Thief Simulator

I’ve learned the classic “don’t judge a book by its cover” lesson again. Why? From first glance, Thief Simulator looks like the typical shovelware game. A game the developers made too big in scope. That sort of game was what I thought this was. But after playing a good few hours, Thief Simulator is actually more than decent. It is not one of those “must have” nindies, but if and when the game’s on sale, I can recommend it without a shadow of a doubt.

Again, from first glance Thief Simulator appears to be an “asset flip”, where stock 3D models are taken and used in a game instead of their own. I am unsure if this is true, but my argument would be that gameplay always matters most. Frankly, the game is super engaging. It’ll keep you on your toes, it’ll keep you playing with a satisfying gameplay loop. And in the end, I had an enjoyable time with the game.

A Little Strange, but Welcome

At first Thief Simulator was a little creepy. No, not the stealing stuff part. More like the “track people”, “buy information”, and “Thief eBay”. To be honest it was a little creepy, and still is. But I like the idea. For example, if you don’t want to get caught, buy information. You want money? Take on a thug job. Stole something almost worthless at the Pawn Shop? Sell it on the eBay type website. It adds incentive to go back to old houses and take a detour.

Another strange thing is the Pawn Shop guy. He must surely know you have stolen these items, you literally come every few hours to sell these possessions. But yet he still buys these items off of you? It is a wonder that the cops haven’t found him out yet. I digress, the Pawn Shop is a major part of Thief Simulator. Sell your items to get more cash, get better gear, then steal more things.

Later…

The beginning is mainly sneaking around, lock picking, etc. Later on however, you’ll be dealing with houses that have high tech security. You’ll need to hack, and do some extra careful sneaking. These are tough not just to get in but also get out, as it is later in the game. The difficulty has just the right amount of balance. It’s not too hard but it does get harder.

Thief Simulator is generally open on how you go about stealing, but you may be limited by items, weight, skills, or time. As you level up, these items that seemed impossible to steal earlier are now easy pickings. There will always be more to go back to, whether it be stealing out of the house’s safe, stealing car parts, and more. I really liked this loop, keeping the approach open but locking certain parts out so the player will go back.

What you may be worried about:

The graphics look horrendous in the pictures and screenshots. The items and scenery look uninspired. I initially thought this game wasn’t very good at first, just from looking at it. But underneath all that is a game that’s actually pretty good. Not amazing, and maybe not worth $20. It is a good game. It’ll bring you plenty of entertainment, definitely worthy of your time. I recommend Thief Simulator, and if it is ever on sale it’s a great buy.

Recommended

Info for Thief Simulator can be found here.

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Reviewed by Jack Bankhead. Game provided by Forever Entertainment.