Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow brings the series into virtual reality territory with surprising naturalness, building an experience based on physical stealth, verticality, and tactile interactions. The City is alive, dark, and believable, Magpie is an excellent protagonist, and the optimization on Quest 3 is solid. Some AI rigidity, an inconsistent pace, and frustration caused by imprecision don't undermine its value: it's one of the best native VR stealth games of recent years.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow may be a bit modest and rough around the edges, but it's also impressive in the right ways. It melds modern sensibilities with a retro mindset, welcoming new players to the series. Magpie is a charmingly impish lead aided greatly by Garrett's ghostly reprisal. The foundations set here can deliver a proper fresh start for this classic series. I can see Magpie's story continuing, though time will tell if that's the case. Either way, Maze Theory pleasantly surprises with the next generation of Thief.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is a solid entry in the series and a decent virtual reality video game. The “problem” is that Maze Theory’s work is exactly what everyone expected. The London-based team took its VR know-how and applied it to the world of Thief, without trying to make a real leap forward. VR—and therefore its users—don’t need another title with by-now well-established mechanics at this moment. They need new emotions. Something that does justice to a vocabulary with boundless potential, but which for too many years has struggled to truly take flight. Lately, as can be seen from our reviews of VR titles, the real strength of virtual reality games lies in the universes they are set in. Over time, this clearly translates into an inability on the developers’ part to create something memorable through pure, straightforward gameplay. Something that would make even those who aren’t fans of the comic-book character or the legacy video game brand want to put on a Meta Quest 3.

Thief VR offers a VR infiltration experience that works well despite its technical limitations and fragile AI. The atmosphere, object manipulation, and freedom of approach justify the investment for fans of the genre.

Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow does an admirable job of translating the storied series into VR for the first time. While it does suffer from some stumbling blocks that tarnish an otherwise golden example of VR-native design, the latter half of the game seems to tread water, offering up reused levels and an ending that probably won't work for anyone.