player play. All progress carries over from mode to mode, so you don't have to repeat levels if you play with friends in the middle of your solo run. Just like before, constructing the perfect team is very satisfying, but so is experiencing the mayhem of heists gone wrong and trying to fix the situation on the fly. You can filter out online rooms to block out those hosting games that have progressed further in the campaign than you have. The good news is that the menus have been changed to make the single-player and multiplayer modes look more distinct, so you can easily tell which mode you're playing in instead of having to re-check. It can seem like a minor thing, but it makes a big difference when you compare it to the menus in the first game.

Mechanically, the bulk of the game is very similar to the first title, but the changes make a big difference. The most noticeable of the changes has to do with the graphics, which have gotten a major overhaul. The game trades in a pixelated look for a more polygonal one, and the result is varied, depending on your tastes. Visually, the characters are more charming, and the environments are lively due to the expanded use of color and details. There's something to be said for the simpler look with advanced lighting in that it remains unique among its contemporaries. Along with the art change comes a change in perspective, as the game goes for an isometric look instead of the previous top-down one. While the change could've introduced some problems in visibility, that doesn't happen, and the ability to move the camera is a benefit in making the game more aesthetically pleasing.

Another change has to do with the difficulty level, as the game is still challenging, but there are a few things to make the experience easier overall. The game runs on a lives system, so getting caught and knocked out means losing one of your three lives if your teammates don't revive you in time. Losing the last life means restarting the whole mission. However, death means you've dropped everything you have at the spot of your death, so you or your teammates can return and retrieve everything there and not lose progress. Checkpoints are plentiful, and each one lets you change out your character if you want to alter your strategy mid-heist or don't like who you've chosen. That last part is a big change compared to the first game, since you won't feel like you need to restart the whole heist if you chose the wrong character at the outset.

The most impactful change is the inclusion of different modes. Once you finish any level in the main campaign, you can replay that stage in Unreliable Narrator mode. The goal may be the same, but the level layouts are completely randomized. Completing any iteration of the level and doing things like not getting caught or collecting all coins gets you diamonds, which can be used to unlock new character costumes or buffs at the expense of some health. Finish the campaign, and the game unlocks daily heists, which put you on a set schedule of heists and level layouts per week. This inclusion is perhaps the biggest boon for Monaco 2, as it means the game has near-endless replayability for both multiplayer and solo play.

The audio is an improvement over the already brilliant soundscape of the original game. The jazzy soundtrack of the original is back, and the ability to see the band playing that soundtrack in the level is a neat bonus. The voices of the guards and other bystanders are still in French, and the guards have a slightly monotone delivery to remind you that they're robots instead of humans. The highlight is with the cast, as they all occupy every type of European accent. It's all humorous without being grating, and it's good enough that you won't want to skip the cut scenes unless you've seen them a few times.

The original Monaco works quite well on the Steam Deck, and while this sequel also works on the portable device, the experience isn't as flawless as hoped. The resolution hits the device's native 1280x800, and while that's fine for the game, it means that the text is small. You can still make out the jokes, but it requires you to look closer at the screen, since there are no options to change the text size. The lower resolution has a tendency to make some colors bleed together, at least on the LCD version of the Deck, but the bigger gripe lies with frame pacing. The frame rate wildly varies between 35-60fps, and movement stutters in outdoor areas, although things slightly stabilize when you're indoors. Even if you drop everything to their lowest graphical settings, the issues remain, and the battery life barely improves, as you're getting roughly 90 minutes on a full charge. Again, the game is playable, but the overall experience could be better. The major bugbear at the moment is the lack of cloud saving support; this is definitely a game where it's ideal to take on short sessions on multiple devices.

Monaco 2 isn't too different from the first game, but it remains a delightful experience. The presentation might be a little divisive for those who loved the first game's simpler approach, but the addition of character voices makes the game more charming. The new gameplay additions make the game more approachable, while the addition of randomization gives the game some real legs. Monaco 2 is loads of fun in both co-op and solo play, and those who love a good lighthearted heist will really enjoy this title.

Score: 8.5/10