When I was growing up there were two series that people would talk about as the main stealth games, Metal Gear Solid, and Thief. Having been more of a console player I ended up missing the original Thief games, but even then I was excited to see the series make a brief return in 2014.
Created by Eidos-Montreal and Square Enix, the game saw the return of master thief Garrett, who has been away from his homeland for a long time. Upon his return he finds his home, simply called The City, is now under the rule of a tyrannical and cruel new leader, Baron Northcrest. When Garrett is hired to steal from the Baron's home, along with an inexperienced thief called Erin, the job will end up changing his life, and The City, forever. When the mission goes wrong thanks to Erin, and a magic ritual being performed by the Baron and his men, Garrett falls into a coma.
Waking a year later, Garrett learns that The City is in the grips of a plague called The Gloom, with entire parts of the city in quarantine. As Garrett recovers he goes on a few missions to steal special items from across the city, and learns of a conspiracy to overthrow the Baron. Working with the resistance, Garrett finds himself caught up in a larger plot than he first thought; one with the fate of The City on the line.
Originally announced in 2009 as Thief 4, or Thi4f, the game went through a great deal of changes during its early development, including having a third person perspective at one time, and also having a completely new protagonist. Following the release of Deus Ex: Human Revolution in 2012 the team for Thief was expanded significantly, and work began on the game in earnest.
The final game ended up being more in line with the original trilogy, though a number of newer gameplay elements that had become popular over recent years had been included. Despite that, stealth was still the order of the day. Whilst the game does include elements such as melee combat for those times when you get into trouble it's not the best implemented, and sneaking without being seen remains the best course of action throughout; even if it does take longer. Skulking in the shadows, learning guards patrol routes, and moving slowly are the keys to success, leading you to your objective.
Whilst Garrett is tasked with stealing specific items it doesn't mean that that is all you can take, and practically anything that isn't nailed down can be grabbed and thrown into Garrett's swag bag to trade on later. The only problem with this is that it does ruin the illusion that Garrett is a master thief, who gets in, grabs what he's been hired to steal, and gets out, and he becomes a petty looter at best. But, I can understand why the developers would include the ability to take anything the player wanted so as to avoid accusations of railroading or restricting gameplay.
One of the areas in which Thief excels is in it's lighting system. There have been many, many games where the stealth system is little more than crouching turning you invisible, with enemy AI having no way of looking down. There have been countless games where I've questioned the abilities of enemy guards as I walk two steps behind them in the bright light whilst they're oblivious to my presence. But thanks to the way that light and darkness work in Thief it does feel that you're actually using the darkness as a tool, rather than relying on guards being near sighted.
Upon its release Thief was received fairly well, with decent scores from many publications. Reviews criticised small issues with the gameplay, but rated it as a fun and enjoyable experience that fans of the originals would enjoy. One area in which it was called out a lot, however, was in the voice acting. Original voice actor Stephen Russell had been replaced by Romano Orzari, who was described as 'flat'; it also didn't help that the lip synching in the game's cut scenes was pretty poor, which further brought attention to lacklustre acting.
Whilst the game was criticised on some points Thief received decent review scores, and was an enjoyable enough experience whilst playing it, there has been no further games in the series, making the time since Thief's release as long as the gap between it and the previous game in the series. With no news of another game coming, however, it looks like 2014's outing might be the last mission for Garrett.
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