It’s been more than six years since Sly Cooper last starred in a caper, but the raccoon cat-burglar’s long-awaited return to action is just over the horizon. Earlier this week, we got a chance to tackle Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time for ourselves, and judging from what we’ve played so far, the franchise is in good hands with new developer Sanzaru. Thieves in Time is a finely tuned, cel-shaded, goofy platformer filled with stealth, climbing and opportunities to steal stuff – in short, it’s everything we’ve come to expect from a Sly game.

We visited two levels during our playthrough: in the first one, we crept through a restaurant in feudal Japan as Sly’s ninja/sushi chef ancestor, Rioichi. In the second, we explored a medieval big top as Sly, armed with an archer costume that let him shoot remote-controlled arrows attached to ropes, which he could then run across. And while we could bore you with more description, we’ve instead brought together two editors who played the game – GamesRadar’s Mikel Reparaz and PlayStation: The Official Magazine’s Scott Butterworth – to talk you through the two levels in their entirety and point out cool stuff along the way.

So far, Thieves in Time looks poised to be a treat for fans who’ve missed the larcenous raccoon’s antics. We’ll find out for sure when the game finally arrives sometime this fall.