A noir top-down stealth game: crack the vault, stay in the dark, slip out unseen.
Shadow Heist is a top-down stealth game set in rain-soaked mansions at two in the morning. Every house is generated fresh: rooms and corridors, tall windows that let in shafts of moonlight, locked doors, a single vault holding the prize, and an exit on the far side. Your job is simple to say and hard to do: get in, crack the vault, take the prize and get out without being caught.
Guards patrol with flashlights, and their vision cones show exactly where they are looking. Light is your enemy and darkness is your friend: switch lamps off to make a room safe, crouch behind furniture, time your moves to a guard's turn, throw a coin to send him the wrong way. Footsteps make noise that depends on how fast you move and what you walk on, so marble halls call for patience. At the end of every heist you get a stealth rating, with big bonuses for staying unseen, never raising the alarm, or going full ghost.
How to play
- Move through the mansion to the vault, which is marked by the cyan chevron at your feet. Pick its lock, take the prize on the pedestal, then follow the mint chevron to the exit.
- The eye meter at the bottom of the screen shows how visible you are. Standing in a lamp pool or a moonlight shaft makes you easy to spot; darkness makes you nearly invisible, especially while sneaking. Interact with a wall switch to turn a room's lamps off.
- Guards see inside their cone. When one notices you, a ring around him fills up: first he becomes suspicious and comes to look, and if the ring fills completely he raises the chase. Break line of sight and hide, and he will search for a while before returning to his route. If a guard catches you, you go back to your last checkpoint.
- Every footstep sends out a ring showing how far the sound carries. Sneaking is quiet, running is loud, carpet muffles and marble rings out. Lock slips and doors make noise too.
- Locked doors and the vault use a lockpicking dial: press interact when the spinning needle crosses the gold arc to set each pin. Security cameras sweep back and forth; disable them at the security panel they are wired to.
Controls
| Action | Keyboard | Touch | Gamepad |
|---|---|---|---|
| Move | WASD or arrow keys | Floating stick (left side) | Left stick / D-pad |
| Sneak | Hold Shift (or C to toggle) | Sneak button toggles; a gentle stick push also sneaks | Hold LT (L3 or Y toggles) |
| Run | Hold Space | Run button (hold) | Hold RT |
| Interact: pick lock, lights, panels, loot | E | Hand button | A |
| Throw a coin | Q (throws where you face) | Coin button | X |
| Pause / restart | Esc / R | Pause button | Start / Back |
Every action can be remapped in Settings.
Modes
- Night Shift
- One mansion after another as security tightens. Crack the vault, reach the exit. Three chances per run.
- Daily Heist Daily
- Today's mansion, the same for everyone. One vault, one exit, your best stealth rating.
- Ghost Protocol
- Endless heists with no second chances: the first time a guard or camera spots you, the run is over.
Tips & strategy
- Kill the lights before you cross a room. A lamp pool can make you visible from across the room, while in darkness a guard has to be almost on top of you.
- Watch for the dashed ghost cone: it appears just before a waiting guard turns, so you know where he is about to look.
- The thin arc inside a guard's cone shows how far he can see you right now. Make yourself darker and the arc shrinks towards him.
- Crouch behind low furniture such as sofas, tables and beds. While sneaking, low cover between you and a guard hides you completely.
- Coins are your best tool: throw one past a guard and he will walk over to investigate the noise, opening the path behind him.
- Guards notice rooms that should be lit. If you switch a lamp off on a patrol route, expect someone to come and switch it back on.
- Lock slips make noise. Pick locks when nobody is close, and take your time: the needle reverses after a slip, so read it again before pressing.
- Disable cameras at their security panels before you need to pass them; a camera that fully spots you raises the alarm.
Achievements
- Clean GetawayEscape with a vault prizeLocked
- UnseenFinish a heist without ever being spottedLocked
- GhostFinish a heist without anyone even noticing youLocked
- Steady HandsCrack a vault lock without a single slipLocked
- Lights OutSwitch off five lights in one heistLocked
- Sleight of HandLure a guard away with a thrown coinLocked
- Blind SpotDisable security cameras at a panelLocked
- Clean SweepTake every piece of loot in a mansionLocked
- Graveyard ShiftReach the fifth mansion in Night ShiftLocked
A short history of the genre
Stealth games grew out of a simple twist on action games: instead of fighting every enemy, avoid them. Early overhead games in the 1980s already hid the player from patrolling soldiers, and by the late 1990s light, shadow and sound had become the heart of the genre, with games built around sneaking through dark buildings and keeping out of sight.
Modern stealth games refined those systems into something readable: visible vision cones, alert states that ramp from suspicion to alarm, noise that spreads from footsteps, and ratings that reward never being seen. Top-down stealth games in particular put all of that information on screen at once, turning every room into a small timing puzzle. Shadow Heist follows that tradition with procedurally generated mansions, so no two heists play the same.
FAQ
Is Shadow Heist free?
Yes. Shadow Heist is free to play in your browser with no download or sign-up. The site is supported by unobtrusive ads that never cover the game.
Does it work on phones?
Yes. A floating stick on the left moves the thief; buttons on the right interact, throw coins, toggle sneaking and run. Pushing the stick only a little also sneaks.
What is the Daily Heist?
A mansion generated from the date, identical for every player that day (it changes at midnight UTC). Finish it with the best stealth rating you can and share your result.
How does the stealth rating work?
Each heist scores the loot you took and the vault prize, plus bonuses: Ghost for never being noticed at all, Unseen for never being spotted, No alarm, Clean sweep for taking every item, and a bonus for beating the par time. Getting caught costs points, and harder mansions multiply the total.
What happens when I get caught?
You return to your last checkpoint: the start, the last lock you picked, or the vault after you take the prize. In Night Shift you have three chances per run; in Ghost Protocol a single spotting ends the run.
Why did a guard turn the lights back on?
Guards remember which rooms should be lit. If they walk into a room you darkened, they go to the switch and turn it back on, so plan your route while it is still dark.
Where are my scores saved?
In your browser on this device. You can export your profile from the Profile page and import it on another device.
Updates
- Shadow Heist launched with Night Shift, the Daily Heist and Ghost Protocol.
