Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow

TLDR: Fun as a VR game, kinda eh as a Thief game.

I think the devs did a good job of utilizing the VR technology. Some games will put objects you pull from your inventory very close together, making it difficult to grab the correct thing a lot of times. Thief VR makes different items pretty easy to not accidently grab the wrong thing. The climbing and overall interactions feel pretty nice overall, but sometimes the game would have trouble registering my blackjack hits properly. For the most part it wasn't much of an issue though. The maps are smaller than what I was expecting, but I think that might just be to better match the higher requirement that VR has in general. However, gameplay in the map was pretty fun. Knocking people over the head with the blackjack, swiping purses from belts, scooping up valuables from drawers and desks, and climbing up ledges and through windows was very enjoyable. One issue that I did keep running into though was the body dragging. Sometimes it would just not let me drag a body or it would get caught on like an inch step up in the terrain, which would result in me getting caught most of the time it happened. Overall though I had fun playing it.

I am a long time Thief fan. I love the first and second games. Absolutely goated stealth games in my opinion. So looking at this game through the lens of having played those when I was a kid, I may be a little harsh on Thief VR. I did like the references to some of the things from the first two games that they had via the artifacts. I did also like that the main character closer to the "orphan that steals because they are good at it and needs money" vs wannabe batman like the reboot did. Story was a little weird though how they brought back the original Garret via a magical artifact, but it was still set in the reboot world. Kinda wish they would have just gone back to the original world. As mentioned before the maps are smaller than expected. That along with the fairly simple objectives, the levels felt a little hollow. I also did not really care for how the mission progression was done. Going into a mission you don't get to buy what you want, you only get a set amount of specific types of arrows. Finding more gold is also pointless unless you get the "I found all the gold" medal for that mission. It doesn't carry over or help you in any way for the next mission. The game feels like it is meant more for a semi-casual crowd, which I would really blame on it being VR more than anything.

I got this on sale and don't actually remember how much I paid for it, but I would say it is worth the $20 full price. If you consider yourself a hardcore Thief fan, at least get it on sale.

Okay, do I really recommend Thief VR? It's one of those games where I wish I had an option other than Yes or No. I think the classic Thief gameplay translates remarkably well into VR, with some welcome additions (such as climbing/mantling). It's certainly a simplified version of Thief: already in the first game proper, there was more going on than here. It's also a decidedly cheap-seeming game: I don't expect AAA production values, but the environments and enemy types are very limited, as does the level design. Quite honestly, I feel they should've got in some of the fan mission creators to come up with a more interesting, varied set of levels than what we got, which sometimes repeats environments literally, but even the 'new' levels all feel very samey - and that's something that wasn't true for OG Thief. So, I liked this as a proof of concept of sorts: Thief can work really well in VR. But I disliked it for its limitations, some of which end up being really frustrating, because the game falls so far short of what it could be.

I have very strong VR legs. I can play several standing VR games for hours without getting motion sick. I even played Outer Wilds with the VR mod without getting motion sick. This game forces you to play in head relative movement and there isn't an option to set hand relative movement, so when for example you're walking forward and you turn your head to look at something, your motion suddenly turns towards where you're looking at instead of keeping moving towards where your thumbstick is pointed to. I can't play this game for 5 minutes straight without getting motion sick. Until this is fixed, this is unplayable for me, and I guess the same is true for many experienced VR gamers.

A very nice game, atmospheric, interesting and have a lot of fun mechanics tied to VR. Had a great time with it. Not too easy, not too hard, and the length of the game is perfect so as not to make you get bored. I think 8-10 hours is an ideal length for VR games. You can also replay any mission after the completion of the game, if you want to spend some more time with it.

Played it in PCVR mode on Quest 3 + Virtual Desktop - no technical problems noticed. Some minor in-game bugs do exist, but nothing critical.

As a fan of the series since The Metal Age, I was extremely happy to play it - and to hear Garrett once more :).

Great VR Thief game.