At last, we have cracked open the Cooper Vault. Sadly, though Sly wished to bring his best friends with him for the adventure, he must continue on alone.
And so, we explore the vault for the game’s final platforming sequence. May it be one for the books.
This is perhaps one of the strongest notes for the platforming in this game to end on. Not only does it feel suitable grandiose to physically traverse the Cooper family history, up to the present day, in playable form, but there’s an underlying tragedy that is felt just as palpably as that grandiosity.
Earlier, back in the Panda King segment, I spoke of Sly’s ancestry as a weight on him, and this level gives that weight a physical presence. As we navigate the traps and obstacles Sly’s ancestors left to keep non-Coopers out of the vault, we can almost feel Sly’s struggle and desire to measure up to the legacy laid out before him. With each ancestor’s trap we overcome, he gets that much closer to proving that he’s a worthy successor to the name.
Yet at the same time, the vault itself has clearly seen better days. What must have once been a beautiful monument to the family line has decayed to ruin over the years. Great stores of wealth and splendor have been left to fester and rot, worthlessly hidden away from the rest of the world, unable to be of use to anyone at all. In that sense, this cave is a tomb as much as it is a vault. It is almost like peeling back a layer of gold on a piece of jewelry, to be greeted by the pyrite core underneath.
While it still remains just as magnificent, there is an element of sorrow that is felt while beholding the place. For that reason, it beautifully encapsulates the themes that rest at the core of the game.
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