While I was thoroughly impressed with Sony‘s PlayStation VR 2 virtual reality headset, after putting it through its paces I’m sad to admit I’ve not used it in more than a year. The hardware is very slick and Horizon: Call of the Mountain is one immersive experience, but there’s been a lack of games to really pull me back into Sony’s VR world.
However, the recent PlayStation State of Play might just have me dusting off my PSVR 2. That’s because the game showcase featured Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow.
This is a VR game all about sneaking around infiltrating buildings and complexes in a pseudo medieval/Renaissance city to steal persons items.
The big hook is this is a Thief game, a series that gamers of a certain vintage will remember as the progenitor of salary games and immersive sims way back in 1998 with Thief: The Dark Project on PC. I am one such gamer, and absolutely love the quiet, smart exploring and pilfering the games offered; I think they even hold up today, mechanically speaking.
Thief was a smart game about knowing your environment and using tools to navigate it, such as noise arrows to distract guards, moss arrows to put a layer of soft flora on creaky wooden floors and, somewhat against traditional game logic, making areas darker rather than lighter as you creep through them.
While player character Garrett has a sword and a ‘blackjack’ club, he wasn’t designed for combat, with guards easily able to kill the thief. So the game was equally about running away as it was sneaking; if a guard caught you, Garrett’s nimble speed meant scarpering from the authorities was a totally legit tactic.
And I reckon this will translate really well into VR. While I’ve enjoyed faster paced games like Superhot in VR, I feel slower paced, more tactile experiences work better in virtual reality.
Having more time to scope out an area, delicately shifting ornaments and peeking behind walls, and shifting paintings to uncover hidden alcoves, as shown in the Thief VR trailer, looks to be a more immersive experience that lends itself to the PSVR 2 and its tech, such as foveated rendering and eye tracking.
I can also see the dynamic mechanics of Thief working equally well in VR; the feel of carefully drawing back a bowstring to unleash a rope arrow or reaching out with one’s real and virtual hand to pinch out a candle, all supported by the haptics and smart tracking of the PSVR 2’s controllers.
While I’d not say Thief was known for the most captivating storytelling, the series had some interesting plotlines. This time you’ll be put in the padded boots of Magpie, who looks like she’ll stumble across some more intriguing things than just some valuables to snatch. And I think seeing The City and its characters in VR will definitely help suck one into the story.
It’s been a while since I’ve felt excited by a VR game, but Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow has both caught my next-gen gaming attention and also tickled my nostalgia. We could seen a new dawn for PlayStation VR games grow out of the shadows some time this year.