Have you always fancied the art form known as graffiti but equally didn’t want to get in trouble with the law? If you said yes, then you’re in luck. Vandals acts as a stealth/turn-based art game where you’ll be spreading your art all while avoiding detection from the police. Travel the world from places like New York to Tokyo and see the rise of style in graffiti along the way. Vandals is for those that like stealth games and graffiti but would prefer to stay out of doing illegal activities.

Vandals is a point and click stealth game with a fusion of art sewn in. Players will take a graffiti artist and move them across 60+ maps to avoid getting caught by cops and tag specific locations before getting out unseen. Use your wits and the environment itself to fool the police and make it out as quickly as possible. Graffiti is an illegal action, but in Vandals, it’s the name of the game. What art do you think you can come up with and not get caught?

Vandals tells the story of an artist who is going through the years spreading graffiti to different locations. Due to graffiti being very illegal, our artist must avoid detection at all costs. One wrong move and the slammer awaits for our main graffiti artist. Can you spread the art of graffiti without being caught? Find out by picking up your spray cans in Vandals!

Here at Honey’s Anime, we love art in the multitude of forms it comes in. This isn’t all that surprising seeing as how we are a site dedicated to talking about anime, manga, and various other forms of entertainment. Equally, we love games that allow a person to express themselves in a safe environment without the fear of disobeying laws and or getting into possible danger. As the name suggest, Vandals is a game where you are doing just that, vandalizing areas in the art form known as graffiti. While there are several games that do focus on this mostly illegal activity, does Vandals do a good job at being both a fun indie title and allow for artistic freedoms? Let us find out in our review of Vandals for the PC!

Now first and foremost, let us explain what Vandals asks of its players. In Vandals, players assume the role of a no named graffiti artist—though you can name him whatever you want—as they aim to spread their artform all across the world during different eras. Players will start in the mid-1900s and then work their way up to more modern times all while hitting different locations like Berlin and New York. The goal in Vandals is rather simple. Tag an area with graffiti and get out. However, Vandals has a rather unique idea of how to make this simple theme work well in a game format.

Vandals is akin to a stealth game melded with a turn-based strategy game. Every map you’re on has dot points that you can move to which act as a turn. Meanwhile, police—the main enemies of Vandals—are spread out on the map as well and will move according to their own programing and or if they hear noise. You must move about the various locations avoiding being cornered by cops who will arrest you if they move within one space of your character. Luckily for you, there are numerous ways to avoid being caught by the cops and perform the tag before escaping.

Players can utilize points on the map in varying ways as they play Vandals. For example, players can find bottles to throw to some specific point and cause police to go investigate, giving them a chance at moving around the police. Players can also use things like broken fences and sewer grates to move across the maps where police can’t traverse themselves. The point of making the best out of every available action on a map is that you are given stars—like Angry Birds—for every successful action you complete. Stay invisible, find the collectible on the map and beat the map in a specific number of turns all offer one star and obtaining all three per location will take some serious planning and smart movement on the player. You’ll also want to obtain three stars as some locations are locked behind stars obtained in total. If you’re a completionist, be prepared for some planning, folks.

Aside from clearing maps, the other big element to Vandals is the actual graffiti itself. When you go to a point to initiate the tag, you can literally draw whatever you want and even use stamps to have your name etched onto that wall. Vandals even keeps a Black Book available showing the tags you did in the various levels so you can show friends or just laugh about how cool your in-game art looks. We do wish there was a bit more tag varieties available in Vandals, but equally, there are still a lot of ways you can create your art in a level. What’s also cool is your Black Book will show you the various collectibles you find in Vandals 60+ maps which are history lessons about graffiti and how different areas/artists went about making it unique. We really appreciated how Vandals gives players a bit of history in this rather stylish art style.

Visually and sound wise, Vandals is pretty cool if not a bit simple. Characters look rather bland but it’s done as a way to just take the focus off staring at them and paying attention to the map itself. In terms of the environment, we liked Vandals use of adhering to the varying time periods you’re going through and the representation of the country or city you’re in. The music of Vandals also works well to keep the game’s flow solid and smooth. Vandals won’t blow you away in either category but we never felt this was an issue. At the cost of only $4.99, Vandals looks sharp, sounds solid and overall is just pleasing for what you’re paying for.

Point and click stealth games have been done before but Vandals is one of the few that is both fun and extremely stylish. Vandals allows players to not only learn some of the history behind graffiti but express their own forms of graffiti in a way that won’t be defacing real world property. We loved Vandals and are still shocked that an indie game like it not only costs only $4.99 but is easily 2-4 hours of content depending on your desire of completion. We loved Vandals and we know fans of both art/graffiti and stealth based games will love it just as much. It should be obvious, but we here at Honey’s Anime 100% recommend downloading Vandals today!

Graffiti might be very illegal—and we don’t condone it in any form—but in a game like Vandals, it’s interesting to not only become the artist, but to try to outwit cops and learn about graffiti’s history from its boom to its current place now. If you need a game that allows you a safe and free way to express graffiti—albeit in a simple form—then we think you’re going to like Vandals. Trying to get all three stars in the level was both exciting and frustrating at times but we never once disliked the experience. Vandals is a game that we hope gains a lot of attention as we applaud the developers—Cosmografik, Novelab and Ex Nihilo—for this amazingly simple indie tile. Were any of you thinking of picking up Vandals? Let us know in the comments below and tell us what your thoughts are on the game if you play it for yourself! For all your game reviews and gaming news, be sure to keep stuck to our hive here at Honey’s Anime.