Have you ever seen someone get caught while trying to obtain a five-finger discount and thought, “I would have gotten away with it.”? Well, thanks to CookieDev, Ultimate Games S.A. and PlayWay, you can join them from the comfort of your couch, and without real-world consequences, because Thief Simulator 2 has now dropped on PlayStation 5.

As we’ve previously covered it on PC, you can find a full review here, so this will mostly focus on the differences.

You find yourself owing money to some less-than-desirable people, and the fastest way you can think of to pay it back is with sticky fingers, and you’ll need to quickly learn on the job. There are two game modes you can choose from; Career mode, where the game guides you through your chosen profession, or Free-for-All where you have complete control over your targets. Either way, if you are a bad thief, you will be caught.

The controls couldn’t be simpler – anything you look at that can be interacted with will bring up a prompt. It’s great if you got a little too relaxed that you forgot something, but not to worry, you can also click down on the D-PAD to bring up the control list.

As simple as they are though, I sometimes felt like the controls were a little delayed when picking things up, but movement-wise, it felt fine. I’m also been a big fan of this style of game on the PC, playing with keyboard and mouse, but it wasn’t too bad on the controller. I should also mention that the camera movement took a little getting used to – the panning felt slow, so I needed to boost the sensitivity up a little bit.

I’m waiting for the day when a developer makes a simulation-style game where the graphics aren’t based around that cartoonish 3D animation, with more of a realistic look. I think this would bring the immersion level up a little bit. Running around the map, I couldn’t help but feel like I was running around in an episode of Jimmy Neutron. The power of the current generation systems could quite easily power one of these games, and as expected, the game ran super smooth on the PlayStation 5.

I would have loved to see a little more focus on the audio with this title. The music was effective while being chased around by the Police, but I would have liked it to be more suspenseful so that it really got the blood pumping, making panic as you try to hide before being tased and detained.

Career mode uses some spoken dialogue, which is something nice and different to see in a simulation-style game. It’s one of those titles where you really need to listen to what is going on and pay attention so you are not getting caught peeking through someone’s window.

Thief Simulator 2 is one of those titles you launch when you want to kill some time, or if you want to prove to your friends that you really could get away with stealing from hard-working citizens like the delinquent you think you are. Virtually, and without consequences. I’m keen to see where this game might go in the future, perhaps with DLCs that might have you planning and taking part in heists.

Written by: Hayden Nelson