It's Only Money

My first honest reaction to It's Only Money was mild disbelief that a small indie studio had the nerve to aim this squarely at the gap Saints Row left behind. Developed by Usual Suspects and published by Firestoke, the game drops you into Rockhaven as an Undercity dweller, literally thrown underground by a corrupt mayor because your net worth was too low. The premise is cartoonish on purpose, and the game leans into that absurdist energy at every turn. It openly cites GTA, Bully, and The Simpsons: Hit and Run as touchstones, which is either brave or reckless depending on your tolerance for games that swing big on attitude when the budget clearly cannot swing big on production. The core loop is more layered than the chaos suggests. You pickpocket wealthy citizens, hotwire and joyride stolen cars, lockpick vehicles for their contents, and take on Takeover missions against the mayor's inner circle, including proper boss fights against named lieutenants. Stolen cash then feeds a property and business ownership system: buy houses, furnish them, and the new tenants hand you gameplay buffs and items. Run the Slimeway, which is literally a snail racing operation, to generate passive income. It sounds throwaway but the loop from street crime to property investment back to better crime tools has a genuine rhythm to it. Side hustles add variety, ranging from Metro Dungeon, a roguelite combat arena, to WTF3K drone racing challenges. For a game this scrappy, the content breadth is genuinely surprising. Multiplayer is a first-class citizen here, not a tacked-on bonus. Up to four players share the open world, completing missions together or just gambling away cash in a club. The PvP Prop Hunt mode, where you disguise yourself as street furniture to hide from other players, is the kind of silly detour that earns goodwill fast. Post-launch chapters overhauled the combat system significantly, adding blocking, new moves learnable at the Dojo, and a new island area called La Gordo Valley. The devs were vocal about early access combat feeling like button-mashing, and the overhaul addresses that directly, though it still lands closer to breezy than deep. Where it falls short is predictable for the budget tier. Models are simple, animations lean comedic by necessity, and some rough edges from the early access phase persist. The solo map pause-under-attack issue reviewers flagged points to a game designed with co-op as the default experience, where single-player feels slightly underserved. Steam users have settled around 78-80% positive across roughly 470 reviews, which is a fair read: people who wanted this kind of game found what they came for, while those expecting AAA polish were disappointed. Gaming Age scored it 75, calling it a game that scratches the Saints Row itch without fully filling the void, and that is probably the most accurate one-sentence verdict available. If you have three friends who used to love running amok in Saints Row 3 or 4 and have been starved for something similar, this is the most direct replacement currently available at indie pricing. Solo players can absolutely get value out of it, but the chaotic multiplayer is where Rockhaven really opens up. It is rough in spots, deliberately weird throughout, and doing one thing exceptionally well: making a sandbox feel alive with stuff to mess around with, even when the individual mechanics are not class-leading.

Alex · Scout Team

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