An expanded game of Thief: The Dark Project
Thief Gold is a first-person perspective stealth game. It was the first game to use light and sound gameplay mechanics – different surfaces cause varying noise. You can use sound to your advantage - it's not only your main source of information on how close your enemies are but you can use it to distract them, for example by throwing objects. With unscripted levels, and objectives and paths altered based on difficulty settings, Thief Gold can give you hours of non-repetitive gameplay. This extended edition includes all of the missions from the first release, as well as three new missions adapted to the original storyline, with full voice acting and new graphics. It can still be considered the first game in the Thief series.
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Old ways are eroding in the face of societal advancement, and the powers that be are willing to go to extreme lengths to balance the scales in their favor - enter Garrett, a charismatic and talented thief at the top of his game. At first, he's simply the best of the best, pulling heists on the City's wealthy to mostly pay his debts and not much else. Suddenly, he's offered a job so good it could let him retire for good if he does it right, with the mysterious patron promising riches beyond his wildest dreams. Little does he know that his efforts are aiding in the completion of the titular 'Dark Project' - a plan so diabolical that even selfish old Garrett feels obliged to help put a stop to it.
While the story isn't anything fresh, the levels themselves are often mini-plots of their own, and the highlights are so bright they stand tall even today in the annals of stealth games. Lord Bafford's Manor, The Sword, Song of the Caverns, Return to the Cathedral - the best ones are treats I could return to anytime, they're so good.
The bad levels, on the other hand, regularly kill the momentum and take so much time they manage to kill entire playthroughs. For my money, the worst ones are the Lost City and the Mage's Tower, the latter being so bad as to kill my playthrough of the game for nearly a year. Nothing so bad as to be insurmountable, but there's nothing more painful than starting a level thinking it'll be 30 minutes at most and realizing it'll actually be 2 hours because of the terrible layouts and frustrating objectives.
That said, I loved this so much I'd gladly start another playthrough this Halloween for the top-tier spooky vibes and shadowy aesthetics. Definitely near the peak of stealth games I've played and a new favorite for sure. Now, on to Thief 2!
but then half the game just decides it wants levels to be in some crappy mazes with zombies and shit making you run in circles trying to find some bullshit and it just ruins the experience. there are points where i thought about just quitting the game entirely.
i pray thief 2 and 3 dont have any of the zombie caverns this game had
I've started this game for ~12 times, and my personal best was the fifth level. Thief makes me struggle so much, and I'm still trying to find the exact reason for that. I've played a lot of immersive sims in my life, and it really surprises me that I have a massive skill issue in this one. Is it local AI? Complicated levels, maybe? I don't know.
However, the gameplay I've had felt great, and I enjoyed as much as I could in my conditions. Thief plays very comfortable even now, and levels have a lot of content to see too. Difficulty system looks interesting and makes the game more replayable, which is also cool.
If I ever beat this game in my life, I'll rewrite this review, and now I'll let it be as it is at the moment.
Sometimes things aren't that difficult to find or solve and the distinction that's made from those experiences is what separates a cohesive and amazing stealth experience and one of frustration and backtracking in massive labyrinthian stages. The halting of progress is a massive pain, but I won't deny it's one that makes for a unique aesthetic experience. You're not a highly paid spy provided with compensation and assistance by your employers. You're a thief and you have to make do with what you get your hands on. I just think the translation of the idea to the gameplay doesn't always work.
Which brings me to why I love this game despite that. Replaying the game, knowing what to do will be a whole new experience. The open stages that provide nonlinear approach to progress, all the various tools and obscure sequence breaking methods create a game that's so ridiculously rich it's mind blowing this came out when it did. The fact that there's a fanmade mode where people beat stages without attacking or even being HEARD is a testament to how brilliant this game can be. You can also suck like me and be discovered frequently past the first few stages and end up being forced to kill most enemies. Catching a glimpse of how expertly you can play this game really gives me hope to eventually reach that level someday though. I feel like the more combat I get into, the more I'm being held up by cryptic progression the less I'm getting out of the game. If you're seriously good at this game it seems so fucking addictingly good and I hope someday I can reach that level.