A Thief (Sim) In The Night
HIGH Escaping from jail for the first time.
LOW The final heist mission.
WTF Why does everyone in this town sleep with their eyes open?
Thief Simulator 2 is a wireframe — and by that I mean it’s an amalgam of mechanics that form the shape of something interesting, if not the substance. Generally, Thief Simulator 2 makes good on its titular promise, offering a technical exploration of the trade complete with home invasions, safecracking and bank heists. Upon closer examination, it fails to stretch beyond these constituent parts to truly embrace a life of larceny.
The narrative here is mostly a setup for thievery. Our unnamed protagonist has found himself in over his head with the mob, and is now staring down the wrong end of a sizable debt. Thankfully, it’s nothing some lockpicks and a solid work ethic can’t fix. Set in modern-day suburbia, Thief Simulator 2 takes place across two semi open-world neighborhoods as our thief-on-the-run attempts to burgle his way back into the Lombardi family’s good graces.
While there are several mission types in this first-person crime spree, each is structured similarly — case the joint, sneak in, grab the loot and exfiltrate with none the wiser. There’s an emphasis on preparation, with reconnaissance forming the cornerstone of a successful infiltration. Early on, players are required to manually ‘mark’ residents through line of sight, revealing a chunk of their 24 hour schedule. This is quickly obviated by the micro-camera — a handy little device which, when planted outside a residence for 24 hours, reveals every inhabitant’s full schedule, including pets.
To streamline the pilfering are a host of tools and skills that can be unlocked and upgraded as the player progresses. Gaining these abilities requires experience points which are awarded not only for completing missions, but also for all items stolen along the way. I developed a form of digital kleptomania as I stuffed my backpack with every cell phone, wallet and bottle of wine I could lay hands on, chuckling as I imagined the inhabitants waking up the next morning to bare walls and empty safes.
These abilities and tools act as a kind of stage-gating to the progression. House 112 on Madison Street just installed those fancy new ‘Level 2’ locks? Time to steal as much stuff as I can to level up my lockpicking skills. Someone just install out-or-reach security cameras? A fancy remote control drone can disable it, allowing me to bypass security and move on.
I appreciate Thief Simulator 2’s emphasis on planning, and the ever-expanding toolset offers an appealing carrot to keep one moving forward. However, I quickly developed a sequence that worked for virtually every main mission — plant the micro-camera, cross-reference the schedules to discern when everyone is either asleep or out, and then sneak in and sneak out. Rarely did I feel pushed outside of this comfort zone, and I rarely had to think on my feet. The residents seldom deviate from their daily agenda, and as long as I picked an opportune time and didn’t dilly-dally, I rarely ran into issues.
I found this ease slightly disappointing. Given the open nature of the missions and the wide array of abilities and tools, I was hoping that creative problem solving would be encouraged. Not only is this not required, there generally isn’t opportunity for it. Player agency, for the most part, begins and ends at whether I want to sneak in through a window, vent or front door — beyond this, most levels play out in identical fashion.
To be fair, later missions do offer stiffer challenges. More complex homes have full security teams and increased levels of electronic surveillance and countermeasures. These were more engaging and emphasize my favorite feature in Thief Simulator 2 — the door closing mechanic.
For a thief, silence is golden. As such, doors must be slowly closed by holding down the button for an extended period to avoid unwanted attention. Equally important was re-locking each door behind me, as residents and guards will become suspicious if doors are left open or unlocked. Of all the mechanics in Thief Simulator 2, this made me feel most like a real burglar, and added a much-needed layer of tension when trying to quickly execute a robbery.
Beyond the standard residence thefts there are two other mission types. The first occurs if the player is arrested, and is by far the more successful of the pair.
Finding themselves in a jail cell, the player must pay a fine or plan their escape. Picking the lock of my jail cell, sneaking through the station (and course filching whatever my sticky fingers could nab) and finding a key to make my escape was the highlight of my time with Thief Simulator 2.
Unfortunately, the heist missions don’t fare as well. These complex stages completely abandon planning, which then removes much of the player’s agency in the process. These could have served as a ‘final exam’ of sorts after cutting one’s teeth on the small scale robberies prior, but instead they’re largely trial-and-error stealth missions, requiring little more than avoiding the paths of guards.
There’s a compulsive, checklist quality to the action in Thief Simulator 2. Once I developed a successful sequence, I found pleasure in its repetition — I dotted every “I” as I deftly picked locks on my way in, and then crossed every “T” as I shut and relocked those same doors on the way out. However, these moments were just base mechanics and never developed beyond that — planning is as simple as planting a camera, and a successful robbery is just a matter choosing the right the time of day. I have to imagine that being a real thief is more complicated than this, and I wished Thief Simulator 2 asked more from me.
Rating: 6 out of 10
— Ryan Nalley
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Ultimate Games. It is currently available on XBX/S, PS5, and PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the XBX. Approximately 20 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: According to the ESRB, this game is rated T and contains Drug Reference, Language, Use of Alcohol, and Violence. Given the title, it’s safe to assume that Thief Simulator 2 doesn’t encourage lawful behavior, and every mission revolves around stealing or other illegal activities such as vandalism. Conflict avoidance is generally best practice in Thief Simulator 2 and as such, there’s not a significant amount of violence. Characters can be struck with a baton or crowbar, but there is no blood or gore present. Most four-letter profanities are present throughout the game, but not excessively.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles, however this only pertains to the dialogue for the story. Ambient dialogue in the world is not subtitled. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. Outside of the glaring omission of subtitles in the game world, Thief Simulator 2 does a good job of providing visual representation of essential sounds. I played a number of missions without sound and did not find that there were any limitations.
Remappable Controls: No, this game’s controls are not remappable. This game does not offer a full controller map diagram. In addition to the screenshots, movement is mapped to the left stick, with camera control on the right. The A button is used to interact with the world, while the B button is used to jump, and the X button to lock doors. The Left Trigger is used to sprint, while the Right Trigger is used to attack. While in a vehicle, the Right Trigger controls the gas, while the Left Trigger controls braking and reversing.
Following this introduction, Ryan dove headlong into the 16 and 64-bit eras, culminating in the year 2000 with a fateful visit to the local game shop.On the recommendation of a saintly store clerk, Ryan picked up a copy of Deus Ex and, shortly thereafter, embarked on the vain quest to find a game that tops it.
This journey has led Ryan to GameCritics where he attempts to articulate why he still finds this medium so compelling.When not playing or writing about games, Ryan can be found watching competition reality television with his wife, their dog, and three cats.
- Blood West Review - November 23, 2025
- Easy Delivery Co. Review - September 30, 2025
- Misc. A Tiny Tale Review - September 23, 2025