Our adventures with this team of plucky journalists have just begun, and already they find themselves without backup, heading into a situation that can most charitably be described as “sketchy”.

Acharky and I have our work cut out for us if we have any hope of keeping these lemmings safe.

Something I noticed playing through this section was that there were a lot of technical hiccups we experienced when both of us were playing together. Both when the guys are traveling up to the lighthouse to shoot B-roll, and when the girls are sent out to spy. The game was struggling to display Chris’s character correctly. Either they were not visible at all, or they were in the wrong position T-posing in place.

I worry that as we progress through the game, that’s only going to get worse.

Another year has passed, and Acharky and I once more find ourselves in the study of the enigmatic Curator. And with that, we’re thrown into another tale of life and death, to ferry another group of doomed souls to salvation.

Will we succeed *this* time? Or are these poor journalists doomed? Let’s find out as The Dark Duo plays The Dark Pictures Anthology: The Devil in Me.

As Chris mentioned when we were recording this episode, the introduction is based on the real story of Henry Howard Holmes. Note that is “based” on the story, and not the real story. Some fictionalization is involved, much like with Ourang Medan in Man of Medan. And yet, the kernel of truth is exactly what makes the fiction so compelling.

In terms of opening sections, this is one of the stronger ones for The Dark Pictures Anthology. Even though both of us knew going in that the couple was fated to die, we couldn’t help but grow fond of the doomed newlyweds almost immediately. It’s shame they had to go out that way, but that’s just what it means to be in a Dark Pictures opening segment.

Next time, we start to learn a bit more about our actual cast.

We’ve successfully opened and traversed the Cooper Vault while keeping its contents out of the hands of the sinister Dr. M. But before we leave Sly Cooper for good, let’s take a moment to discuss the bonus content that players could unlock by finishing 100% of the game.

• “Goodbye My Sweet” Animated Short
• Canceled Sly Cooper Movie Trailer
• Dimitri Music Video
• The Evolution of Sly

I don’t have much to add beyond what I said in this video, but in general, I have a fondness for the devious raccoon that will likely never fade. As much as I would love another entry in the series, I have long since accepted that that time has long passed, and it is unlikely that any developer could live up to the expectations I would have for such a game.

It was fun while it lasted, but all good things must come to an end.

Of course, we may have had to brave the obstacles of the Cooper vault fair and square, but there was no way that Dr. M was going to be held back for long. Not when he’s spent so much time lusting over this fortune.

It’s only natural that he’s our final obstacle.

The strangest part of Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves is how its themes and moral message ended up playing out for the franchise on a meta-level. On the whole, this is a game about being willing to let go of the past, even if one values and appreciates it, because holding onto it deprives one of the chances to move on to bigger and better things. As the antagonist, Dr. M clings to the Cooper fortune despite all reason and dies as a direct result. Meanwhile, our gang, including Sly, by putting it all behind them, are all able to move on to new pursuits.

This is intentional because while the team Sucker Punch loved (and still loves) the franchise and the time spent creating it, they were itching to move on to new horizons. They would go on to create two amazing new franchises with inFamous on the PS3 and PS4, and Ghosts of Tsushima on the PS4 and PS5. Both of them would go on to receive huge critical and commercial acclaim due to their individual strengths. And while they did, Sly may not have gotten any new games or media, but people held a fondness for him and his friends.

And yet, it didn’t end there. After porting the PS2 entries over to PS3, Sunzaru Games developed the fourth game in the Sly Cooper franchise: Thieves in Time. Rather than letting the franchise’s finale stand, on such a high note at that, a new official Sly Cooper game was in the pipe, with all of the original cast for Sly, Bentley, and Murray making a return. In hindsight, it’s not a bad game by any stretch, but it is easily the weakest entry in the series, with some plot twists and reveals that fans are unhappy with to this day.

It’s almost poetic how the original trilogy ended with the theme of needing to move on but failed to fully commit to that same message in real life. As a result, it created a middling game that fans regularly contest. While it’s not impossible to revive an old franchise with a new development team and fresh ideas, as Crash 4 can readily attest, it’s extremely difficult to do so. Sunzaru sadly couldn’t quite pull it together.

We’re done with the main game, and we have one episode left. Next time, we’ll take a bit about the extras that we’re included for those of us who achieved 100% of the optional objectives.

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.

At last, we’ve assembled the full crew necessary to tackle the Cooper Vault job. With Dr. M still squatting on the island, looking to take the fortune for himself, it will be tough. And yet, with the talent we’ve gathered, we just might be able to pull it off…?

Wait. Crap. I remember now. We were in the middle of being crushed to death by a giant mutant. Guess it was just too good to be true.

Or was it?

Of course, Sly gets rescued immediately after we return to the scene from the introduction, but his injuries give us enough of an excuse to give all of our new playable characters a chance to shine, for the most part.

We already mentioned how Dimitri only gets used exactly twice over the entire game, something I was at least aware of even at the time. What somehow escaped me is that the Panda King doesn’t get a playable section at all in the finale, even if he does get a few moments to utilize his fireworks. I’m honestly a little shocked that escaped my notice in the numerous times I’ve played and replayed this game.

Fortunately, all of these sections are exactly the right length where they introduce something new to break up the normal gameplay without overstaying their welcome. It’s a sequence that’s paced well, showing how the cast has come together as a unit.

Now that they’ve gotten us into the vault, we’ll have all of the next episode to collect our inheritance.

Captain LeFwee, this so-called “smartest man on the seven seas”, may have gotten the better of us this day, but we’re nothing if not tenacious. We’ll bite back, and harder.

Let’s give him a show he won’t soon forget.

This particular segment just so happens to have many of my favorite missions in the entire game one after the other. The Kraken fight in particular is a great set piece, where both the Panda King and Sly get to shine. And then to pay it off by letting us play as that same sea monster, turning it against the scurvy dogs that we’ve been fighting this whole time… chef’s kiss.

Speaking of payoffs, Penelope’s duel against LeFwee himself is another, both for her and Bentley’s character arc and the time-honored tradition in pirate fiction of hypercompetent female leads who are roughly twenty times as capable as their male counterparts. There’s no better way to send off a pirate episode than such a daring duel on board a ship out to sea.

With that taken care of, and our final member on the team, we’re ready to finish this game next week.

Our mission to steal back the treasure that rightfully belongs to Dimitri has hit a couple of snags, but that comes as no surprise to the Cooper Gang. We’re used to working under pressure, and this is no different. With cunning, planning, skill, and a hint of luck, even this new LeChuc… I mean LeFwee character is no match for us.

I don’t think it’s possible to include a pirate-themed chapter in a game like Sly Cooper without introducing ship combat and/or treasure hunting with an old-school treasure map. They’re so tightly woven into the setting and genre that we would feel their absence.

Thankfully, both of them were implemented well. It’s shocking how seamless the transition between the sailing overworld map and ship combat is. I can’t imagine how much work went into that detail alone, and that same level of craft is on display for the combat itself. It may be simple in concept and control, but there’s a depth to maneuvering the ship to avoid enemy cannon fire while angling our own cannons between volleys to deal maximum damage. I spent a lot of time battling ships in Honor Among Thieves as a child because it is by far the fastest way to grind the coins needed to purchase all the gadgets for the cast. If it wasn’t for the fact that we were on stream, I would have done so again because I like the mechanic that much.

I’m less hot on the treasure map mechanic, but I’m still overall hot on it. It’s a great recreation of the fantasy that comes from deciphering and following a map to buried treasure. Almost every kid has done that at some point in their adolescence, and I’m no different.

The only weird aspect of this episode is Dimitri’s contribution to it. I never realized it before, but looking back at the footage he’s barely in this episode at all, and it’s supposedly his recruitment mission. Even his actual job feels like an afterthought because the focus is primarily on Bentley and Penelope’s relationship. Ironically, the scene from the thumbnail is the only time he talks in this entire episode.

At least it’s in service to a fun chapter.

Dimitri has finally cashed in on that favor we promised him back in Holland. We’re tasked with recovering the treasure that was stolen from his grandfather when he was still a young man. If we succeed, not only will we repay the favor, but only gain a new member for the Cooper Gang.

We just need to outwit a town of bloodthirsty pirates in order to do so. Can’t be too difficult, can it?

In any other world or setting, an anachronistic pirate adventure starring a modern-day gang of thieves would seem really odd and/or out of place. But for Sly Cooper, and almost specifically Sly Cooper, everyone in the team feels right at home here in Blood Bath Bay. If anything, the cell-shaded graphic and animation style, combined with the charisma of the core cast, work to seamlessly blend the gang into almost any type of setting that the team at Sucker Punch could envision some form of thievery taking place.

And as someone who enjoys pirate fiction, it’s fun seeing all the homages to said fiction. When Sly is jousting with his words the way Guybrush Threepwood does in Monkey Island, it’s easy to feel the reverence that the development team held for this genre. I can almost picture in my head the person in the pre-production room enthusiastically pitching the pirate scenario to the rest of the team when I play these missions.

To top it off, we get some genuinely great moments between Bentley and Penelope in this hub world. Watching them bond, and have a heart-to-heart moment as Penelope gets over her puppy love for Sly and realizes she gets along with Bentley far more, gives both characters what they need to grow and develop.

It’s not the most profound writing in the world, but it doesn’t have to be. It’s good, and that’s all that matters.

This General Tsao character is starting to tick our gang the cluck off. Though his chicken is delicious, he’s in serious need of an attitude adjustment.

Fortunately for us, it’s time for us to give him the wake-up cock-a-doodle-doo of a lifetime. I’m really going to enjoy this.

God, that felt good. Even if the boss fight against the dragon had some technical problems, it’s still a solid setpiece fight that fits the locale. And with that, the Panda King is officially part of the crew.

We have one more person to recruit and one last job before the Cooper Vault heist, so next week we head to pirate country and finish off the team.