It’s been 11 long years since its underwhelming reboot, but finally the Thief series is back with Thief VR: Legacy Of Shadow, and this time wannabe burglars will be using virtual reality to make their trinket yoinking even more immersive than it was before. Legacy Of Shadow is fifth entry in the series and, according to its developers, it’s set 200 years after the third game in the series, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and 200 years before the events of the 2014 reboot.
Thief VRDeveloper: Maze TheoryPublisher: Vertigo GamesPlatform: Played on PSVR 2Availability: Out 2025 on PC VR (Valve Index, Meta Rift, Meta Quest 2, Meta Quest 3 Family via Steam) and PSVR 2
Legacy of Shadow features a player character called Magpie, a newcomer to the series who, at some point in the game, gets her hands (or I guess maybe that should be eye sockets) on Garrett’s legendary mechanical eye that he received after the climax of the very first game. This eye not only allows Magpie to activate something called Glyph Vision which highlights nearby enemies and points of interest, but also has the added bonus of allowing series fans the rejoice in the dulcet tones of Stephen Russell, making a welcome return here as the voice of the original Garrett, who Magpie begins to hear in her head after gaining the eye.
Recently, I played two levels from the game on PSVR 2, starting with the tutorial level Stonemarket. There, players get introduced to the game’s new protagonist Magpie, and reintroduced to The City and its eagle-eyed guards. After completion of that I was skipped forward a few levels to Ravencourt Manor, a much more traditional Thief-style heist level in which I had to infiltrate said Manor to pinch a mysterious treasure known as the Glyph Stone.
Thief VR: Legacy Of Shadow Preview Watch on YouTube
Visually, Legacy of Shadow looks really nice, in a gloomy, oppressive, probably smells real bad, Steampunk kind of way. The PSVR2’s HDR works great with the dark environments and there’s a high level of detail to not only the exteriors, with some lovely views across the City, but also in regards to the interiors and props too. There is a sort of semi-realism to the visuals – detailed but with a cel shaded vibe to them – but this suits the setting and it makes the game look comparable to the modern Thief reboot rather than the early noughties originals.