Thief

 Thief

Type	Stealth
Single or multiplayer	Singleplayer
Developer	Eidos Montreal
Publisher	Square Enix
Fun	3/5
Difficulty	4/5

Thief – the game where you play as a master thief, robbing the people of their randomly placed loot and unfurling a large and magical tale of betrayal, sacrifice, and conspiracies, all under the cover of darkness.

As all of the missions you take will be done during the night, you might think that the game has a problem with being too dark. I haven’t found this to be the case. Quite the opposite – most of the time you will want the shadows and darkness to skulk around, to hide bodies, and to escape if need be.

The graphics are pretty impressive for the time it came out. The sprawling City is full of side alleys, beggars, torches and electric lights, patrolling guards, and climbable obstacles. The game of light and shadow, which is of a crucial importance in a stealth game like this, is also done really well. Not once have I noticed the shadows being where they don’t belong, and the dynamic lighting can at times be impressive to behold.

The voice acting is standard. The main character, Garret, sounds like a typical uninterested coldblooded antihero, with only a few situations as exceptions. Other characters you meet all have good voice actors, and the way they deliver their lines is good, or even great for some of them. From time to time, though, you will hear voices from NPCs like they are right in front of you – and you’ll be standing on a roof with no windows nearby. These situations can be annoying, but do not ruin the immersion completely.

The gameplay is standard for a first-person stealth game. You try to reach your objectives without being spotted by the guards or other opponents. A swoosh ability, with which you can move from shadow to shadow quickly and silently, is quite useful, but remember not to use it around birds, as they react to sudden movements.

Guards will react to your actions too. I remember from the old games that even stepping on a sword of a downed guard would cause them to come to investigate. Here, they are not so vigilant, but that doesn’t mean you can stand right in front of them, even if you are in the dark. Although they sometimes get stuck in textures, it is a very rare occurrence.

If a guard is in your way, you can usually move around him, as there are always more than one ways to reach your destination, or you can try to distract him. But if you do want to kill everyone in your way, which I do not recommend, you have eight types of arrows at your disposal, from regular and blunt ones, to fire and water ones. A claw is also in your inventory, which allows you to grab ledges you wouldn’t otherwise be able to. 

 

There is also a rudimentary fighting system, with only one button to hit and one to dodge. If you are surrounded, however, might as well load a game. Another opponent will come from behind and gut you. But, truth be told, you might go through the whole game without using the combat system once.

Since the game is called Thief, there is quite a bit of thieving going on. Every trinket and painting you steal, every drawer and chest you open, every safe and door you try to unlock – everything is depicted by a short animation. This is a nice little touch, especially compared to other games where you open a chest, and press a button to have it all magically appear in your inventory. Speaking of that, where Garret keeps all his stuff stashed during the mission, I choose not to know.

The game also boasts a lot of unique and collectible loot, from rings and clasps to paintings and plaques. You need special tools to obtain some of these, and this means that if you want to be a perfectionist and have them all, you need to repeat some chapters once you get the right tool.

The biggest issue I have with this game is the constant trotting around in order to get to your objectives. From your main hub, you need to go to different parts of the city to reach secondary and main quest markers. This involves walking in shadows, over and over, avoiding patrols, which becomes increasingly difficult as the game progresses, as some of them require you to go through several loading zones.

Often it is not clear how to get to another part of the city, even with the map, as you might have to go through a hard to reach window, or through a vent shaft, or through a house even. Pair that up with three or more side quests between main chapters, and you get a recipe for boredom. I ended up just running past the guards and climbing, just to get to my objective quicker. A fast travel feature would have been a life saver.

The story is just what you would expect from a game of this type – dark, scary at moments, and intriguing enough to keep you playing. The side characters are the same – interesting enough, but none too memorable. Even though Garret is a typical brooding dark hero, and I did not find him particularly charismatic, I still felt like a ghost in the shadows in certain missions.

Overall, Thief is not a bad game, far from it. Take it from someone who doesn’t really like stealth games – it has a lot to offer, it has unique features, a well-balanced difficulty curve, and missions just interesting enough to keep you playing. So have a go with Thief, and try to uncover the mystery surrounding the Master Thief of a scary, sinister, steampunk City.