The first 20 minutes: what Laser Thief gets done before your first heist

Before you crack your first real safe in Laser Thief, the game has already done a lot. It scans, asks about your room, tells a story and teaches five lessons. That sounds like waiting around. In fact it’s one of the better-built opening sequences in room-scale. Here’s the timeline, as the studio documents it.

Minute 0: the room check

After launch, “Scanning your space…” appears with a loading icon. BLIP, the little flying robot, asks you to hold still. The game asks once for permission to use room data, then loads every room saved in Meta Space Setup.

Refuse permission and you get a prompt. Have no scan and BLIP suggests scanning your room so the lasers can reach the walls.

Minute 1: “Choose your heist site”

The room picker opens on every launch, not just the first. Each scanned room appears as a holographic card: name, dimensions in metres, a spinning wireframe, furniture in magenta and a dot for where you’re standing. The last room you played is pre-selected.

Without a scan there are two options: “Scan my room” starts Meta Space Setup, “Quick Play” uses a free 3 × 3 metre area in front of you. Pick a room and its walls are traced over your real surroundings. Stand outside the room and the game warns you.

Minute 2 to 3: the intro in your own room

On first launch there’s a roughly 90-second cinematic. It plays in passthrough, so it happens in your actual room. The beats:

1. A laser cuts a window into the wall in front of you over a good two seconds.
2. Behind it lies Neon City, 2089, a night skyline with the HALO Corp tower.
3. BLIP flies in and asks for a wave. A wave or a button press both count.
4. A hologram shows the “Heart of Light”, and a blackout wave rolls across the city.
5. A glowing orb floats over. You touch it and you’ve got the laser glove.
6. Two red bars race towards you. BLIP shouts “Duck!”. You duck, or you don’t. Nothing is lost either way.
7. The wall seals itself up and the title burns into the air.

The intro isn’t just show. It quietly tests waving, grabbing and ducking — exactly the movements that matter later.

Minute 4 to 15: Thief Training

Training measures your height first. Then come five numbered lessons, all styled after the first world, Neon Vault:

Before that there’s an optional step: poke BLIP. It’s a gag, but it also explains how menus work by tapping or pointing and pinching.

Mistakes bring sparks, a red flash and a dazed BLIP. Then you’re back on the platform and the lesson reloads. There’s no dedicated lesson for stepping over beams, because feet aren’t tracked.

Minute 15 to 20: home screen and first level

After the completion fanfare the home screen appears. A world wheel with five floating islands, and a big gold play button below. That jumps straight to your next open heist, which the first time round means level 1-01.

Play briskly and you’re standing on the platform for your first real heist after about a quarter of an hour. The exact figure depends on how often you fail the lessons.

What you can skip

Intro and training can both be skipped. A floating button asks for two presses within three seconds, and the controller’s menu button skips instantly. Either can be replayed later under “Headquarters”.

Our advice: don’t skip. The lessons explain magenta, cyan and green, and those three colours decide the first worlds.

What’s missing

• No mention of room size in the intro itself. Sort out your space beforehand.
• Training covers only five of eight laser types. Amber, white, violet and orange only turn up in the story or the lexicon.

What we’re watching

What’ll be interesting is whether new laser types are introduced as cleanly in later worlds. According to the studio’s plan, cyan arrives in world two, amber and white in world three, green and violet in world four.

Buy now, wait or skip? If you want a gentle start, buy now. Those first 20 minutes aren’t a hurdle, they’re a very good tutorial. Details and price are on the store page.