Thief Simulator 2 is the much-needed sequel to Thief Simulator with improvements in many mechanics and other gameplay aspects.
Thief Simulator 2 is the sequel to the stealth simulation Thief Simulator, released in 2018. The game was developed by Ultimate Games S.A., a game developer and publisher that is part of Playway S.A. Capital Group. While the developers are different from those who created the first game, it has not lost any of its charm as a sequel. The Publishers are Playway S.A., and the more noticeable games they have published are Contraband Police, Car Mechanic Simulator, and House Flipper.
Thief Simulator 2 is a stealth simulation game where your objective is to steal as much as possible. It has a story mode that gives you jobs to complete as you continue your spree of burglaries while outmaneuvering the cops and guards. However, you will have to pay off your debt to the head of the Lombardis, a mob featured as an employer in the first game.
The first few jobs of the campaign act as a partial tutorial introducing you to the tools of the trade and many of the mechanics, or acting as a refresher for those who have played the first game. You will have free rein over one of the houses on Madison Street, as it happens to be abandoned. It’s the perfect place to practice lockpicking and sneaking. After filling up your bag with loot, the tutorial will direct you to head back to your car and leave back to your hideout.
Once back at your hideout in Thief Simulator 2, you will have access to a few features that will make your life as a thief easier. First and foremost is the PC. On the PC are a few sites that will help you with either an increase in money and XP or gathering info about your next hit. You will also be able to plan heists from your Hideout.
In Thief Simulator 2, Rob Tips is one of the more important sites as you can buy information about each house and its tenants—important loot and when, where, and how long a tenant will be in a specific area allowing you to either walk around unhindered or find a good spot to bunker down and wait for a good opportunity to start your stealing spree.
Stealgear is the site to go to when you need equipment. Some of the equipment is locked until you learn the necessary skills, such as tools for taking apart cars and hacking laptops. You can also get consumable equipment such as meat to distract dogs with and, of course, lockpicks. You can also access basic items from your phone when you are away from the hideout, allowing you to buy lockpicks and other consumables in a pinch when you’ve run out.
The next important website to keep your eye on is Blackbay in Thief Simulator 2. You can sell items here for a much higher price than if you sold them to the pawn shop. When taking items from the many different houses, keep an eye out for a green envelope symbol. This symbol indicates that the item is wanted on Blackbay, and you can sell it for a higher price than its initial value.
However, Blackbay isn’t the only place you can sell goods to. You can sell it to the pawn shops. There is one in each street. While it is a good place to sell items here, keep an eye on each pawn shop’s most wanted item, as they are highly likely to buy it for triple the price. So, to reach a maximum payoff after any spree, keep an eye on the various places you can sell to.
Thief Simulator 2 features a skill tree that, while similar to the first game, has also changed. There are two skill trees and two sets of skill points. The blue skill tree uses the skill points you can get from leveling up. The Purple skill tree requires special skill points that you can only obtain after stealing special items. These items will generally have a purple symbol next to them and have a purple highlight when you look at them. Upgrading your skill trees also makes life as a thief a little easier.
For example, on the purple skill tree, you can upgrade skills that decrease a tenant’s range of hearing, allowing for more forgiving gameplay as you sneak around and steal. The first skill you will get, however, is Marking. Marking allows you to slowly learn a tenant’s routine by marking them while watching the house so you can plan your robberies around their schedules and maybe hit two or three places at once.
After gathering your intel and scouting out the home to look for the best way to proceed, it’s time to start your burglary. In the upper right corner of the screen, you’ll see color-coded bars that indicate the tenant’s routine. You can see them more in-depth in your notes and on the page that is about the house you are about to rob.
Each color represents a different part of their routine. Green means they aren’t on the property, and orange means they are outside in either the garden or the porch. Red means they are in the house, Blue means they are asleep, and no color or grey means you don’t have any information about their routine at this time frame. Bringing up the routines in the journals will tell you exactly where they are.
It can be a struggle to get the routines of some of the tenants since sometimes the houses have walls that are high or the yards are large. To get the routines a little quicker, it might be easier to buy a few micro cameras and plant them in the mailbox of your next target. All you have to do after that is wait for 24 hours, and you will have their whole routine down. If you have to wait for the most opportune time to rob them, you can take a nap in your car if it’s in a parking bay, which will accelerate the in-game time.
Keep in mind that if you leave a door unlocked or leave a door that was closed open, you may just get yourself caught before you even start. You’ll be able to move around undetected even when the tenants are home as long as you are cautious and keep an eye on their schedules. Unfortunately, if you aren’t vigilant enough and leave cupboards and doors open, the tenants are more than likely to call the police, as they know something is up.
Even with all the caution in the world in Thief Simulator 2, you are still likely to mess up and get caught. There are only two options when dealing with the police: leave the area and escape to your hideout or hide until they lose interest. Unfortunately, this can get harder the higher the tier is. There are three tiers indicated by stars. On the first tier, only one cop will show up. With the second tier, two cops will show up, making it harder to hide. The last tier is harder to outmaneuver, as not only do the cops show up in a car, but they bring in a helicopter as well.
Of course, there are plenty of places to hide when you need to in Thief Simulator 2. Outside, the best you can hide in would be dumpsters, and they tend to be almost everywhere. But when hiding in a house, your options are limited to hiding in a room the tenants don’t enter, hiding in a cupboard, or under the bed. That is, if you can get to the hiding spot unnoticed. If someone saw you enter, then when you enter the hiding place, you will receive a red message on your screen that simply says your hiding spots have been compromised.
Luckily, you are not limited to only one house when doing burglaries, as Thief Simulator 2 has an open world for you to explore. With ample use of your car, you can get around and scout out new targets, and even find hidden stashes around the map. Some of the lockboxes are easy to open, others require tools. These lockboxes usually have items for you to sell.
If you are feeling lost while exploring the map, then keep an eye on the different icons on your screen. A blue lightbulb symbol indicates information about things in the world; for example, it could highlight that a house has a back gate with an easy-to-pick lock. Purple stars can indicate goals or valuable items, and main missions are highlighted by yellow diamonds. Of course, you can also take thief contracts that will give you goals to meet to get more cash and experience.
The overall graphics of Thief Simulator 2 are great, and you can see a definite improvement when compared to the first game from 2018. The textures and models of the items you make use of and of the environment are great. However, some of the character models seem a little lackluster in comparison.
The sound engineering was done extremely well in Thief Simulator 2. Everything from the soft sound of your character’s footfalls as you sneak around to the environmental sound effects has been done well. While the voice acting is generally great, there are certain characters where the voice acting falls a little short, as it sounds more like the tone of voice you would use in an infomercial rather than for a mob boss. A nice touch added to the game was the radio for the car; the music is great and breaks away from the monotonous feel of just staking out a house.
Overall, Thief Simulator 2 is an amazing stealth simulation and has really improved on a lot of aspects from the first game. Its controls are easy to learn and can be fun for those who enjoy stealth simulations or just about any stealth game.
