I haven't done a mini-thoughts on anything for a while. Nothing has really grabbed me since I read the Monster Overhaul. I should probably have written about Salvage Union, but all those neurons have gone into running my SU PBP game.
I finished reading the ashcan/sample for Swyvers last night. Do I need another system? No. Am I going to back it? Unlikely - It's a Melsonian Arts Council, so shipping will probably be more than the book. Will I get it? Definitely. Maybe the PDF, or wait until Exaulted Funeral has it in a few years. The system is a basic 3-attributes with skills, but D20 roll-under. Except for combat, which is D20 roll-over. Initiative is based on what you're doing/the weapon you're using. That seems a bit fiddly. And a full-fledged body-part injury system. I don't find the base mechanics compelling.
The setting and subsystems, on the other hand... Best comparison is BitD. BitD is competence-porn heists in a decadent and corrupt city where it is always night and covered in mist. Swyvers is grim-dark gutter-scum living in a squalid and corrupt, grime-ridden and smog-filled city where it is always night. There's a bit of Into the Cess & Citadel-ish generators in the mix, too, without the opulence, decadence, huge class disparities, hex crawl and city-as-horror-antagonist. Sub-system highlights include a debt system from carousing, a rather horrifying STD table that you may have to roll on after carousing, a chase system (a bit confused about this one - I need an example to read/watch), bribery and leverage systems, henchmen revenge if you hang them out to dry/mistreat them, what I think of as a heat-system where a detective can start investigating you. And the magic is black-jack based. 17-21 spell happens, empowered on 21, but bust and you roll on the backlash table. As you learn more, there are ways to force certain cards, with higher cards requiring greater sacrifice (fools gold for the 2 of Spades, heart of a mourning monarch for the Ace of Hearts) and face cards requiring the horrifying process of dedicating yourself that card's demon patron.
(Disclosure: I did end up backing the KS, afterall)