This is a game made by one individual which is very commendable, but – as with a lot of 3D open-world titles made by incredibly small teams - also falls into the usual issues of overreaching its grasp in some areas - much like the Autobahn Police Simulator series does.
However, games such as these often stand out for me and become real pleasures to play.
Yes, they may not be smooth, tight or polished experiences - but there’s a vision, charm and idiosyncrasy that makes these sorts of games a very memorable experience that more often than not resonate with me as a player.
The first two games in the series (Thief Simulator and American Theft ‘80s) were created by Noble Muffins, but the reigns this time are in the hands of Cookiedev, who does an admirable job of keeping the Thief-y vibe alive, whilst also enhancing the overall gameplay for this sequel.
You play an unnamed burglar, who – after a pretty rough tutorial – has the belongings of the inhabitants of Madison Street at his mercy. Well, if you can get around unseen, avoiding everything from cameras, wandering neighbours, guard dogs and the police!
A game presented in the POV perspective, the heart of the Thief Simulator 2 is planning robberies from your shady hideout just outside of town, ensuring you have the information and tools for the job before getting down to the nitty-gritty, using your drone to scope out houses before sneaking in and forcing everything into your backpack that isn’t nailed down, and also carrying out the heavier objects to chuck into the back your trusty pickup truck (nick-up truck, more like! – ed).
This gameplay loop of a stripped-back narrative framework, freedom to roam around the small town and then flogging off your stolen goods in exchange for various unlockables and upgrades really worked for me, and some of the more unreliable factors such as iffy AI in the police & NPC’s, slightly janky controls, and uneven mechanics struck me as more oddly charming than infuriating.
For instance, I tried clocking one of the home owners on the back of the head as he stood in his kitchen – so that I could nick his handheld gaming console, natch - , but he didn’t go down as I’d hoped, and instead alerted the police before running around, screaming, so I pegged it into his basement and hid under the stairs as a helicopter circled the house and multiple police cars roamed the streets, looking for my thieving self – but they happened to not look in the tiny corner that I was crouched in, meaning that once things had cooled off, I gingerly crept upstairs, stole the ‘not Game Boy’…and hit the dude with a crowbar before running outside again – just for the hell of it. 
Other times, the police will jump out of their cars, sirens blaring - and hurtle straight for your hiding place like you are tooting a clown horn and shouting the titles of Tinto Brass films through a megaphone. This slightly shonky AI makes the game quite tense, as you never know if your escape route /hiding place is safe or not – although, you can always make for your truck and race to the edge of town, escaping to your hideout with the police in hot pursuit, that always works – just make sure you parked it close by, it’s hard to run away from the cops carrying a CRT TV!
The audio deserves a nod, too – it’s a mostly quiet game with just ambient sounds, which works in the games’ favour as you need those audio cues as you are sneaking about, shiftily. The only music comes from either when you get spotted and everything ramps up, or when you are in your car, chilling out listening to – I swear – ‘Thief FM’, or one of the other stations. You don’t spend too much time in your car apart from when you are passing time for a robbery, but it’s a cool feature to have a selection of radio stations, and something I wouldn’t expect in a budget title such as this.
Thief Simulator 2 is a game that I can imagine will divide people. It’s rough around the edges, but also has some really nice mechanics and ideas implemented. Yes, the voice work isn’t top notch, and there are issues with certain aspects of the game, but it’s nothing game-breaking, and it’s such fun to make your way around, upgrading your tools, car, and hideout whilst picking up bonus missions, looking for hidden package codes to the lockers in the centre of town, or picking up mysterious requests from the constantly ringing phone near the car park - that it’s an easy game to get lost in for a while, and it’s become my go-to game when I have some time and don’t want to get too hips deep into something.
A unique title that may be a bit of an underdog, but hey – it’s an underdog that’ll steal your wallet if you aren’t paying attention!
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