Crime Simulator Beginner Strategy Guide Crime Simulator Game Walkthrough Wiki

1 The loop, and the clock behind it

The framing is simple. You are released from prison, the debt follows you out, and you have a limited time to clear it. Everything else in the game is in service of that. Jobs produce cash, cash buys tools and skills, and better equipment opens up targets that were previously out of reach.

It helps to know what kind of game this is before you settle in. It is not a slow, methodical stealth simulator where one alarm ruins everything. It leans roguelite and it is built around risk, reward and repetition, which means an aggressive run that goes wrong is a normal outcome rather than a failure of technique. Three distinct areas hold the targets, each with its own security arrangements.

2 What to buy first

There is one purchase that is not a matter of preference. A lockpick set costs in the region of 200 credits and it is the tool that turns a house from a walk-through into a target. Nearly every property has locked doors, locked cabinets and a safe, and the highest-value loot sits behind exactly those.

After that, spend on whatever removes your current bottleneck rather than on the most expensive item available. If you keep running out of carrying space, buy capacity. If you keep getting caught, buy the tools that let you deal with guards and cameras before they see you. The game rewards fixing the specific thing that ended your last run.

3 Skill Leaflets and where points come from

Skills are not bought from a menu. You have to find Skill Leaflets, which are collectible upgrade items hidden out in the world, and then spend a skill point to activate one. Points come from levelling, one per level. That two-part requirement is why some players plateau: they have the points and no leaflets, or the reverse.

There are over fifteen skills covering lockpicking improvements, quieter movement, larger inventory, threat awareness and higher-end tricks including jamming police response. For a first character, the following four cover the widest range of situations.

Lockpicking is the one to prioritise if you take nothing else from this section. It is the skill that decides how much of any given house is actually available to you, and every level of it widens the pool of targets worth entering.

Separately from skills, a voucher machine grants four special abilities, among them calling off the police and repairing equipment. Those are situational rather than permanent upgrades, but knowing they exist changes how recoverable a bad run feels.

4 The hideout is the real progression

Furnishings grant useful bonuses, including health, carrying capacity and sprint speed. Compare those effects with the current quota and the tool you need next; the official store does not promise that every item and upgrade survives every reset.

Checking your loadout before a large job can prevent an avoidable return trip. Preparation here is not flavour: it is where your health, your carrying capacity and your escape speed are set before you ever reach the target.

5 Your toolkit and what each item is for

The scanner deserves a special mention for new players. Searching a house room by room burns the one resource you cannot buy back, which is time on the clock. Knowing where the valuables are turns a twenty minute sweep into a targeted trip.

6 Quiet, loud, and the middle ground

Three approaches are supported and none of them is the intended one. You can move through a property without being noticed, you can gas an entire building through the vents and walk in unopposed, or you can accept a confrontation and handle it directly. Most successful runs mix all three, because plans stop surviving contact quite early.

7 First-run mistakes

The most expensive early habit is hoarding. Credits sitting unspent do nothing, and the debt clock does not pause while you save. Compare the cost of the tool required for the next job with the current quota and the listed bonus of a furnishing. Neither purchase guarantees a better return across every later job.

The second is ignoring the current quota and score breakdown. Check whether the problem was time, detection or the value collected before buying a solution; sale timing alone is not a verified guarantee of a better result.

The third is skipping preparation. It is tempting to chain jobs back to back, but a loadout check in the safehouse before a big score is where your survivability, capacity and escape speed are decided. Going in unprepared does not save time, it just moves the loss to the end of the job.

Read the score breakdown before buying more

Update 1.5 changed how runs are scored, including stealth and time spent. Use the end-of-run breakdown to identify what needs improvement instead of assuming sale timing is always the main factor. A larger haul and a better run score are different goals.

That free update also added an Exchange Box for swapping a skill leaflet, golden card or upgrade module for another of the same type. A Forgery Workshop duplicates an item once per quota. Check the furniture interface and the current quota before planning around either function; neither is a promise that every purchase produces permanent profit.

The 1.58 patch fixed the hideout expansion being unlocked all the time. Do not treat access caused by that old bug as the intended unlock rule. The note does not specify a new universal unlock requirement.

Sources: 1.5 free update and 1.58 fix. Checked 26 October 2026.