The Crown of the Sun (Thieves in Time)

Lore & Background

In the ancient era that The Crown of the Sun inhabits, a great temple complex rises beside a vast body of water, its halls carved from pale stone and inlaid with gold. The Crown itself—a circlet of molten light and polished metal—sits in the innermost sanctum, guarded by the temple's own mechanisms and the ever-present shadow of Clockwerk's agents. The artifact is not merely decorative; in the game's mythos it is a key component of the temporal energy Clockwerk needs to stabilize his machine and lock the timeline in his favor.

Sly's crew arrives via Caracota's time-traveling vessel, dropping into the temple's outer courtyards. The heist demands the classic Cooper blend: Sly's agility for vaulting and wall-running, Bentley's gadgetry to disable traps and distract guards, Murray's brute force to clear locked gates, and Caracota's acrobatic flourishes for reaching otherwise inaccessible ledges. The temple's layout is layered vertically, with sunlit upper galleries, shadowed lower corridors, and a central chamber where the Crown catches the light in long, sharp beams.

Completing the heist is not simply a matter of grabbing the Crown and running. Clockwerk's presence is felt throughout—his clockwork constructs patrol the halls, and his voice booms through the sanctum, taunting the crew. The mission's emotional weight comes from the contrast between the serene, sun-washed architecture and the mechanical, ticking menace of the villain's intrusion into a place that has stood for millennia.

In Their Own Story

The heat hits first—a wall of dry, golden air that smells of sandstone and old incense. Sly crouches on a broken column, watching the courtyard below where two clockwork sentries rotate in slow, grinding arcs. Bentley's fingers twitch on his gadget belt. Murray, behind them, shifts his weight and mutters, "I still don't get why we can't just kick the door in."

Caracota is already gone, a blur of fur scaling the inner wall toward the upper gallery. The Crown glints far above, half-lost in a shaft of afternoon sun that turns the dust to gold. Clockwerk's voice rolls through the temple like a bell toll, patient and amused. "You're always a few centuries too late, little raccoon."

Sly grins. "Then we'll be a few centuries early on the way out."

They move. The temple swallows them, beam by beam, shadow by shadow, and the sun keeps burning overhead, indifferent to thieves and tyrants alike.

Reader's Guide

Target: The Crown of the Sun, a circlet artifact housed in the innermost sanctum of an ancient temple complex. The goal is to infiltrate, disable or bypass the temple's defenses, secure the Crown, and extract before Clockwerk's forces close in.

Obstacles: The temple is a vertical, multi-level structure. Clockwork constructs patrol fixed routes in the lower corridors, while the upper galleries rely on environmental hazards—collapsing floor tiles, swinging pendulum traps, and narrow beam-bridges over open pits. Guards are sparse but well-placed at chokepoints, making stealth traversal more important than direct confrontation.

Story placement: This heist lands in the middle of the campaign, after the crew has established their time-travel routine and before the final confrontation with Clockwerk. It serves as a set-piece that showcases all four playable characters' abilities in a single, cohesive environment.

What makes it tricky: The verticality demands precise platforming, especially on Murray, whose larger hitbox makes tight ledges punishing. Bentley's gadgets are the key to disabling the clockwork sentries without triggering alarms, and Caracota's acrobatic moves open shortcut routes that skip otherwise mandatory backtracking.

Alternate approaches: A fully stealthy run is possible by using Bentley's distractions to redirect patrols and Murray to quietly disable locked gates. Hidden collectibles—gadget parts and optional challenges—are tucked into the upper galleries and the temple's sub-basement, rewarding players who explore beyond the main path. Completing the heist without a single alarm triggered unlocks a bonus reward at extraction.

Did You Know?

• Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time was developed by Sucker Punch Productions and released for both PS3 and PS Vita, with the Vita version supporting cross-buy.
• The game introduced Caracota, a new playable raccoon, as a fourth member of the crew alongside Sly, Bentley, and Murray.
• Clockwerk, the series' time-traveling villain, was voiced by a different actor in Thieves in Time than in the earlier 3D titles, reflecting the game's fresh narrative direction.
• Each heist in Thieves in Time is set in a distinct historical or fantastical era, requiring the crew to adapt their approach to period-specific environments and defenses.