Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow Review (PS5 / PSVR2)

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is disappointing. This latest from Vertigo Games, although developed by Maze Theory, had some real promise on the lead-up to launch. But having rolled credits, we don’t feel much beyond relief that it’s over.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is the continuation of a franchise that we last saw in 2014. Here, you play as Magpie, a cunning thief who is accidentally merged with the power of ancient Keeper technology, and as a result, has the voice of former protagonist Garrett in her head.

Narratively, you’re tasked with pinching ancient artefacts from a ruthless ruler who plans to perform a dodgy ritual during the blood moon, all to do with said Keeper technology. Sounds ominous.

You’ll sneak around old manors and pubs repurposed into faction strongholds, nicking just about everything that isn’t nailed down, whilst avoiding guards and sticking to the shadows.

Upon first impressions, Thief VR is incredibly exciting. Like Vertigo Games’ previous PSVR2 titles, Metro Awakening, and Arizona Sunshine 2, Thief VR has a great sense of place, with that dour Dishonored-like aesthetic.

We really enjoyed the vibe of those early levels, as you scale pipes and reach for goodies in unlocked windows, and the process of sneaking through hidden passageways or finding new keys is quite fun.

Each level typically presents you with multiple ways to get inside, and while it’s nowhere near as expansive as a full-blown AAA release, it is fun to discover these on your own.

Thief VR’s controls and interactions are very fluid, too, whether you are climbing, interacting with doors and drawers, or lining up a shot with your bow. It all feels great.

We particularly enjoyed the lock-pick mechanic. The default settings have UI to line up with to unlock doors, but we turned this off, going for the more immersive setting where you turn the pick to feel the locks lining up with the Sense controller rumble. It never gets old.

There’s just enough to play around with, too. Your bow comes equipped with different kinds of arrows, from water to rope arrows. This allows you to douse fires or scale the side of buildings, encouraging you to look around maps and actually interact with them.

The darkness mechanic means you can stick to the shadows unseen, and your visibility is noted by a glowing gem on your right hand. We would have loved a brightness slider, though, as it’s never quite dark enough.

And thanks to that handy Keeper technology, you can use Keeper sight, which will highlight potentially hidden pathways or treasures. There are false walls, mechanically sliding bookshelf doors, or even pictures with gems stuffed behind them. There’s always a reason to have a quick glance around a room.

As you delve a little deeper into the game, however, that’s where more and more of the issues start to arise.

For one, enemy AI is horrendously dumb. They can take forever to notice you sometimes, and have cat-like eyes the next. Sticking to rigid pathways, they will not chase you down, nor will they notify other guards if they spot you.

They’ll run towards you, where you’ll either hide for a moment and they’ll forget about you, or you’ll engage in a rudimentary parry interaction before swiftly knocking them out.

You can deal with guards quietly by sneaking up behind and knocking them out with your truncheon, too, but that really is the extent of your interaction with them.

You can drag bodies to hide them in the shadow, but unless there is another guard that overlaps with their set path, there is no point, because nobody will find them.

Obviously, stealth is the name of the game in a Thief entry, and we wouldn’t expect full-blown combat here. But we also expected a little bit more from enemies to keep us on our toes.

To make matters worse, we also came across numerous glitches during our playthrough.

On a few occasions, we couldn’t actually steal items or use our truncheon, which required a full restart each time. Other times, we randomly became really short, where crouching and standing made zero difference to our height, making it impossible to reach certain ledges or handles. Again, that required a full restart.

Having to boot up the game on multiple occasions also highlighted a big flaw in the checkpointing system. Each time we booted up, we were forced to rewatch an unskippable cutscene and restart the level from scratch. You can’t just jump in where you left off.

What this did give us the opportunity to check out, though, was the replayability of its levels. As we mentioned, each level has multiple entrance points and various secrets to uncover.

Upon closer inspection, we didn’t find that the levels had the density needed to really warrant replaying. Most of what its levels have to offer can be seen in a single playthrough.

Each level comes with a set of challenges, some of which will offer you permanent perks if completed, like starting each level with three water arrows or making less noise when you drop from higher ledges.

All of the actual thievery (all of the trinkets you collect) is sort of tied to this. You're tasked with collecting half of a level's loot, but beyond that, it's just for the completionists out there. The collected currency cannot be spent on anything to upgrade your character or buy supplies when you return to your base.

And while, yes, the variety in missions means you could sneak in an open side window instead of the underground sewer pathway, the actual conclusion to each mission only ever has one solution.

It is disappointingly thin, and the game fizzles out by basically repurposing two of its earlier levels for the conclusion of the story.