In case you’ve been living under a rock (or perhaps just didn’t care enough to know), the first three Sly Cooper games have been put natively onto PS4 and PS5 stores in recent times.

Needless to say for a venerated series such as Sly, this news was met with thunderous applause and a sudden lightening of wallets. As I have mentioned, I am among those who joined in both. I certainly don’t regret my purchases either; I had skipped the PS3 generation entirely, so it feels nice to have three of my favorite childhood games playable in a cleaner, more modern format.

There is, however, a cold wind blowing through this happy news. Among the circles I follow both on art sites and Youtube, a question has begun popping into Sly lovers all over: What does this bode for the series? Could it be possible that this is all a run-up to a future new game in the series, could these rereleases be the beginning catalyst of a Cooper Renaissance?

I suppose I must give my two cents, if only so that some will hear and take into consideration.

As much as it pains me to say it, I don’t think we should be expecting much from this, at least in terms of Sly content. I believe the buck is going to stop here, save Thieves in Time getting a rerelease somewhere further down the line (though that is a BIG maybe given that game’s reputation).

I don’t say this to be a downer, but I just don’t see how it can be managed.

Even barring the execs at Sony apparently still trying to break into the ‘always online’ game market with doubtlessly minimal success, there is a big problem that any Sly Cooper game will have if anyone tries to make it, be they Sucker Punch, Sanzaru or anyone.

And yes, it all points back to Thieves in Time.

I have made no secret in my feelings for the fourth game in the Sly series, just look at certain comments and stories I’ve made over the years and you’ll get a concise picture of my distaste for it. The game is a knick-knack display where England has merged with France and you’ve got a Cardassian figure wielding a Klingon blade. The worst part is, I no longer know who to blame for it: Sanzaru were the folks in charge, but looking at the game’s development shows Sony gave that team loaded dice at every opportunity. Sony did a lot of boneheaded things in the PS3 days it seems. In fact, if my sources are right, the game wasn’t even meant to be a mainline entry for the Sly series, just a Vita spinoff that was shifted when it was clear the handheld was D.O.A.

Whatever the reason, we are left with a game that is fine on surface glances, but the cuts come the more you play and think about it all.

And the biggest cuts of all come from the story. Again, I think we all know what those cuts are.

The ending of Sly lost in Egypt and the Penelope turning evil twist.

These two beats are the monumental hurdles that any attempt at continuing the Sly series has to leap over and, bluntly speaking, I see no way that can be done gracefully. Especially not with the Sly series’ reputation of character and story.

The way I see it, there are only two options that a story has to work with: barreling through and ignoring them.

On one hand, the continuing option would be a better option from an integrity standpoint. The series is no stranger to consequences, just look at the character of Neyla and how her actions shaped not just the second game, but the third as well. The issue is, that feels like it’ll be either opening the door for a long winded series of game events that’ll slow everything to a halt or a disappointing handwave. For an example of this, look at the Ratchet and Clank series: after the debacle of no multiplayer in Tools of Destruction, Insomniac are still paying the price story wise with the never ending ‘Lost Lombaxes’ plotline. I mean, I loved Rift Apart, but that detail felt like such an annoyance for me.

However, you have the simpler option and ignoring Thieves in Time. Now, how can that be done? Well, considering the time travel plot, it would be easy for the crew to make up a paradox where, by going back in time to stop Le Paradox’s schemes, the gang made it so they never happened and therefore everything is fine on that front; Sly and Carmelita are still together, Penelope got over…whatever she was on, ect, ect. However, that steps into the realm of dues ex machina, not to mention a very slippery slope of how seriously events in the series should be taken if problems can be so easily solved.

In a game, story and characters are not all you have to work with, in fact many think gameplay should be top priority as that is what separates video games from other media. But the best games, in my mind at least, are ones where the developers walk a tightrope where everything must be balanced. Again, as seen in Thieves in Time, one story or character aspect out of whack can send the whole tower crumbling.

Plus, lets be real, that kind of lazy get-out-of-jail-free-card is never appreciated be they game, film or otherwise.

I’m not saying there aren’t other ways of ignoring Thieves in Time. To go back to the Ratchet and Clank comparison, the series was able to just move along from Size Matters and Secret Agent Clank with no real effort just by simply ignoring them. Though that was possible because not only were they done by a different studio, but also were handheld spinoffs first only to be later ported to consoles. Funnily enough, SAC’s porter was none other than Sanzaru.

Again, I fail to see how anyone could get the Sly series out of this hole with anything resembling credit.



So, sadly, I don’t believe we should hold our breath for a fifth game for our thieving raccoon and his friends. God knows I want to believe, but I just can’t.

However, that’s not to say there isn’t hope for something new. Like I said, the trilogy’s rereleases are doing gangbusters all things considered and are some of the highest rated things in the PSStore. It’s clear people love the series.

Ever better, we got Astro Bot, a game that proves not only that we PS kids all still have the love of the classics in our hearts, but that a platformer can outdo the bloated, overglorified movies and money pits the higher companies are trying to foist onto us.

I don’t believe it’s the series itself that the Cooper trilogy’s rerelease is meant to uphold, but the principle of a fun, simple, single player experience (with perhaps a touch of splitscreen) with good characters and enjoyable gameplay. Combine this with an indie scene that grows and learns by the day and I say there is a real chance for something.

Someone, somewhere has the power to bring the next Sly Cooper into the light, or perhaps the next Crash Bandicoot or Jax and Daxter, hell, the next Jumping Flash cause that is actually a real fun time for how simple it is. Maybe they have the programming skills, maybe they have buckets of money from backing the right horse at the Christmas races, or perhaps they have the stamp of approval that a company project needs to get underway.

Maybe it’s one of you reading this right now.


“It’s not about the family name…it’s what you do with it.”

-Sly Cooper