Mad City (game)

Mad City is a 2020 multiplayer video game developed and published by Schwifty Studios for Roblox. The game is an open-world action role-playing game similar in concept to Jailbreak, where players choose between teams: Police, Hero, or Prisoner. Mad City has received praise for its distinctive features compared to the latter, and has also been criticized for being unoriginal and a "rip-off".

Gameplay

In Mad City, players choose from three teams: Police, Hero, or Prisoner. The game utilizes elements of open-world action, role-playing, and traditional cops and robbers genres. Initially, players spawn as either a Prisoner (who must escape to become a Criminal) or a member of law enforcement (Police or Hero). Heroes have access to unique superpowers such as Hotrod, Inferno, Proton, Vanta, Voltron, Frostbite, and Titan, each with distinct abilities to help them eliminate criminals. Villains can be created when Criminals pick up a Hero's power crystal, allowing them to access the Villain Base underneath the Volcano.

Players can rob various locations including the Bank, Casino, Jewelry Store, Cargo Ship, Cargo Plane, Nightclub, and Pyramid. There are also mini-heists such as the Fruit Store, Cluckdonalds, gas stations, and the Grocery Store. The game features a ranking system where players gain XP from escaping prison, robbing locations, arresting criminals, and completing missions.

Popularity

On April 4, 2020, Mad City surpassed one billion visits, and on December 27, 2021, the game surpassed two billion visits. As of March 30, 2026, the Chapter 2 version alone has been played over 2.6 billion times, making it the 62nd most-played Roblox game overall. The game was featured in the Monopoly Roblox 2022 EDition Board Game.

Development

Development of Mad City Chapter 2 was halted on June 6, 2024. However, The Developers re-released Chapter 1 as a separate game on September 30, 2024, based on the Bank and Casino update from Season 4. This version later evolved into Season X (Extinct), released on May 22, 2025, which explores an alternate universe of Mad City set before and after Season 7.

Reception

Due to negative reception and a massive decline in daily ACTIVE players after the release of Chapter 2, development of future Mad City updates was halted in June 2024. The release of Chapter 2 received mixed reactions due to changes each update that were unwelcome to regular and new players, such as PvP system changes, newer bugs, and laggy game experience on any class of devices.

See also

• Jailbreak
• List of Roblox games