Monaco 2 is like murder-free Hitman in the best possible way

Pocketwatch Games launched Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine, one of the best co-op stealth games, in 2013, and the team is back with a bigger sequel, Monaco 2. The team debuted a sizeable demo during February 2025's Steam Next Fest, with four new characters and several missions from early in the game, and it's shaping up to be an excellent new venture.

Monaco 2 will launch with eight playable characters, though only four are in the demo. They're a set of small-time bandits roped into something much larger by accident when they steal from the wrong person. Even with just half the playable roster available, it's enough to see just how wildly different a heist will be depending on who you choose. I started with Cosmo and Gimlet, a socialite and her small dog, respectively. Cosmo can send Gimlet to distract guards for a few seconds, which makes for a safer experience in general. Gibson the scientist was my second choice, a tech expert whose special ability lets him use a drone to complete actions while he's somewhere else – perfect for picking locks while hiding or snagging extra loot without getting caught. The lack of dog-shaped safety net made for a much riskier mission with several instances where a swarm of guards almost bludgeoned me to death. There's also Sake, who can dash away from guards, and Pockets, who can heal himself.

You can swap characters at a checkpoint, and the demo stages had plenty of those, which is a good thing on more than one level. Aside from letting you switch playstyles with relative frequency, it means you're not stuck starting over if the worst happens. And it probably will. Monaco 2 is deceptively gracious at first. If you're sneaking, you can slip by most guards despite being literally right next to them, pick locks, grab treasure, and do basically whatever you want. 

That is, until you reach locations with a more open design plan. The strategy then becomes selective stealth, figuring out when you can risk being seen, where the best escape route is when things go sour, and frantically reshaping all your plans when you run into a guard and ruin everything. 

Monaco 2, like the first game, only lets you see what's in your line of sight, though you do have clues to where guards are thanks to little ghostly footsteps that show up. Unlike the first game, the map is in 3D, and even with a blueprint mode that shows the general layout, there's a distinct flying-by-the-seat-of-your-pants feel to infiltrations. A floor plan only shows so much, after all.

It's all very exciting, and that's just in solo mode. I suspect the real fun will be planning with friends and watching it all crumble when someone makes a mistake, like with the first game. Pocketwatch has no release date for Monaco 2, but plans to launch the game sometime in 2025.

Josh Broadwell

Contributing Editor

Josh is a freelance writer and reporter who specializes in guides, reviews, and whatever else he can convince someone to commission. You may have seen him on NPR, IGN, Polygon, or VG 24/7 or on Twitter, shouting about Trails. When he isn’t working, you’ll likely find him outside with his Belgian Malinois and Australian Shepherd or curled up with an RPG of some description.