Info about Thief Simulator 2:

Official game description:
Thief Simulator 2 will transport you to a world full of valuables, expensive cars, and rustling banknotes. As long as you find a way to steal them.  
Know that a thief’s trade is not a piece of cake. In order to get some practice, you’ll start with petty theft. This is how you’ll gain the experience required to access more and more risky – and most importantly, more profitable – jobs.  
Gain levels and unlock new possibilities. Get useful tools. Together with newly acquired skills, they will pave the way to expensive items, which you can then sell on the black market. The tools of your trade include a crowbar and binoculars, as well as advanced equipment that becomes available as you progress, such as a laptop for hacking through security systems.  
The creators of Thief Simulator 2 have prepared two unique locations with houses, banks, restaurants, and other special places that you’ll get to strip of money, valuables, and other items. But before you do, examine the surroundings: find out when the building empties out, learn the tenants’ or the employees’ schedule. Then you just need to prepare a strategy and it’s gone time.  
Just be quick and efficient. You don’t have much time, so you’ll need to immediately assess which item to take and which one to leave. Can you handle the pressure, or will you panic?  
Make sure to work on cars between robbing buildings. Start with small family sedans and make gradual steps towards mastery, which will allow you to steal the coolest sports cars.  
Remember to keep your eyes around your head. Even the best plan can fall apart, and the local police are just waiting for a chance to put you in handcuffs. Don’t get caught. Always be one step ahead of law enforcement.  
**Feature list**  
*   Two neighborhoods, with over 20 houses to break into. Learn tenant's routines, pick the right time to break in, and then rob them  
*   Three heists, each with a unique location. Make your way into a resort with 6 houses full of loot, a warehouse crawling with guards, and a central bank with gold waiting to be snatched from the vault.  
*   Get better and better tools, ranging from a crowbar or binoculars to hacking laptops, stethoscopes, etc.  
*   Make your way into houses undetected, or run in welding a baton and knock everyone out. Alternatively, put them to sleep using sleeping gas or a tranquilizer gun. The choice is up to you.  
*   Payphone missions - rob certain locations in a specified amount of time  
*   Over 15 contracts requiring you to steal unique items  
*   Level up your thief and acquire new skills, which allow a number of new possibilities. Learn special skills, and activate unique abilities.  
*   Escape the police - intense chases with police cars and helicopters. Be careful to not get shot.  
*   Upgrade your car, change its color, give it more power - or just buy a sports car and be no match for the police.  
*   Steal cars - begin with a small, family sedan, and work your way up to a sport's dream car

Release date: 4 Oct, 2023

Categories: Thief Simulation, Stealth Gameplay, Resource Management, Character Progression, Investigative Gameplay, Driving Simulation, Puzzle Solving, Single-player Story


- Hardware Profile: No data
Feature extractions:
- Community Price: No data
- Playtime Metrics: No data
- Time-to-fun: No data
- Player Archetypes: No data


Below are summaries of things people say about the game per category.
Each point is assigned a weight that represents how often it is mentioned across all reviews.
What players like:
- Engaging Thief Simulation Gameplay (weight 1): Players highly enjoy the core gameplay loop, finding it fun, unique, and addictive. The game successfully delivers on the "thief simulator" fantasy, offering strategic, tense, and satisfying experiences through various mechanics like scouting, breaking in, and fencing stolen goods.
- Significant Sequel Improvements (weight 0.6): The game is widely praised as a substantial upgrade from its predecessor, offering significantly more content, larger maps, and improved mechanics. New features like drones, accomplices, pickpocketing, and various heists enhance the gameplay experience and provide more strategic options.
- Realistic Graphics & Immersion (weight 0.17): Reviewers appreciate the game's detailed and realistic graphics, which contribute to a strong sense of immersion. The visual fidelity is noted as an improvement over the first game, enhancing the overall experience.
- Varied, Challenging Missions (weight 0.06): The game offers a wide array of missions, including main and secondary quests, which are described as well-designed, exciting, and challenging. This variety keeps the gameplay fresh and engaging for players.
- Minimal Bugs, Polished (weight 0.05): Despite some initial "jankiness" that some reviewers found charming, the game is generally considered to be well-polished with minimal bugs. The developers are noted for consistently squashing bugs and adding quality-of-life features.
- Streamlined Car Dismantling (weight 0.05): The process of dismantling cars has been significantly improved, becoming simpler and more ergonomic. Reviewers appreciate that it no longer requires tedious individual screw selection, making it a more enjoyable puzzle-like activity.
- Petting Cats for XP (weight 0.05): A specific, well-liked detail is the ability to pet cats in the game, which rewards players with experience points. This small feature adds a touch of charm and is frequently mentioned by players.

Common complaints:
- Widespread Technical Problems (weight 0.31): The game is plagued by numerous bugs, frequent crashes, and poor optimization, often rendering it unplayable. These critical issues significantly hinder progression and overall player experience.
- Unengaging, Short Story (weight 0.19): The game's narrative is criticized for being bland, unengaging, and excessively short, with an abrupt and confusing ending. This contributes to a feeling of the game being unfinished or abandoned by developers.
- Flawed NPC AI & Detection (weight 0.16): NPCs exhibit unrealistic and inconsistent behavior, including seeing/hearing through walls, repetitive lines, and poor pathing. This leads to frustrating and immersion-breaking detection mechanics.
- Limited & Unrewarding Content (weight 0.15): The game suffers from a lack of diverse content, particularly in its heists which are short, few, and feel unrewarding. Progression feels unclear, and the variety of stealable items is limited, leading to repetitive gameplay.
- Shallow Core Mechanics (weight 0.09): The fundamental gameplay mechanics are described as simple, lacking depth, and often janky. This contributes to a feeling of the game being primitive and unrefined, with poor in-game guidance.
- Annoying Police Mechanics (weight 0.07): The police AI is criticized for being unrealistic and overly aggressive, leading to frustrating instant arrests and long, boring waiting periods during pursuits.
- Causes Motion Sickness (weight 0.05): Some players reported experiencing motion sickness, dizziness, and headaches, suggesting issues with the game's camera, movement, or visual presentation.

Gameplay feedback:
- Diverse Theft Mechanics (weight 0.32): The game offers a wide array of tools and techniques for stealing, from stealthy lockpicking and drone usage to more direct methods like knocking out residents. Players progress by selling stolen goods, unlocking new skills, and customizing their hideout.
- Accessible Yet Challenging Stealth (weight 0.15): The game is generally easy to learn with a tutorial, but offers adjustable difficulty levels, including a challenging hardcore mode. While it's a stealth and recon game, some find the movement less elegant than other stealth titles, requiring patience.
- Varied Playtime & Story (weight 0.1): The main story offers a moderate playtime, typically 8-20 hours, with some lore available. However, achieving 100% completion, including all achievements and side content, can extend gameplay significantly to 40-100+ hours.
- Dynamic Police & Capture (weight 0.1): The game features responsive police and NPCs, with alarms, cameras, and dogs triggering responses. If caught, players face consequences like losing loot, paying bail, or going to jail, with an enjoyable jailbreak mechanic available.
- Multiple Game Modes (weight 0.07): The game provides various modes like Story, Free, Hardcore, and Sandbox Survival. Hardcore mode increases difficulty with limited saves and disabled UI elements, while Survival mode adds hunger and thirst mechanics.
- Dedicated Heist Missions (weight 0.04): Heists are distinct, separate missions accessible from the hideout, offering quick money. These areas are always trespassing zones and do not allow saving, adding a unique challenge.
- Low Grind Level (weight 0.03): The game generally has a low grind level, with progression feeling natural. Grinding is primarily necessary only for competitive leaderboards or achieving specific ranks.
- Violent NPC Neutralization (weight 0.03): Players can use a crowbar to attack, knock out, or even "kill" NPCs, which can be used to farm items or destroy property for payment. This offers a more aggressive approach to gameplay.

Performance notes:
- Moderate System Requirements (weight 0.03): Some players perceive the game's PC requirements as decent or average, suggesting it should run on a variety of hardware configurations. However, this often contrasts with the actual reported performance issues, implying optimization is the core problem rather than inherently high graphical demands.
- Graphics Settings Recommendations (weight 0.02): Players recommend specific graphics settings adjustments, such as using SMAA for anti-aliasing and disabling spatial reflection, SSAO, and motion blur. These suggestions aim to improve performance or visual clarity, indicating areas where default settings might be suboptimal.
- Good Steam Deck Performance (weight 0.01): The game reportedly performs well on the Steam Deck, indicating good optimization for Valve's handheld device. This is a positive point for players using that platform.
- Poor Map Construction (weight 0.01): One specific criticism highlights issues with map construction, citing an example of a poorly designed fountain with an unclear purpose or object inside. This suggests a lack of polish or logical design in certain environmental elements.
- Manageable Game Size (weight 0.01): The game's installation size is considered manageable by at least one reviewer. This is a minor positive point regarding disk space requirements.

Recommendations:
- Highly Recommended Game (weight 0.27): Many players highly recommend the game, often praising it as a worthy successor to the first game or a good choice for fans of stealth and simulation genres. It's seen as a solid purchase, especially for those seeking a relaxing single-player experience.
- Technical Issues & Price (weight 0.19): Many players do not recommend the game at full price, citing significant technical issues like controller problems, game-breaking bugs, and crashes. They often suggest waiting for fixes or a deep sale, or playing the first game instead.
- Needs More Content (weight 0.08): Players express a strong desire for more content, including DLC, story expansions, and general updates. They believe additional development time and new features would significantly improve the game's overall quality and longevity.
- Buy Only On Sale (weight 0.06): A significant number of reviews advise purchasing the game only when it is heavily discounted. They often state that the game is not worth its full price but offers good value during a sale.
- Contains Demonic Themes (weight 0.03): One reviewer specifically notes that the game contains 'demonic things' and recommends it only if this content does not bother the player. This indicates a niche content preference or warning.
- Difficulty & Completionist (weight 0.03): Players discuss different difficulty modes, recommending normal mode for a better experience or hard mode for a challenge and achievement hunting. Some also provide specific tips for 100% completion, like managing in-game money.
- Focus on Stealth Gameplay (weight 0.02): The game is highlighted as a pure stealth experience, appealing to players who enjoy covert operations and avoiding direct confrontation. It's recommended for those who appreciate sneaking and strategic planning over action.

Other player notes:
- Desired future content (weight 0.16): Players consistently express a strong desire for more content, including DLC, new missions, neighborhoods, and general updates to expand the game's length and replayability. The game hints at future content, reinforcing these expectations.
- Request for multiplayer (weight 0.15): There's significant interest in adding multiplayer or cooperative modes, with suggestions for specific maps or gameplay scenarios. Players believe this would greatly enhance the game's fun and replayability.
- Broad audience appeal (weight 0.04): The game is generally considered suitable for a broad audience, including adults, teens, and even children, despite some mentions of potentially scary events that might make it less appropriate for very young children.
- Solo developer praise (weight 0.03): Many reviewers acknowledge and praise the game's development by a single person, appreciating the consistent content updates and overall quality achieved by a small team.
- Unproofread writing (weight 0.03): One specific criticism noted was the presence of "awful, unproofread writing," indicating a need for polish in the game's text and dialogue.
- Improve UI indicators (weight 0.02): Specific feedback indicates that indicators for multiple tabs, such as house upgrades and skill trees, need to be made clearer. This suggests a minor usability issue that could be improved.
- Desire for more cars (weight 0.02): Players expressed a desire for more car options to purchase and use within the game, suggesting an expansion of available vehicles would be a welcome addition.
- Achievements & lore (weight 0.01): The game includes achievements and Easter eggs, particularly those referencing the first game, which adds to replayability and rewards series fans.

Emotions:
- Satisfaction (weight 0.31): Players feel satisfied due to the game's significant overall quality improvements over its predecessor, including enhanced graphics, refined mechanics, and a wealth of new content. The core gameplay loop of stealth and stealing is highly engaging, offering players freedom, strategic depth, and a fulfilling "thief fantasy" experience, making the game addictive and providing excellent value for money.
- Disappointment (weight 0.18): Disappointment stems primarily from the game's perceived inferiority to its predecessor, often cited for a lack of significant new content, innovation, and replayability, making it feel more like an update than a true sequel. Players also express frustration with technical issues such as poor optimization, bugs, and deleted progress, alongside missing features like multiplayer or robust customization.
- Frustration (weight 0.17): Frustration is largely driven by severe technical issues, including frequent game crashes, corrupted save files, and poor optimization, leading to lost progress and unplayability. Additionally, players are frustrated by flawed game design elements such as the lack of a quick save system, forcing full level restarts, and unrealistic or "wall-seeing" AI behavior that leads to unfair detection and constant police pursuit.
- Excitement (weight 0.08): Excitement stems from the game's significant improvements and expanded content compared to its predecessor, offering a varied and engaging gameplay experience. Players are thrilled by the tactical depth, unpredictable NPC reactions, and the intense, heart-pounding moments during stealth missions and police chases, which contribute to an addictive gameplay loop and a fulfilling "thief fantasy."
- Joy (weight 0.05): Joy is derived from the game's inherently fun, fluid, and effective stealth gameplay, enhanced by new content and mechanics that offer freedom and variety. Players particularly enjoy the engaging and humorous scenarios, as well as specific delightful interactions like petting in-game animals, contributing to an overall positive and immersive experience.
- Enjoyment (weight 0.03): Enjoyment is consistently linked to the game's overall fun and addictive gameplay experience, particularly its effective stealth mechanics and the freedom offered by free-roaming theft. Players appreciate the engaging missions, strategic depth, and the improved AI, which collectively contribute to a highly satisfying gameplay loop.
- Amusement (weight 0.03): Amusement arises from the game's unexpected, challenging, and often absurd scenarios encountered during robberies, coupled with its inherent humor and quirky mission objectives. Players find the ineffectiveness and illogical behavior of NPCs and police particularly entertaining, leading to humorous anecdotes and chaotic gameplay moments.
- Anger (weight 0.02): Anger is primarily caused by the game's severe technical issues, including frequent crashes, game-breaking bugs, and a generally poor technical state, which often lead to a loss of immersion. Players also express anger over unfair gameplay mechanics such as broken controller support, instant arrests, and flawed detection systems, alongside perceived poor developer quality.
- Hope (weight 0.02): Hope is centered on the anticipation for the game's future, specifically the desire for more content, including updates, DLC, and new modes, to expand the gameplay experience. Players also express hope for significant future improvements, such as better optimization and crucial bug fixes, to enhance the game's overall quality.
- Desire (weight 0.01): Desire primarily reflects players' longing for more content, including additional updates, new locations, and a sequel, to extend the game's longevity. There's also a strong desire for missing features such as multiplayer, character customization, and more varied spending options, which would enhance the overall gameplay experience.
- Boredom (weight 0.01): Boredom sets in due to the game's repetitive gameplay mechanics and limited content, which quickly lead to monotony, especially in the latter half of the game. Players find the core loop becomes tiresome, and tasks like inventory management contribute to the feeling of tedium.
- Confusion (weight 0.01): Confusion arises from a lack of clear guidance and progression pathways, leaving players lost or unsure of objectives, particularly towards the end of the game. This is compounded by difficulty understanding certain game mechanics and the story, as well as the presence of seemingly unnecessary features.
- Admiration (weight 0.01): Admiration is primarily directed towards the game's impressive quality and balancing, especially considering it was developed by a single person. Players are highly impressed by the solo developer's achievement and the significant effort put into creating such a polished experience.
- Annoyance (weight 0.01): Annoyance is caused by repetitive NPC lines and behaviors, such as constant searching or detecting players through walls, which break immersion. Minor bugs, clunky mechanics like safe busting, and frustrating elements like instant arrests or persistent helicopters also contribute to player irritation.
- Anticipation (weight 0.01): Anticipation is driven by the strong desire for future content, including upcoming DLC and general updates, which players eagerly await to expand the game's experience.
- Appreciation (weight 0.01): Appreciation is expressed for the developer's ongoing support, including significant game improvements, the addition of new features, and thoughtful design choices that enhance variety. Players particularly value the effort and quality achieved by a single developer.
- Engagement (weight 0.01): Engagement is characterized by players losing track of time due to the game's addictive gameplay loop and high replayability. The substantial amount of content, combined with an engaging story and achievements, keeps players deeply immersed in the experience.
- Contentment (weight 0): Contentment reflects a general satisfaction with the game, particularly its excellent value for money and the overall positive experience it provides. Players feel pleased with the amount and quality of content received relative to the price.
- Surprise (weight 0): Surprise is experienced when the game exceeds expectations, particularly regarding its overall quality or when a player unexpectedly enjoys a stealth game despite typically disliking the genre. It also arises from unexpected in-game events, new content, or the excitement of heist missions.
- Fear (weight 0): Fear is primarily triggered by the game's horror elements, specifically scary maps like the "ghost house," and unexpected jumpscares caused by tenant sounds or other in-game events.}