There also used to be a sense that Modern Warfare was the millennial one and Black Ops was the zoomer one. With the tonal differences that suggests. Again those differences have largely been ground down now.

It’s all a bit of a mulch now though with every game seemingly having every mode and being worked on by every developer.

Different sub-series, used to also mean a different primary developer Treyarch vs Infinite Ward. Tonally Modern Warfare was more ”ripped from the headlines” vs Black Ops focus on conspiracies and Sci-Fi. Also Black Ops used to be the only one that had the Co-Op PvE Zombies mode.

I’m watching and only providing help when asked, which honestly isn’t very often. She wasn’t expecting to have to carry Basso out.

Cragscleft down, close to 100% loot obtained.

Did Bafford’s on Hard, moved up to Expert for the extra objectives on Cragscleft. Health has been a minor issue versus the zombies.

Honestly, she just gets lost a lot and has to find a key that has mysteriously been broken into multiple pieces in order to get home.

To be fair Ayn Rand is right there…

It’s engaging, it’s not amazing but it does feel like it’s genuinely trying to be a Thief game and hasn’t just dropped the name onto a generic stealth game.

Third post-tutorial level down, levels getting larger but still about on-par with Deadly Shadows. Does get kind of buggy unfortunately, most are manageable but it begins to impact the mood when interaction points disappear randomly.

Unfortuantely it’s analog movement. I too tend to feel queasy with that but it’s been alright here so far, though I understand trying it out is risky given how bad VR sickness can get.

It’s also a game that doesn’t try to distant itself from the originals, the events of that world explicitly occurred, and there are lost relics of the various factions to be found, including one that made me smirk.

Dialogue is decent if unremarkable, one side character feels a little “Ren-faire” but that‘s a specific character choice. Magpie the main character largely shares Garrett’s sense of humour. Voice acting is solid, lot of regional British accents.

Aesthetically my initial thoughts hold up, a better realised visual identity than Thief 4 that again feels closer to Deadly Shadows, with a good use of colour and materiality. Dishonored has also clearly been a visual reference point.

Levels are fairly small but interconnected, Deadly Shadows levels without the mid-level divide are the best comparison. So far you always need to escape once you’ve completed the main objectives.

It’s not as systemically rich as the first two games which is a shame but expected. It’s mechanically in line with Thief 4, though the slightly loose nature of VR allows it to feel more organic in interesting ways.