Ever since the Black Parade released to marvelous acclaim hitting Moddb’s mod of the year for 2023. I couldn’t help but ask myself “Is Thief good?” In an effort to see if the game holds up, I decided to start with the first installment before I inevitably reach the mod down the road. And I must say after 28 hours on expert difficulty. Thief Gold(Thief 1/T1) by Looking Glass Studio. Is a dark, thrilling, and fulfilling experience in reigniting all the checkmarks I like and love in the stealth realm. And I am glad to be back in the genre once again. From my days in Metal Gear, Syphon Filter & Old Assassin’s Creed.
Originally called Thief: The Dark Project. The gold edition adds three new missions to deepen the plot and five new enemies. Edited original missions with a slew of bug fixes. So this feels like a definitive edition. Although I did have to use several mods I’ll detail later on to bring the game up to modern standards.
The premise is simple and you control a single character Garret who is a master thief. With no special powers whatsoever. His days from being a homeless orphan were discarded long ago since he joined a secret order. Years later he leaves and decides to make it on his own. Delving into the path of thievery without remorse to fulfill his greed for money. He is ambitious, selfish, cynical, and an untraditional protagonist. All qualities I don’t like at all for a main character and yet by the time the end credits are rolling, I am very tempted to head right into the sequel to see what’s next in store for him.
Worldbuilding is subtle, dark, and strangely yet fittingly humorous at times. A mix of middle ages, dark fantasy, and on the cusp of an industrial revolution. With lore dropping from scrolls and conversations between guards during their breaks. Offering vital gossip on the citizenry, complaints of co-workers, and my personal favorite lore stories and convenient tips/hints that may connect to the main cast. A method to reach a previously unassailable location. Secrets will be revealed unintentionally and a good eavesdropper should without hesitation use it to their advantage to maximum effect. G-man will also monologue amongst himself and will at times drop interesting commentary during work. Usually comments like being dumbfounded or witty responses to abrupt changes in objectives. A nice change of pace from the otherwise silence permeating while you lurk in the shadows. Parchment readings and books offer insightful lessons and teachings from the factions of Hammerites and the Pagans. Both believe in their gods in a way bordering unhealthy zealotry and are at odds with one another. The supernatural elements took me by surprise many times. Spells, incantations, and rituals are fitting. Inducing a mystical wonder beyond the medieval. Zombies, ghosts, and malformed supernatural creatures are here to stay. Oh, and bugs like mutated spiders I didn’t think were a threat had me running away once I caught sight of them. Seriously, how can they jump so high and shoot acid!? Machinery such as factories, smelting tools, and items with a steady supply of lava provide their citizenry with new forms of artificial light instead of the traditional natural fire to illuminate surroundings. Creating an interesting level design throughout, a blend of medieval housing full of conventional bricks, wooden planks, and pavement with the power of adopting steel into the surroundings.
Quite ingenious for a stealth-based gameplay approach back in the old days. Erase approaches such as shooting from afar with guns or tasing anyone to oblivion. The game operates on a mission structure. Before a mission starts you are given a briefing of the events prior, a chance to buy equipment using gold earned from a prior mission, and a handy, but vague map. Embarking on a new place in the City at various times. Always looking forward to a new place to see the sightsand steal whatever I can of course. Sometimes your goals will change during an operation. Good o’l no plan survives contact with the enemy is important to keep in mind. Therefore, caution is advised when conducting skullduggery. But hey Garrett has immensely useful tools to help. No stamina gauge when swinging weapons. Innate ability knocking a bow and arrows. The blackjack is easily the #1 most useful weapon. Capable of one-shotting nearly every enemy into blissful unconsciousness. They never get back up despite hours passing by too! You can move them into shadowed areas preventing patrols from encountering them and thus initiating an alarm at a whole base. Arrows dipped in fire, water, gas, and rope are likewise vital in completing a task. Blasting creatures with fire is like launching a missile capable of damaging multiple enemies. Water aids in dousing torches causing the light in room/s to darken and therefore allowing one mistah G to conduct his activities in better stealth mode than dressing up like an orange ninja from a shinobi world. Gas is powerful. No not fart ones, these kinds if launched correctly can take out groups of enemies into dreamland. Vital when being chased by a horde of angry guards…
Additionally, the rope arrow single-handedly changed my whole experience. Making me think outside the box. Reminds me of using the GLOO gun from Prey and applying the weapon to reach places I wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to exploit regular means. The cable, by comparison, allows one to hit any wooden surface dropping a decent length of string. Becoming instantly available for climbing. As a result, you can traverse higher elevations. Furthermore, one can retrieve their shaft if applicable to re-use once again making the tool highly versatile in nearly any sticky situation he’s subjected to. Trust me you’ll need it when you're at a rock and hard place with nearby zombies closing in on your position with nowhere to run except upon checking your surroundings a wooden beam is above. Maybe a handy tool would surely be useful now.
Level design in every assignment is intricate, maze-like, and deep. Displaying an awesome sleight of hand in the dev’s works to craft initially simple environments then suddenly catching me off-guard by transforming into a large several corridors and passageways leading a lost one into a room full of secrets. It is deep and chock full of hidden areas that can be unlocked from levers, switches, and cleverly tucked away corners. Intrinsically linked in the environment. Delivering a cool verticality and thorough ‘puzzle-like’ solving when applicable. The start of any new venture won’t be the same to some extent in the end portion upon completing all your objectives. You will see sprawling organized streets and then hit unfamiliar ruined suburbs and towns. Dive underwater and emerge in desolate gray caves emerging into a facility of machinery mixed with stone masonry. Similar, but different to how dungeons are made from a certain Zelda series. Full of traps, few floors, and twisting passages that can be confusing to any newcomer unused to the design. One of my favorites is encountering an awesome Pixar-like ‘room’ essentially allowing me to venture inside and somehow escape replicating a [T$%] Story-like design. Someone at Looking Glass has good taste being inspired by the 1995 film huh. And to think this was an optional target I could’ve missed. I. Am. Amazed. Sure the rest of the content isn’t filled to the brim with cool sets like those, but to a degree, they offer a unique hodgepodge of interesting locales to wonder and gawk at least. As a newcomer coming into the series I did not expect at all to admire the sheer size of these levels. Some are more subtle in ways before a certain fire nation attacked delving into the mysticism of earth, wind, and water extending the dev’s creativity to their utmost limit. The elements become more profound and are used intricately as I delve deeper into the endgame. Changing the propensity of manmade structures into natural habitats. Surfaces of the earth and elevating platforms in one section demonstrate the move from traditional simple human paths to complex passageways. Can be confusing at times, but hey remember! You have a handy compass and a map too! So all is not lost. A master thief enjoys establishing their path forward through balanced platforming and embracing the wonders of being lost in the thrill of discovery.
Hell the power to jump provides excellent mobility in areas and the level design pays off in spades demonstrating to great effect. For example, Imagine facing a fort with no possible entryway. Ok well, let me go around to see for any wooden roofs or beams. Voila, there is! Shooting a rope arrow then. I climb and then acrobat onto the rampart. But wait, the door is locked inside! Hmm. The new plan is to head to another rooftop and get inside from there. I climb to the nearest rampart point then give myself a boost and ledge grab my way onto my destination. Successfully entering with no one aware. The ledge grab is super satisfying to enact every time. Although I quickly save before I launch myself just in case I fail. Yet holding the jump button is easy to maneuver and painless to execute.
Almost delving into the point of frustration at times, yet never truly becoming mad to the nth degree I wanted to throw my controller. Perhaps due to the save at anytime system in place making retries quick and painless. It is a relief to operate an easy system to retry failed attempts since most levels are so large. Not an open world at all. Garrett conducts most of his missions at different new locations within the metropolis, which we can explore without a time limit. And there’s always something new to look forward to. I ventured into a manor to steal a scepter. Dived into the pits below to enter hidden caverns and reach a prison facility. Sought treasure in abandoned ruins, boldly stole a precious item between two thieves' guilds, and enacted revenge on a rich dude who tried to assassinate me. Seriously the gall of that guy.
Sound design is brilliant, harsh, intense, and fair. And this is weird. Usually, I praise the heck out of the soundtrack, and while it is good. In Thief I found it more enjoyable to analyze how the gameplay and level design work in tandem with the soundscape. Each step you take and every breath you make is calculated. Go on the steel floor versus carpet and rugs and you can see the clear difference upon nearby patrols. Rugs and carpets muffle your steps while treading on steel produces loud noises capable of making any close enemy's senses go on alert. Any action like swinging your sword, launching an arrow, or even bringing out blackjack to play whack a guard heightens an enemy's awareness. G-dude will exhale after an action and it's gotten to a point where I hold my breath whenever I have a close encounter. Exhaling once the coast is clear. Sights and sounds are interconnected. If you’re in a very dark area, chances are you become neigh invisible compared to a brightly lit room. Staying in the shadows like a sneaky fella pays off. And thankfully, you can stay in a crouched position than a normal pose to conduct your sneaky endeavors. Harsh, but I kid you not I repeatedly felt it was balanced throughout at no point during my time did I feel it was brutally unfair at all times. Rather the usage of noise in this instance facilitates between easy to hard and complex as you dive deeper into the latter stages. As if the devs are saying “Hey, we are increasing the difficulty gradually, no steep cliffs or curveballs.” And I like it. Keeps things fresh and exciting to uncover new hurdles. Supernatural entities like zombies and spirits have this ghastly voice. I found myself with chills crawling up my back. And goodness the regular harmless citizen will shout for help to call attention to your current position. Tension is alive. Stress remains an ever-constant companion when pursued, and patience is needed every day for every hour.
Lastly, I also want to praise the main objectives of missions and AI. The latter for being smart and dumb. Patrols once memorize their route and what their limit is. Abusing their ai becomes rinse and repeat and oh so satisfying. Never waking up after becoming unconscious. Some enemies of different classifications will vary in their sight and danger capability. I.E. Seeing farther and more acutely aware of their surroundings than the usual shmuck of a guard with base intelligence. Think of them as elite guards who have an intruder radar built in updated to version 2.0 than the base version. Hearing better on how loud footsteps are near along with acute 20/20 vision if close in line in sight. This is fascinating and as I progressed deeper into the game, proved once again the devs are challenging me to be better. Goals likewise increase in complexity. You have standard, hard, and expert. Differs from traditional modifiers of upping the enemy's health I usually see in other games. Their parameters increase meaning more tasks to do. A 'normal' setting would indicate one or two retrieve an item and escape. 'Hard' adds a couple more like finding another item in conjunction with the main goal. Expert unleashes a full page of tasks to do. From not killing anyone, finding multiple items, checking with a friend of yours, and attaining a set amount of money all while completing the main quest and escaping to boot. Here are several examples of differences in difficulty. Insane. Furthermore, as I continued with 'expert' on all missions, they largely increased my time in a level due to how large they can be. I usually spent an hour or two depending on the size. Only occurred on max settings. If you try the standard option you can breeze through levels much faster. The addition of higher parameters causes an interesting shift to occur for the player. Thus I had to explore as much as possible, find hidden secrets, embrace the longer plans, being meticulous to survive and not incur any of the killings. The game is much easier killing anyone you come across. But a master thief should never kill. Only retrieve what was ordered and then get out without a fuss.
Time for my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative. Just some points from the game I think could be improved, tweaked for the better, and concerns I had. Didn’t affect my overall experience in a major manner.
First, same old, same old textures - Once I saw gray walls, gray bricks, stone pavement, same dirt in more than half of the missions, and frequent density in the latter stages it all became blurred together. Brought up with the maze-like corridors. I felt myself seeing the familiar paths without end. You don’t have a minimap either except a paper map that will vaguely pinpoint where you are. Therefore I had major deja vu. “Haven’t I been here before?” Thankfully, this isn’t egregious and the level variety for what it’s worth elevates everything else. Making it not so noticeable to see constantly. Makes me wonder if the sequel shakes things up a bit with colorful terrain when appropriate. I’m not asking for a rainbow from the color spectrum, merely suggesting slightly distinct patterns.
Second, Some objectives can be a bit vague to find. Like Mission 3. To retrieve the soul of the mystic required me to check everywhere and refer to my papyrus notes for hints and clues. Further, targets or items are not given exact instructions sometimes. Up to you to piece things together. Granted I personally like the non-approach to hand-holding, but some of these goals can be a real head scratcher. If you don’t come across hints and clues, eavesdropping a guard or finding a key to unlock another passageway or door is often the right path forward. Gentle reminder to explore thoroughly. Or use a guide when needed.
Third, May need a tool like a fire, water, or rope arrow to progress. While not required for every assignment. The wire is invaluable and shouldn't be utilized every so often at every opportunity. Elementals to a lesser degree, but still keep them in stock. Most of your inventory is consumables. And while you can find new ammo during a heist, it is best to at least save a decent amount. For situations when you require them. Sucks to use up all of your stock for minor loot grabbed when they may be needed for a critical venture.
Fourth, Wish some missions had health potions available close by. They’re pretty scarce in a job. Some later missions they in my opinion feel needed to help progress rather than me forcing a quicksave and quickload. Saving my health. Enemies can swarm you if you’re not careful and having more health is better than being one-shot. G-guy isn’t some deadliest warrior. So don’t think you can expertly assassinate any bloke. Keep in mind, I played on expert which usually required no bloodshed. Lowering settings offers no restrictions to eliminating anyone.
Fifth, Controls can take some getting used to. I tried keyboard and mouse and found the initial impression cumbersome so I switched to a controller setup and found it far better. Only had to input a couple more keybinds manually and I was fit as a fiddle tosteal! Borrow items. I suggest changing them if you feel weird handling your main character.
Sixth, due to the title being more than two decades old I highly recommend some of these mods I installed to grant an enhanced vanilla experience. Most you can find via a respective PC gaming wiki article. I did use a faithful texture pack. Not the popular one. Feel they change the original textures too much. I’ll leave the choice of what pack to choose up to you. I prefer Enhancement Pack 2.0 alpha.
Mods:
Unofficial patch for Thief 1/Gold - “improves compatibility with new pcs significantly, fixes graphic issues, adds support for widescreen resolutions and much more.”
Texture pack - “Replace all the old, low-quality objects and textures from Thief 1 and 2 with versions that have higher polygon counts and texture resolutions, while keeping as close to the originals as possible.” - This is the hardest mod to install. For some reason, the directions given resulted in half of the textures being improperly replaced. Displaying half high quality and half low quality. Inside you need to edit an ini file to put in the correct mod_path. Here is what I had that finally got everything to work. Hope it works for everyone else. If not, your mileage might vary.
mod_path usermods+mods\packfix+mods\candles+mods\EP\Thief1+NecroAge\Thief1+NecroAge+EP2\Thief1+EP2+mods+mods\t2skies+mods\EP+FMdml
Take a screenshot before the mod is installed and after to see if everything worked out. The rest of the mods I didn't have any trouble inputting.
Subtitles - Self-explanatory. In-game there is no option for subs. With this mod, you can read the spoken dialogue instead of straining your ears.
Sound Enhancement Pack - Makes all sound enhanced and not muddled. Providing clearer audio in both speech and sfx.
60 FPS Video Pack - Original videos are in a low resolution. With the video pack, all the videos are replaced with higher framerate and resolution.
Aside from minor tinkering to get the game up to speed and my barely noticeable mixed feelings. Thief shines when unconventional level design meets strong simple foundations in the gameplay to accentuate and enhance both categories. At its worst players(maybe newbies) may have difficulty in grasping the maze-like paths to reaching their objectives along with vague to almost obscure hints to their solutions(not always, uncommon I think). More so on increasing levels of difficulty than normal I feel. The central narrative I expected to be boring. And in turn I was mentally preparing myself for underwhelming. So to my delight, I was extremely glad to be wrong and found myself beset with a decent narrative and ultimately a likable protagonist.
Finally reaching the end of my trail I found Thief Gold impressed me to a degree I can’t stop thinking constantly about the missions inside. I adore it so much I had to hold off on playing the rest of the series so I won’t get burned out if I continue to run-non-stop at every entry. Filled with lengthy missions depending on difficulty and fair gameplay mechanics to tackle in whatever and however manner you so choose. A freedom in gameplay philosophy I love! And honestly its given me more thought to level design in general and the approach of AI to objectives. I encourage anyone to give it a shot. Especially those who love Stealth or dipping their toes into the genre. For those curious about this old title, it still holds up quite well. Especially if you installed mods to bring it up to modern standards. And hey here’s one tidbit I found fascinating. Turns out Ken Levine worked on Thief along with Warren Spector. These guys would ultimately father some well-known titles down the road. Pretty insightful stuff. I bet we're in for Shocking Examples down the road.
8.5/10
References & Additional Material:
Thief Black Parade Mod
Different Examples of Difficulty
Thief 1 Credits
Mods - Thief PC gaming wiki - Thief 1/Gold Unofficial patch - Sound Enhancement Pack - 60 FPS Video Pack - Texture pack
Subtitles
Edited: 4-3-24 - Small correction on Blackjack use. From human to nearly every enemy. Thanks to @blackcat for the correction! After the small edit. 99% of review still intact.
Originally called Thief: The Dark Project. The gold edition adds three new missions to deepen the plot and five new enemies. Edited original missions with a slew of bug fixes. So this feels like a definitive edition. Although I did have to use several mods I’ll detail later on to bring the game up to modern standards.
The premise is simple and you control a single character Garret who is a master thief. With no special powers whatsoever. His days from being a homeless orphan were discarded long ago since he joined a secret order. Years later he leaves and decides to make it on his own. Delving into the path of thievery without remorse to fulfill his greed for money. He is ambitious, selfish, cynical, and an untraditional protagonist. All qualities I don’t like at all for a main character and yet by the time the end credits are rolling, I am very tempted to head right into the sequel to see what’s next in store for him.
Worldbuilding is subtle, dark, and strangely yet fittingly humorous at times. A mix of middle ages, dark fantasy, and on the cusp of an industrial revolution. With lore dropping from scrolls and conversations between guards during their breaks. Offering vital gossip on the citizenry, complaints of co-workers, and my personal favorite lore stories and convenient tips/hints that may connect to the main cast. A method to reach a previously unassailable location. Secrets will be revealed unintentionally and a good eavesdropper should without hesitation use it to their advantage to maximum effect. G-man will also monologue amongst himself and will at times drop interesting commentary during work. Usually comments like being dumbfounded or witty responses to abrupt changes in objectives. A nice change of pace from the otherwise silence permeating while you lurk in the shadows. Parchment readings and books offer insightful lessons and teachings from the factions of Hammerites and the Pagans. Both believe in their gods in a way bordering unhealthy zealotry and are at odds with one another. The supernatural elements took me by surprise many times. Spells, incantations, and rituals are fitting. Inducing a mystical wonder beyond the medieval. Zombies, ghosts, and malformed supernatural creatures are here to stay. Oh, and bugs like mutated spiders I didn’t think were a threat had me running away once I caught sight of them. Seriously, how can they jump so high and shoot acid!? Machinery such as factories, smelting tools, and items with a steady supply of lava provide their citizenry with new forms of artificial light instead of the traditional natural fire to illuminate surroundings. Creating an interesting level design throughout, a blend of medieval housing full of conventional bricks, wooden planks, and pavement with the power of adopting steel into the surroundings.
Quite ingenious for a stealth-based gameplay approach back in the old days. Erase approaches such as shooting from afar with guns or tasing anyone to oblivion. The game operates on a mission structure. Before a mission starts you are given a briefing of the events prior, a chance to buy equipment using gold earned from a prior mission, and a handy, but vague map. Embarking on a new place in the City at various times. Always looking forward to a new place to see the sights
Additionally, the rope arrow single-handedly changed my whole experience. Making me think outside the box. Reminds me of using the GLOO gun from Prey and applying the weapon to reach places I wouldn’t otherwise be allowed to exploit regular means. The cable, by comparison, allows one to hit any wooden surface dropping a decent length of string. Becoming instantly available for climbing. As a result, you can traverse higher elevations. Furthermore, one can retrieve their shaft if applicable to re-use once again making the tool highly versatile in nearly any sticky situation he’s subjected to. Trust me you’ll need it when you're at a rock and hard place with nearby zombies closing in on your position with nowhere to run except upon checking your surroundings a wooden beam is above. Maybe a handy tool would surely be useful now.
Level design in every assignment is intricate, maze-like, and deep. Displaying an awesome sleight of hand in the dev’s works to craft initially simple environments then suddenly catching me off-guard by transforming into a large several corridors and passageways leading a lost one into a room full of secrets. It is deep and chock full of hidden areas that can be unlocked from levers, switches, and cleverly tucked away corners. Intrinsically linked in the environment. Delivering a cool verticality and thorough ‘puzzle-like’ solving when applicable. The start of any new venture won’t be the same to some extent in the end portion upon completing all your objectives. You will see sprawling organized streets and then hit unfamiliar ruined suburbs and towns. Dive underwater and emerge in desolate gray caves emerging into a facility of machinery mixed with stone masonry. Similar, but different to how dungeons are made from a certain Zelda series. Full of traps, few floors, and twisting passages that can be confusing to any newcomer unused to the design. One of my favorites is encountering an awesome Pixar-like ‘room’ essentially allowing me to venture inside and somehow escape replicating a [T$%] Story-like design. Someone at Looking Glass has good taste being inspired by the 1995 film huh. And to think this was an optional target I could’ve missed. I. Am. Amazed. Sure the rest of the content isn’t filled to the brim with cool sets like those, but to a degree, they offer a unique hodgepodge of interesting locales to wonder and gawk at least. As a newcomer coming into the series I did not expect at all to admire the sheer size of these levels. Some are more subtle in ways before a certain fire nation attacked delving into the mysticism of earth, wind, and water extending the dev’s creativity to their utmost limit. The elements become more profound and are used intricately as I delve deeper into the endgame. Changing the propensity of manmade structures into natural habitats. Surfaces of the earth and elevating platforms in one section demonstrate the move from traditional simple human paths to complex passageways. Can be confusing at times, but hey remember! You have a handy compass and a map too! So all is not lost. A master thief enjoys establishing their path forward through balanced platforming and embracing the wonders of being lost in the thrill of discovery.
Hell the power to jump provides excellent mobility in areas and the level design pays off in spades demonstrating to great effect. For example, Imagine facing a fort with no possible entryway. Ok well, let me go around to see for any wooden roofs or beams. Voila, there is! Shooting a rope arrow then. I climb and then acrobat onto the rampart. But wait, the door is locked inside! Hmm. The new plan is to head to another rooftop and get inside from there. I climb to the nearest rampart point then give myself a boost and ledge grab my way onto my destination. Successfully entering with no one aware. The ledge grab is super satisfying to enact every time. Although I quickly save before I launch myself just in case I fail. Yet holding the jump button is easy to maneuver and painless to execute.
Almost delving into the point of frustration at times, yet never truly becoming mad to the nth degree I wanted to throw my controller. Perhaps due to the save at anytime system in place making retries quick and painless. It is a relief to operate an easy system to retry failed attempts since most levels are so large. Not an open world at all. Garrett conducts most of his missions at different new locations within the metropolis, which we can explore without a time limit. And there’s always something new to look forward to. I ventured into a manor to steal a scepter. Dived into the pits below to enter hidden caverns and reach a prison facility. Sought treasure in abandoned ruins, boldly stole a precious item between two thieves' guilds, and enacted revenge on a rich dude who tried to assassinate me. Seriously the gall of that guy.
Sound design is brilliant, harsh, intense, and fair. And this is weird. Usually, I praise the heck out of the soundtrack, and while it is good. In Thief I found it more enjoyable to analyze how the gameplay and level design work in tandem with the soundscape. Each step you take and every breath you make is calculated. Go on the steel floor versus carpet and rugs and you can see the clear difference upon nearby patrols. Rugs and carpets muffle your steps while treading on steel produces loud noises capable of making any close enemy's senses go on alert. Any action like swinging your sword, launching an arrow, or even bringing out blackjack to play whack a guard heightens an enemy's awareness. G-dude will exhale after an action and it's gotten to a point where I hold my breath whenever I have a close encounter. Exhaling once the coast is clear. Sights and sounds are interconnected. If you’re in a very dark area, chances are you become neigh invisible compared to a brightly lit room. Staying in the shadows like a sneaky fella pays off. And thankfully, you can stay in a crouched position than a normal pose to conduct your sneaky endeavors. Harsh, but I kid you not I repeatedly felt it was balanced throughout at no point during my time did I feel it was brutally unfair at all times. Rather the usage of noise in this instance facilitates between easy to hard and complex as you dive deeper into the latter stages. As if the devs are saying “Hey, we are increasing the difficulty gradually, no steep cliffs or curveballs.” And I like it. Keeps things fresh and exciting to uncover new hurdles. Supernatural entities like zombies and spirits have this ghastly voice. I found myself with chills crawling up my back. And goodness the regular harmless citizen will shout for help to call attention to your current position. Tension is alive. Stress remains an ever-constant companion when pursued, and patience is needed every day for every hour.
Lastly, I also want to praise the main objectives of missions and AI. The latter for being smart and dumb. Patrols once memorize their route and what their limit is. Abusing their ai becomes rinse and repeat and oh so satisfying. Never waking up after becoming unconscious. Some enemies of different classifications will vary in their sight and danger capability. I.E. Seeing farther and more acutely aware of their surroundings than the usual shmuck of a guard with base intelligence. Think of them as elite guards who have an intruder radar built in updated to version 2.0 than the base version. Hearing better on how loud footsteps are near along with acute 20/20 vision if close in line in sight. This is fascinating and as I progressed deeper into the game, proved once again the devs are challenging me to be better. Goals likewise increase in complexity. You have standard, hard, and expert. Differs from traditional modifiers of upping the enemy's health I usually see in other games. Their parameters increase meaning more tasks to do. A 'normal' setting would indicate one or two retrieve an item and escape. 'Hard' adds a couple more like finding another item in conjunction with the main goal. Expert unleashes a full page of tasks to do. From not killing anyone, finding multiple items, checking with a friend of yours, and attaining a set amount of money all while completing the main quest and escaping to boot. Here are several examples of differences in difficulty. Insane. Furthermore, as I continued with 'expert' on all missions, they largely increased my time in a level due to how large they can be. I usually spent an hour or two depending on the size. Only occurred on max settings. If you try the standard option you can breeze through levels much faster. The addition of higher parameters causes an interesting shift to occur for the player. Thus I had to explore as much as possible, find hidden secrets, embrace the longer plans, being meticulous to survive and not incur any of the killings. The game is much easier killing anyone you come across. But a master thief should never kill. Only retrieve what was ordered and then get out without a fuss.
Time for my mixed feelings. Not a positive or a negative. Just some points from the game I think could be improved, tweaked for the better, and concerns I had. Didn’t affect my overall experience in a major manner.
First, same old, same old textures - Once I saw gray walls, gray bricks, stone pavement, same dirt in more than half of the missions, and frequent density in the latter stages it all became blurred together. Brought up with the maze-like corridors. I felt myself seeing the familiar paths without end. You don’t have a minimap either except a paper map that will vaguely pinpoint where you are. Therefore I had major deja vu. “Haven’t I been here before?” Thankfully, this isn’t egregious and the level variety for what it’s worth elevates everything else. Making it not so noticeable to see constantly. Makes me wonder if the sequel shakes things up a bit with colorful terrain when appropriate. I’m not asking for a rainbow from the color spectrum, merely suggesting slightly distinct patterns.
Second, Some objectives can be a bit vague to find. Like Mission 3. To retrieve the soul of the mystic required me to check everywhere and refer to my papyrus notes for hints and clues. Further, targets or items are not given exact instructions sometimes. Up to you to piece things together. Granted I personally like the non-approach to hand-holding, but some of these goals can be a real head scratcher. If you don’t come across hints and clues, eavesdropping a guard or finding a key to unlock another passageway or door is often the right path forward. Gentle reminder to explore thoroughly. Or use a guide when needed.
Third, May need a tool like a fire, water, or rope arrow to progress. While not required for every assignment. The wire is invaluable and shouldn't be utilized every so often at every opportunity. Elementals to a lesser degree, but still keep them in stock. Most of your inventory is consumables. And while you can find new ammo during a heist, it is best to at least save a decent amount. For situations when you require them. Sucks to use up all of your stock for minor loot grabbed when they may be needed for a critical venture.
Fourth, Wish some missions had health potions available close by. They’re pretty scarce in a job. Some later missions they in my opinion feel needed to help progress rather than me forcing a quicksave and quickload. Saving my health. Enemies can swarm you if you’re not careful and having more health is better than being one-shot. G-guy isn’t some deadliest warrior. So don’t think you can expertly assassinate any bloke. Keep in mind, I played on expert which usually required no bloodshed. Lowering settings offers no restrictions to eliminating anyone.
Fifth, Controls can take some getting used to. I tried keyboard and mouse and found the initial impression cumbersome so I switched to a controller setup and found it far better. Only had to input a couple more keybinds manually and I was fit as a fiddle to
Sixth, due to the title being more than two decades old I highly recommend some of these mods I installed to grant an enhanced vanilla experience. Most you can find via a respective PC gaming wiki article. I did use a faithful texture pack. Not the popular one. Feel they change the original textures too much. I’ll leave the choice of what pack to choose up to you. I prefer Enhancement Pack 2.0 alpha.
Mods:
Unofficial patch for Thief 1/Gold - “improves compatibility with new pcs significantly, fixes graphic issues, adds support for widescreen resolutions and much more.”
Texture pack - “Replace all the old, low-quality objects and textures from Thief 1 and 2 with versions that have higher polygon counts and texture resolutions, while keeping as close to the originals as possible.” - This is the hardest mod to install. For some reason, the directions given resulted in half of the textures being improperly replaced. Displaying half high quality and half low quality. Inside you need to edit an ini file to put in the correct mod_path. Here is what I had that finally got everything to work. Hope it works for everyone else. If not, your mileage might vary.
mod_path usermods+mods\packfix+mods\candles+mods\EP\Thief1+NecroAge\Thief1+NecroAge+EP2\Thief1+EP2+mods+mods\t2skies+mods\EP+FMdml
Take a screenshot before the mod is installed and after to see if everything worked out. The rest of the mods I didn't have any trouble inputting.
Subtitles - Self-explanatory. In-game there is no option for subs. With this mod, you can read the spoken dialogue instead of straining your ears.
Sound Enhancement Pack - Makes all sound enhanced and not muddled. Providing clearer audio in both speech and sfx.
60 FPS Video Pack - Original videos are in a low resolution. With the video pack, all the videos are replaced with higher framerate and resolution.
Aside from minor tinkering to get the game up to speed and my barely noticeable mixed feelings. Thief shines when unconventional level design meets strong simple foundations in the gameplay to accentuate and enhance both categories. At its worst players(maybe newbies) may have difficulty in grasping the maze-like paths to reaching their objectives along with vague to almost obscure hints to their solutions(not always, uncommon I think). More so on increasing levels of difficulty than normal I feel. The central narrative I expected to be boring. And in turn I was mentally preparing myself for underwhelming. So to my delight, I was extremely glad to be wrong and found myself beset with a decent narrative and ultimately a likable protagonist.
Finally reaching the end of my trail I found Thief Gold impressed me to a degree I can’t stop thinking constantly about the missions inside. I adore it so much I had to hold off on playing the rest of the series so I won’t get burned out if I continue to run-non-stop at every entry. Filled with lengthy missions depending on difficulty and fair gameplay mechanics to tackle in whatever and however manner you so choose. A freedom in gameplay philosophy I love! And honestly its given me more thought to level design in general and the approach of AI to objectives. I encourage anyone to give it a shot. Especially those who love Stealth or dipping their toes into the genre. For those curious about this old title, it still holds up quite well. Especially if you installed mods to bring it up to modern standards. And hey here’s one tidbit I found fascinating. Turns out Ken Levine worked on Thief along with Warren Spector. These guys would ultimately father some well-known titles down the road. Pretty insightful stuff. I bet we're in for Shocking Examples down the road.
8.5/10
References & Additional Material:
Thief Black Parade Mod
Different Examples of Difficulty
Thief 1 Credits
Mods - Thief PC gaming wiki - Thief 1/Gold Unofficial patch - Sound Enhancement Pack - 60 FPS Video Pack - Texture pack
Subtitles
Edited: 4-3-24 - Small correction on Blackjack use. From human to nearly every enemy. Thanks to @blackcat for the correction! After the small edit. 99% of review still intact.
I look at this game from 25 quintrillion years ago and think why can't stealth games have this awesome level design anymore? seriously. As much as I love MGSV's mechanics and openness to different approaches, all the infiltrate-able bases are little camps like Kojima did the modern artist thing of getting a canvas and just flicking random colors onto there, but instead of paint, it's little tents where enemies stand. Thief, in comparison, is like a collaboration between Leonardo da Vinci and the guy who drew the ceiling of the Sistine chapel. Rooms, corridors, tunnels, and it's not just so you can navigate it. There's verticality that you can scale with the rope arrow, or torches you can douse with water arrows. The best part is the variety of the areas themselves. Not just castles and mansions, but tombs that are better than any modern tomb raider, jails that you have to break a buddy out of, a house specifically designed to make you go insane, everything. And it's all pure awesome.
Would honestly have been 5 maybe if not for some specific levels being bad—thieves guild. Yeah, I took a full star off for thieves guild. Worst level ever. I don't even want to get into it because this level feels like it was lifted out of another game it's so uncharacteristically bad. If I was a thief and I had a guild, I would not make my guild's base hidden under a casino that is under a password-protected restaurant, connected by sewer tunnels just to hide an ugly stupid vase. But seriously if you even have a passing interest in the concept of video games you have to play this.
Would honestly have been 5 maybe if not for some specific levels being bad—thieves guild. Yeah, I took a full star off for thieves guild. Worst level ever. I don't even want to get into it because this level feels like it was lifted out of another game it's so uncharacteristically bad. If I was a thief and I had a guild, I would not make my guild's base hidden under a casino that is under a password-protected restaurant, connected by sewer tunnels just to hide an ugly stupid vase. But seriously if you even have a passing interest in the concept of video games you have to play this.
One of the greatest games of all time gets its pacing demolished by some new missions that suck total ass. The Thieves Guild and Mage Towers each make up, consecutively, 30 million hours of game time and are not fun. The Opera House is pretty cool but I still think I'd rather it not be here if it meant the other two wouldn't be here either.
It's a shame that this is the version most people are going to play because I can totally understand a new player getting to the thieves guild and putting the game down forever.
It's a shame that this is the version most people are going to play because I can totally understand a new player getting to the thieves guild and putting the game down forever.
fuck yeah fulfills my need to violate trespassing laws without givin me a criminal record!! im transgender with a bad credit score i dont need a felony on top of that!!!!
Maybe I should have started with The Dark Project...
In my journey of going through the stealth titans that isn't MGS or Tenchu, this felt more like a stealth sim out of the genre in 1998.
The way levels are laid out remind me a lot of Tenchu as in: go where ever when ever you can if you know the levels enough. I'd say Thief is even more open ended compare to Tenchu 1. You can lose yourself pretty easily for most levels. Can I just say, more stealth games need pickpocketing?
Of course, there's some pretty crappy levels, some added by Gold. Seriously, you just got done with a good couple of come & go missions then BOOM you get shit like Down In The Bonehoard and Thieves' Guild. But the good outweigh the bad easily. Though, the game didn't really need more levels added with Gold.
Other criticisms parallel my Tenchu 1 ones which is basically: "stealth good, combat bad" which isn't as bad in Thief 1 cuz there aren't bosses to force the bad combat down your throat every level.
Pretty good! Just needs more thieving in my Thief.
In my journey of going through the stealth titans that isn't MGS or Tenchu, this felt more like a stealth sim out of the genre in 1998.
The way levels are laid out remind me a lot of Tenchu as in: go where ever when ever you can if you know the levels enough. I'd say Thief is even more open ended compare to Tenchu 1. You can lose yourself pretty easily for most levels. Can I just say, more stealth games need pickpocketing?
Of course, there's some pretty crappy levels, some added by Gold. Seriously, you just got done with a good couple of come & go missions then BOOM you get shit like Down In The Bonehoard and Thieves' Guild. But the good outweigh the bad easily. Though, the game didn't really need more levels added with Gold.
Other criticisms parallel my Tenchu 1 ones which is basically: "stealth good, combat bad" which isn't as bad in Thief 1 cuz there aren't bosses to force the bad combat down your throat every level.
Pretty good! Just needs more thieving in my Thief.
Looking Glass nailed their first attempt at a stealth game, almost entirely defining what this genre is suppose to be. Such a inspired setting of a steampunk, medieviel film noir world. Steven Russels iconic voice is just the cherry on top. And I know everyone complains about the dungeon crawling mission, Thieves Guild etc but I actually like them alot. What can suck my nuts is Return to the Cathedral and Escape. Two bad levels back to back that make me almost quit the game on every replay.
Thief Gold is an old-school classic, so yeah, it can feel clunky compared to modern games. But man, the atmosphere is thick – sneaking through shadowy mansions, picking locks, avoiding guards... the tension is incredible! The level design is brilliant, with tons of hidden paths, and the story is actually pretty engaging. It's definitely a niche game, and might be tough for newcomers to stealth, but if you have patience and love that immersive sim vibe, Thief Gold is a must-play.
Absolutely fantastic stealth game whose influence can be very clearly seen in more recent games. Sound design is the star here. This is probably the only stealth game I’ve ever played where sound is the primary signal of enemy location. Due to the excellent sound design this works surprisingly well and is really fun to take advantage of. Extinguishing a candle and then listening to enemy footsteps in the dark so you can plan exactly when to pop out with your blackjack is incredibly immersive and satisfying. This game really makes you feel like you’re in Garret's shoes.
My biggest critique is regarding the presence of levels that don’t really lend themselves to a pure stealth experience, which is where this game excels. There are quite a few instances where the game either forces you to break stealth and run from / fight enemies or fills a level with enemies that can’t be effectively avoided using stealth. The resulting gameplay can still be fun and challenging due to Garret being relatively weak in combat, Theif's fluid and satisfying movement, and the abundance of places to hide and shake off pursuing enemies, but it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the pure stealth segments. These segments end up feeling more like you're playing a survival horror game or a Tomb Raider style action adventure game with immersive sim elements as opposed to a stealth game. (A quick note on this, Thief can be surprisingly scary during some of these segments. The noise that undead enemies make when they're nearby creates a powerful sense of unease. Hearing a Hammer Haunt close by but not knowing exactly where it is can be frankly terrifying. These are some of the most powerful enemies in the game being both lightning fast and able to kill Garrett in only a couple hits, and their sound and visual design definitely reflects that - it's great. So while Thief is at its best when it's a pure stealth game, it's able to pull off the other genres it leans into surprisingly well.)
Gold adds a few levels on top of the ones from Thief’s original release. These are all fairly large levels, but they’re surprisingly intuitive to navigate and offer multiple avenues for players to approach their goals. These levels can drag on a bit due to their size - taking me around an hour a piece, but they’re thankfully all pure stealth levels. The thieves guild level in gold is a bit infamous from what I've seen, but I actually enjoyed this level - mostly due to the open ended map design and the player needing to look / listen for clues to figure out where to go in this sprawling maze. The Mage's Towers level was the one that really started to drag on for me. The central keep area is great - it's very open ended and fun to explore - but the towers quickly became a slog due to their incredibly linear design and emphasis on platforming, which are two things that don't compliment Thief's mechanics or controls very well.
Overall this is an excellent stealth game and truly a must play for fans of the genre. Thief's sound and light based approach along with its open ended levels and unique visual aesthetic creates an experience that you really can't get anywhere else. While Thief does have its flaws and definitely has some levels I don’t like, the majority of the game is excellent. I’m looking forward to doing a replay at some point on a higher difficulty so I can experience the additional quest objectives present on hard and expert.
My biggest critique is regarding the presence of levels that don’t really lend themselves to a pure stealth experience, which is where this game excels. There are quite a few instances where the game either forces you to break stealth and run from / fight enemies or fills a level with enemies that can’t be effectively avoided using stealth. The resulting gameplay can still be fun and challenging due to Garret being relatively weak in combat, Theif's fluid and satisfying movement, and the abundance of places to hide and shake off pursuing enemies, but it’s not nearly as enjoyable as the pure stealth segments. These segments end up feeling more like you're playing a survival horror game or a Tomb Raider style action adventure game with immersive sim elements as opposed to a stealth game. (A quick note on this, Thief can be surprisingly scary during some of these segments. The noise that undead enemies make when they're nearby creates a powerful sense of unease. Hearing a Hammer Haunt close by but not knowing exactly where it is can be frankly terrifying. These are some of the most powerful enemies in the game being both lightning fast and able to kill Garrett in only a couple hits, and their sound and visual design definitely reflects that - it's great. So while Thief is at its best when it's a pure stealth game, it's able to pull off the other genres it leans into surprisingly well.)
Gold adds a few levels on top of the ones from Thief’s original release. These are all fairly large levels, but they’re surprisingly intuitive to navigate and offer multiple avenues for players to approach their goals. These levels can drag on a bit due to their size - taking me around an hour a piece, but they’re thankfully all pure stealth levels. The thieves guild level in gold is a bit infamous from what I've seen, but I actually enjoyed this level - mostly due to the open ended map design and the player needing to look / listen for clues to figure out where to go in this sprawling maze. The Mage's Towers level was the one that really started to drag on for me. The central keep area is great - it's very open ended and fun to explore - but the towers quickly became a slog due to their incredibly linear design and emphasis on platforming, which are two things that don't compliment Thief's mechanics or controls very well.
Overall this is an excellent stealth game and truly a must play for fans of the genre. Thief's sound and light based approach along with its open ended levels and unique visual aesthetic creates an experience that you really can't get anywhere else. While Thief does have its flaws and definitely has some levels I don’t like, the majority of the game is excellent. I’m looking forward to doing a replay at some point on a higher difficulty so I can experience the additional quest objectives present on hard and expert.
Playing this present day may require an appreciation for older game design and aesthetics, but I implore anyone with a passing interest to give this game a shot. The atmosphere, especially the sound design, is excellent and above the standard of many games released today. The mechanics, while a lil' aged, still work excellently within the core game-play systems. Using Garrett's arsenal of tools and playing off of the darkness to stealth around still has a clear and enjoyable edge to it. Nearly all missions (except the Thieves' Guild) are great, often featuring great story and game-play integration. The Sword is easily my favorite, its one of the most creative and fun levels in any game I've played period. And the plot, delivered through stylised cut scenes and in mission texts/environments, is surprisingly well crafted and paced.
This game was phenomenal and to me its no surprise why its remembered as a classic. Its sad that Looking Glass couldn't stay afloat back in the day, they no doubt would have continued making excellent games. The influence the studio, and this series have had on the industry is evident. Thankfully they got out one sequel before closure.
This game was phenomenal and to me its no surprise why its remembered as a classic. Its sad that Looking Glass couldn't stay afloat back in the day, they no doubt would have continued making excellent games. The influence the studio, and this series have had on the industry is evident. Thankfully they got out one sequel before closure.
Thief has some good mechanics at its core, but the levels and missions in this game really don't give them a chance to shine. For every good level where you're sneaking around guards trying to navigate an unfamiliar building, there are two more where you're just trekking down a linear cave filled with zombies and other brain-dead enemies.
Apart from a handful of levels, Thief's mechanics really aren't put to good use. Where they are used, the game is very good. Whether they're good enough to compensate for the rest is a matter of taste, but I'd be hesitant to recommend it without a few asterisks attached.
Apart from a handful of levels, Thief's mechanics really aren't put to good use. Where they are used, the game is very good. Whether they're good enough to compensate for the rest is a matter of taste, but I'd be hesitant to recommend it without a few asterisks attached.
A must play.
Thief won't be EVERYONE'S thing immediately due to some early 2000s jank and my ADHD ass needed a lot of motivation to get around to finishing it, but its raw systems and design are some of the best and most engaging in gaming that it's kind of surprising how much newer games refuse to follow in its footsteps.
Thief won't be EVERYONE'S thing immediately due to some early 2000s jank and my ADHD ass needed a lot of motivation to get around to finishing it, but its raw systems and design are some of the best and most engaging in gaming that it's kind of surprising how much newer games refuse to follow in its footsteps.
The mission "The Sword" is in my imaginary top 10 coolest shit in videogames list
The main thing that people should understand when going into Thief 1 is that not only is this game the first true 3d stealth game ever made, but it's also the first time an RPG developer made a game with an emphasis on movement. And all of this games strengths and weaknesses come from that
Great game but whoever designed Thieves' Guild should be blackjacked on the head repeatedly
What a strange paradox of a game!
The entire time I felt frustrated, lost, confused, let-down, annoyed, so taken back to the level design, graphics and AI that I didn't play the game for weeks, the light and dark mechanic only sometimes worked among other things...and yet I still had a good time?
Sure, by todays edge, the original Thief game I think works as just that: the ORIGINAL Thief game. It's legacy and influence on gaming as we know it has made itself clear, and it's easy to see why when playing it. It's hard to find another game quite like this in 1999 for sure, and yes, it's very stupid to compare a game to modern playability because we are 22 years of technical advancement from this game, but there were times in this game that just HURT to play through. Like, what was Escape? WHAT WAS THAT???
Again, I have to say I still enjoyed the game, especially with the lore and story. It's clear the world of the game is something that wants to be fleshed out, but the overall foundation is great. The lore with the Hammerites and the more supernatural elements of the game (depsite being a pain in the ass to PLAY) was really REALLY cool, and the promise of a developed future with better gameplay makes me excited to play Thief 2 IMMEDIATLY. But for now...eh? This game ight.
The entire time I felt frustrated, lost, confused, let-down, annoyed, so taken back to the level design, graphics and AI that I didn't play the game for weeks, the light and dark mechanic only sometimes worked among other things...and yet I still had a good time?
Sure, by todays edge, the original Thief game I think works as just that: the ORIGINAL Thief game. It's legacy and influence on gaming as we know it has made itself clear, and it's easy to see why when playing it. It's hard to find another game quite like this in 1999 for sure, and yes, it's very stupid to compare a game to modern playability because we are 22 years of technical advancement from this game, but there were times in this game that just HURT to play through. Like, what was Escape? WHAT WAS THAT???
Again, I have to say I still enjoyed the game, especially with the lore and story. It's clear the world of the game is something that wants to be fleshed out, but the overall foundation is great. The lore with the Hammerites and the more supernatural elements of the game (depsite being a pain in the ass to PLAY) was really REALLY cool, and the promise of a developed future with better gameplay makes me excited to play Thief 2 IMMEDIATLY. But for now...eh? This game ight.
*2 hours before finishing the game*
man the only way I'd give this below 4.5 is if the last couple of missions are suddenly really shit and focused on the 1-button combat system instead of actually thieving *looks directly into camera*
man the only way I'd give this below 4.5 is if the last couple of missions are suddenly really shit and focused on the 1-button combat system instead of actually thieving *looks directly into camera*
Fakir çalmasını beceremediği için fakirdir.
This game just oozes cool, from the concept of a stealth infiltration game focused on pilfering everything you can get your hands on, to the bizarre but incredible droning score, to the moody and engaging cutscenes. So it's a damn shame that playing it feels so consistently like a slog. The level design tries to combine complex maze-y architecture with ahead-of-its-time light- and sound-based stealth, and while each half of this is fantastic in and of itself, they intersect in a really unfortunate way.
The experience of actually navigating a level in Thief is typically one of scrambling wildly through twisty little passages all alike, trying desperately to find your goal and collect enough treasure as the maps you're given become increasingly more vague. At the same time, these areas are peppered with enemies who outmatch you in combat and will hear you coming from meters away. Many is the time you'll turn a corner and find yourself face to face with an angry guard, forced to reload again and again as you try to get your bearings and find a way to get behind him with your blackjack.
The game is also studded with levels that aren't really about stealth at all, where the primary enemies are zombie who'll attack you when you get close no matter how quiet you are, devolving into a kind of straightforward dungeon crawler that doesn't play to the strengths of the engine. If I wanted to play King's Field, I'd just play it! All of which is to say: after making my way through the first seven missions (one of which took an hour and a half not counting reloads), I found that my reticence to slog through a bunch of zombies in The Haunted Cathedral outweighed my desire to see all the cool stuff left in the game.
The experience of actually navigating a level in Thief is typically one of scrambling wildly through twisty little passages all alike, trying desperately to find your goal and collect enough treasure as the maps you're given become increasingly more vague. At the same time, these areas are peppered with enemies who outmatch you in combat and will hear you coming from meters away. Many is the time you'll turn a corner and find yourself face to face with an angry guard, forced to reload again and again as you try to get your bearings and find a way to get behind him with your blackjack.
The game is also studded with levels that aren't really about stealth at all, where the primary enemies are zombie who'll attack you when you get close no matter how quiet you are, devolving into a kind of straightforward dungeon crawler that doesn't play to the strengths of the engine. If I wanted to play King's Field, I'd just play it! All of which is to say: after making my way through the first seven missions (one of which took an hour and a half not counting reloads), I found that my reticence to slog through a bunch of zombies in The Haunted Cathedral outweighed my desire to see all the cool stuff left in the game.
Is it flawed?
Absolutely
Is it still a masterpiece?
Hell yeah!
Thief Gold is egregious in the department of late 90s/early 2000s video game jank with its wonky physics and weird hitboxes, but this is such a refined and unique stealth experience like no other to where almost every issue I had was so heavily overshadowed by the sheer satisfaction I felt upon completing a level. Having a meter to strictly tell you how hidden you are at all times, despite being unrealistic, really convinced me to make more ballsy moves than usual knowing that I was practically invisible in the shadows. That's not to say it's ever broken or too easy; enemies accidentally bumping into you or making too much noise will instantly give your position away and enemies are pretty tough to lose. And that isn't taking into account certain enemies like spiders that would be able to track you in the dark from what I can tell, which makes things all the more messy when other enemies get involved. The game also hosted a far stronger variety of enemies than I expected. I almost expected to only be dealing with humans, and I won't spoil what other enemies you encounter, but this game really surprised me on multiple occasions.
Now while the gameplay is pretty solid as far as the stealth is concerned (not combat, we don't do combat here), the world design, story and atmosphere are what really elevate this game to another level. The level design was fantastic for the most part and very open to experimentation, but I think the context and worldbuilding explaining all these weird places just makes them that much more special. It definitely helps that I really adore this Victorian medieval steampunk aesthetic with touch of supernatural.
I know this is a bit scrambled as I just finished the game and I'm honestly thinking of making a video on it or something, but I genuinely didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, and I feel like stealth games even today can takes some notes from Thief. Truly the OG
Edit: made the video for the 2 people that see this after the revision
Absolutely
Is it still a masterpiece?
Hell yeah!
Thief Gold is egregious in the department of late 90s/early 2000s video game jank with its wonky physics and weird hitboxes, but this is such a refined and unique stealth experience like no other to where almost every issue I had was so heavily overshadowed by the sheer satisfaction I felt upon completing a level. Having a meter to strictly tell you how hidden you are at all times, despite being unrealistic, really convinced me to make more ballsy moves than usual knowing that I was practically invisible in the shadows. That's not to say it's ever broken or too easy; enemies accidentally bumping into you or making too much noise will instantly give your position away and enemies are pretty tough to lose. And that isn't taking into account certain enemies like spiders that would be able to track you in the dark from what I can tell, which makes things all the more messy when other enemies get involved. The game also hosted a far stronger variety of enemies than I expected. I almost expected to only be dealing with humans, and I won't spoil what other enemies you encounter, but this game really surprised me on multiple occasions.
Now while the gameplay is pretty solid as far as the stealth is concerned (not combat, we don't do combat here), the world design, story and atmosphere are what really elevate this game to another level. The level design was fantastic for the most part and very open to experimentation, but I think the context and worldbuilding explaining all these weird places just makes them that much more special. It definitely helps that I really adore this Victorian medieval steampunk aesthetic with touch of supernatural.
I know this is a bit scrambled as I just finished the game and I'm honestly thinking of making a video on it or something, but I genuinely didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did, and I feel like stealth games even today can takes some notes from Thief. Truly the OG
Edit: made the video for the 2 people that see this after the revision
thief me deixa tão frustrada, cara.
as missões que te colocam numa cidade e te pedem pra se infiltrar numa mansão com uma lista de itens para serem roubados são quando thief realmente brilha. é indescriptível a sensação causada por transitar despercebida entre múltiplos guardas, ficar paralisada de medo em uma sombra enquanto alguém passa do seu lado e milagrosamente não te percebe, circular desesperadamente pela sua lista de itens atrás de uma chave ou uma lockpick pra abrir uma porta, encontrar as passagens secretas que mostram como o dono desse lugar é tão paranoico quanto ele é rico. essa sensação fica mais intensa quando depois de tudo, você consegue sair do lugar sem ter alertado ou nem menos nocauteado ninguém, com os bolsos cheios de dinheiro. esse é um immersive sim com um stealth tão refinado que raramente é igualado por jogos fora dessa série.
...mas aí de repente thief decide virar um dungeon crawler 3D com zumbis????? onde você não tem necessidade alguma de ser sorrateira e fica dependendo ou da sua habilidade em se esquivar de monstros ou de um sistema de combate especificamente nerfado pra te incentivar a ser sorrateira?
eu queria muito entender a mentalidade da Looking Glass em juntar essas duas coisas nesse jogo, mas infelizmente elas destoam em ambos tom e qualidade. tentei ao máximo dar chances ao jogo como um todo, mas percebi que estava ficando sem vontade nenhuma de jogar ele por esse motivo, então usei Ctrl+Alt+Shift+End para pular as fases que não majoritariamente envolvem stealth e que não permitem aproximações criativas aos objetivos. o que francamente parte meu coração. eu adoro o que thief parece ser, e honestamente tenho inveja de quem consegue apreciar melhor as sequências mais lineares do jogo. acredita em mim, eu queria muito ser você nesse momento.
as partes que me empolgam não são igualadas por quase nada, e por conta disso, as partes que me incomodam me deixam muito frustradas. não ajuda o fato de que as fases ruins são tão longas também.
engraçado que costumo preferir os primeiros jogos das séries criadas pela Looking Glass em comparação às suas sequências, que geralmente são mais apreciadas pelo público. porém nesse caso acredito que vou gostar mais de thief 2 quando eu chegar lá.
as missões que te colocam numa cidade e te pedem pra se infiltrar numa mansão com uma lista de itens para serem roubados são quando thief realmente brilha. é indescriptível a sensação causada por transitar despercebida entre múltiplos guardas, ficar paralisada de medo em uma sombra enquanto alguém passa do seu lado e milagrosamente não te percebe, circular desesperadamente pela sua lista de itens atrás de uma chave ou uma lockpick pra abrir uma porta, encontrar as passagens secretas que mostram como o dono desse lugar é tão paranoico quanto ele é rico. essa sensação fica mais intensa quando depois de tudo, você consegue sair do lugar sem ter alertado ou nem menos nocauteado ninguém, com os bolsos cheios de dinheiro. esse é um immersive sim com um stealth tão refinado que raramente é igualado por jogos fora dessa série.
...mas aí de repente thief decide virar um dungeon crawler 3D com zumbis????? onde você não tem necessidade alguma de ser sorrateira e fica dependendo ou da sua habilidade em se esquivar de monstros ou de um sistema de combate especificamente nerfado pra te incentivar a ser sorrateira?
eu queria muito entender a mentalidade da Looking Glass em juntar essas duas coisas nesse jogo, mas infelizmente elas destoam em ambos tom e qualidade. tentei ao máximo dar chances ao jogo como um todo, mas percebi que estava ficando sem vontade nenhuma de jogar ele por esse motivo, então usei Ctrl+Alt+Shift+End para pular as fases que não majoritariamente envolvem stealth e que não permitem aproximações criativas aos objetivos. o que francamente parte meu coração. eu adoro o que thief parece ser, e honestamente tenho inveja de quem consegue apreciar melhor as sequências mais lineares do jogo. acredita em mim, eu queria muito ser você nesse momento.
as partes que me empolgam não são igualadas por quase nada, e por conta disso, as partes que me incomodam me deixam muito frustradas. não ajuda o fato de que as fases ruins são tão longas também.
engraçado que costumo preferir os primeiros jogos das séries criadas pela Looking Glass em comparação às suas sequências, que geralmente são mais apreciadas pelo público. porém nesse caso acredito que vou gostar mais de thief 2 quando eu chegar lá.
genuinely when youre sneaking around levels, stealing loot, going full ghost so guards dont even suspect you, using your wits to determine where you need to go and what the best way to get there would be, this game is masterful, a triumph for stealth games of the era. there are things about the stealth that could be improved, but as is, the stealth is great.
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
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
Despite essentially codifying much of the genre, Thief stands head and shoulders over most of the stealth genre even today, in my opinion. Every single mechanic, from the light gem that shows your current visibility to the difficulties giving you more objectives and restrictions rather than arbitrarily cranking up some stats, is so well thought-out and meshes so well with the open, layered level design that it's honestly impressive this isn't a sequel to some much more poorly aged first game.
Some people might take issue with the less stealth-focused levels and while I agree that they're the worst half of the game, I still think there's a lot to love about them. Also, the worldbuilding and atmosphere are extremely good, as is Garrett's character.
That said the Thieves' Guild sucks on anything higher than Normal, honestly just use the level skip cheat code if you want, or play it on the lowest difficulty.
Some people might take issue with the less stealth-focused levels and while I agree that they're the worst half of the game, I still think there's a lot to love about them. Also, the worldbuilding and atmosphere are extremely good, as is Garrett's character.
That said the Thieves' Guild sucks on anything higher than Normal, honestly just use the level skip cheat code if you want, or play it on the lowest difficulty.
Weirdly, one of my favorite levels makes people irrationally angry and overload on their urine meters, as if real life catacombs are easily traversable and devoid of occupants (they're not).
People who hate Return to the Cathedral will not survive the winter.
Crazy how well has this game aged, at least when you use some QOL mods that is
Aesthetically perfect, mechanically solid, occasionally janky as hell - it's a 90s classic, all right. The world of Thief is such a fascinating one, with its unique balance of pagan occultism and nascent industrialization being in constant conflict, sometimes even in the scope of a single level.
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!
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!
This game is boring. sure it was groundbreaking and influential during the time, but idc about the legacy it sucks now.
The combat is terrible which, to be fair, doesn't really matter because it's a stealth game. The openness of the game seems cool on the surface, but in reality most parts of the maps just look the same which discourages exploration.
I read online that the higher difficulties are more fun and supposedly very different. Nah not really. The higher difficulties play pretty much like: let's check every room (which look the same) to find the extra values whilst I do these tedious additional objectives.
The most liked review for this game compares this to leonardo da vinci and michelangelo what the fuck are gamers man. its either low standards or rose-tinted nostalgia
The combat is terrible which, to be fair, doesn't really matter because it's a stealth game. The openness of the game seems cool on the surface, but in reality most parts of the maps just look the same which discourages exploration.
I read online that the higher difficulties are more fun and supposedly very different. Nah not really. The higher difficulties play pretty much like: let's check every room (which look the same) to find the extra values whilst I do these tedious additional objectives.
The most liked review for this game compares this to leonardo da vinci and michelangelo what the fuck are gamers man. its either low standards or rose-tinted nostalgia
People'll kill me for this I'm sure but lemme make it clear: I don't think Thief 1 is a bad game at all, far from it. The mechanics and gameplay ideas are stellar and the atmosphere, like its sequel, still holds up all these years later.
But it has what I honestly believe is some of the most inconsistent level quality I've seen in a game.
For every good level, there are at least 6 others that are either just plain bad or yet another "zombie/paranormal-creature filled" level (which aren't inherently bad either! Deadly Shadows did them pretty well!).
And that's my biggest issue. When people will tell you to outright SKIP specific levels because of how bad or confusing they are, that's NOT a good thing.
There are great levels in here, don't get me wrong. Bafford's manor, Assassins, Mage Towers, Song of the Caverns, and Undercover are all really good. But the rest range from either tolerable to downright painful. Thieves Guild is already NOTORIOUSLY bad amongst the community, but Escape has to be one of the worst levels I've played in any game.
Some people call this "the real Thief" like 2 doesn't count, and I'm sorry, I can't agree with that. If you prefer 1 over 2, by all means, I'm cool with that, but for me... nah. This is a one-time play and nothing else. If you really liked 2 I would say give it a shot, or at the very least use console commands to play the good levels. Happy I finally tried it, but otherwise, god what a slog.
But it has what I honestly believe is some of the most inconsistent level quality I've seen in a game.
For every good level, there are at least 6 others that are either just plain bad or yet another "zombie/paranormal-creature filled" level (which aren't inherently bad either! Deadly Shadows did them pretty well!).
And that's my biggest issue. When people will tell you to outright SKIP specific levels because of how bad or confusing they are, that's NOT a good thing.
There are great levels in here, don't get me wrong. Bafford's manor, Assassins, Mage Towers, Song of the Caverns, and Undercover are all really good. But the rest range from either tolerable to downright painful. Thieves Guild is already NOTORIOUSLY bad amongst the community, but Escape has to be one of the worst levels I've played in any game.
Some people call this "the real Thief" like 2 doesn't count, and I'm sorry, I can't agree with that. If you prefer 1 over 2, by all means, I'm cool with that, but for me... nah. This is a one-time play and nothing else. If you really liked 2 I would say give it a shot, or at the very least use console commands to play the good levels. Happy I finally tried it, but otherwise, god what a slog.
I love this game, but it's a love that will gradually build over time. My biggest problem with this game comes from a first playthrough experience. The maps are huge and extremely well designed but many are a major challenge to solve that derive not from skill or intuition but of obtuse trial and error. You better be looking EVERYWHERE you can conceivably go and make sure to thoroughly hover over walls, cause you may need to find a wall safe with a destination that has zero elaboration within the mission. If it does, you better also make sure to retain the information from every unassuming tome you come across cause it may allude to where it lies while still being cryptic.
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.
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.
Song Of The Caverns is the best thing ever conceived in a videogame