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A Deep Dive into Sly 3: Honor Among Thieves

2CPhoenix

183,756 views

This is it, the gang's assembled and in position.
Yes, this an 8-and-a-half-hour video essay about Sly 3. Not a combination of stream vods or some sort of longplay, but approximately 73,000 words on everything I know about this game, from trivia, to gameplay secrets, to deep analysis of its writing and themes. Whether you've played the game and are hungry to learn all you can about it, or have never touched it just wanna know what the deal is with this scrappy band of thieves, I hope you enjoy!

Sly 3: Bonus Videos:
The Evolution of Sly: The Evolution of Sly | Sly 3 Unlockable Bo...
Dimitri's Music Video: Dimitri's Music Video | Sly 3 Unlockable B...

My Patreon, where you can see these videos in early access and contribute: https://patreon.com/user?u=61202379

My Discord Server: Discord: discord

Special Thanks:
‪@YggraIith‬ (2CPhoebe): @yggraiith)
‪@MythologyInGaming‬: @mythologyingaming
‪@BMask‬: @bmask

Bruce Artwork by Icarus_.art
2CPhoebe Artwork by milkghost https://x.com/_milkghost_?lang=en

This video was originally released in parts that covered each of the game's 7 Episodes. If you would prefer to watch those parts in a playlist instead of as one monstrous video, then please enjoy them here: Game Break Down [4] Sly 3 Honor Among Thieves

Music and Chapters:
YouTube's 5,000-character limit on descriptions prevents me from being able to provide comprehensive information on the music used in this video, or its chapters. If you are looking for a specific mission from the game, or a specific song I used, you'll find the descriptions of the videos in the above playlist more helpful.

0:00 The Beginning of the End
24:53 An Opera of Fear
1:41:31 Rumble Down Under
2:47:19 Flight of Fancy
4:12:27 A Cold Alliance
5:41:03 Dead Men Tell No Tales
7:12:33 Honor Among Thieves

20 Comments

@TheMonsteratior 7 months ago

Some neat little details I like about the dialogue tree is that Bentley and The Murray require going through some wrong answers before the right one is given to you. Meanwhile, Sly, who is good with quick thinking and improvising, can get the correct answer in the first try in all of his dialogue tree moments

I also like that The Murray's correct answer in his dialogue tree has him taking action instead of using words

@trystenmawn6495 6 months ago

I haven't played this game in over a decade but "If you don't got nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all" and Mugshots getting more upset the longer the scene goes on has stayed with me ever since I first saw it

@Soragop 3 months ago

11:44
You know, Sly throwing his cane to save Bentley sums up the message of the game in a brief moment. His cane, a very important heirloom that connects him to his family's legacy, is not worth more than the people in his life. Sorry for the random comment, I just realized that moment was a lot more important in retrospect than Sly simply saving one of his best friends.

@vaguevex7860 9 months ago

on the point of people never hesitating to open fire on sly as carmelita; i just want add that its also a sign of how fantastically shes been characterized over the series. we all know shes not gonna kill him, and that trust is truly beautiful i think.

@brocksells197 11 months ago

My headcanon for the fake canes by the vault is that the Thievius Racconus has some kind of instructions for building a true "Cooper Cane". So M may have made ones that look the same, but without the book, he doesn't know the exact right way to make them work

@jaxtodamax 11 months ago

Carmelita's added hostility makes a ton of sense if you assume that she's failed the Cooper Gang case enough times to be taken off of it entirely. Octavio is the first time we see Carmelita's main focus NOT being Sly while employed by Interpol.

@wariodedede 5 months ago

Another fun thing about General Tsao aside from the name sounding like the food, being a "cocky" rooster, and having the same color scheme as the Luan you mentioned. Sly 3 released in 2005 which was ALSO the year of the rooster in the Chinese zodiac

@JoseGabrielMoraisdaSilva 11 months ago

8 hours of content, man, I watched the whole series and didn't realise it was so... Short...

@kyusimp6171 11 months ago

Just a thought, but perhaps Sly is a good pilot because of Otto Van Cooper? If reading the book can teach Sly to ninja spire jump, then surely reading the book can teach him to pilot

@ellasquire2381 6 months ago

I really liked how you approached the symbolism of the ending. While getting a 4th sly game seemed SO great in theory - not only was it kind of butchered but the whole reason of him returning to thieving being the ‘old itch’ coming back feels so at odds with the acceptance he has for moving on at the end of sly 3. like bro you saw all the gold in the world and decided you didn’t want it. you can get the thrill of a complex plan coming together in your new job on the other side of the law !!!

anyway this was the longest yt video I have ever watched. a pleasure thanks!

@LonePhantom756 11 months ago

I am going to miss your retrospective on the Sly Cooper series.

Though it occurs to me that you never did one for the FIRST game...

@andrecook2213 11 months ago

New canon: the guru was staunchly against the gangs activities and the gang just choose to hear what they want to hear

@JaydeDino 11 months ago

Man these vids were so damn good I can’t wait to watch them all again back to back.

@zestyraccoon813 6 months ago

Sly pulling off his biggest heist so far, years of experience.

Bentley: Jump and hit the circle button

@NekoNoca 11 months ago

While rewatching this after the multi-part series I realized that Bently might repeat the goal of the mission after the chalktalks because he lowkey knows that sly and murray don't pay attention to them. Thought about that during the oil well missions dialogue about how murray doesn't pay attention lol