Laser Thief, day one: your living room is the vault

Laser Thief turns your own room into a laser vault, and on the first evening it works surprisingly quickly. You duck, step over beams, grab the loot and carry it back to the start platform. The opening is carefully paced, and failure costs almost nothing. Our day-one verdict: buy it if you have a clear area of around 3 × 3 metres.

For context: we’re describing the game as the studio documents the current content. The store page still shows older images — more on that below.

What shipped

Room selection comes first. Every time you start, the “Choose your heist site” screen opens. Each room scanned in Meta Space Setup appears as a holographic card with dimensions and a miniature model. If you have no scan, you pick “Quick Play”: a clear area of 3 × 3 metres right in front of you, adjustable between 2.25 and 3.75 metres.

Then the intro. On the very first launch, a scene of around 90 seconds plays in your own room. A laser cuts a window into your real wall, and behind it lies Neon City in the year 2089. The little robot BLIP flies in, asks for a wave and explains the situation: HALO Corp has stolen the “Heart of Light”, the crystal that powers the city. You’re to steal it back.

Then Thief Training. Five lessons teach the basics:

Ducking under a red beam
Grabbing loot and bringing it back
Magenta lasers that blink
Cyan lasers that only trigger on fast movement
A green hunter laser that follows you

Mistakes are forgiven. You step back onto the platform and the lesson starts again.

Then the story mode. According to the studio, it’s 5 worlds with 24 levels each, so 120 levels. Every fifth level is a gadget heist with cameras, hammers, fuse boxes or cable cutters. The first world is called Neon Vault and starts with simple hurdles and limbo bars.

There are four more modes on top: Dancing Lasers, Bomb Run, Endless Heist and Free Mode. For day one, the story is plenty.

What convinces on the first evening

The feedback is clear. Lasers hum louder the closer you get, from around 20 centimetres. The glove shifts from cyan to red. On every hit, a slow-motion wireframe shows which body part touched the beam.

And the room is taken seriously. Beams end at your real walls. L-shaped rooms are supported. Laser heights adapt to your measured eye level.

What’s missing

No multiplayer. Laser Thief is a single-player game. Taking turns on one headset works, but that’s it.
No online leaderboards. Stars and best times are saved locally only.
No seated mode. The game is built for room-scale. If you want to play sitting down, this isn’t for you.
Haptics only with controllers. With hand tracking, the rumble as you approach a beam is gone.
Space is still space. The store recommends at least 3 × 3 metres. Smaller rooms get thinned out, but the game can’t work miracles.

Safety before the first countdown

The game demands ducking, bending and dodging. Before you start, glass, cables and pets should be out of the play area. The store rates comfort as “Comfortable for some”. Short sessions with breaks make sense, and the studio recommends this too.

What we’re watching next

How well worlds two to five introduce the new laser types: cyan, orange, amber, white, green and violet.
Whether the gadget heists stay fresh across 120 levels.
When the store will show the current content in its images and description too.

The buying facts

Laser Thief cost £7.99 in the UK Meta Store on 10 October 2026. The listing names Quest 2, Quest Pro, Quest 3 and Quest 3S, PEGI 12, no ads in the game and no internet requirement. Here’s the Laser Thief store page.

Launch Score and verdict

The Launch Score of 8.9 is the editors’ opinion. It stands for a thoughtful opening, fair hit rules and plenty of content for the price. Points come off for the missing multiplayer, the space requirement and the outdated store images.

Buy now, wait or skip? Buy now if your room is clear. Wait if you only have a very small area and want to get some room-scale experience first. Skip it if you only ever play seated.