This review contains spoilers
Ctrl Alt Shift End, you taffer!
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.
Just a lowly Taffer in a world of thieves
Its aight i guess some of these levels are right stinkers tho i tell you hwat man but the sword 🗡️ is a cool level like me 😎
I love Thief and what it did considering how old it is, its level design, the way it uses verticality, offers multiple ways to enter and exit the places you're supposed to steal from, all of this was so ingenious for a game this old, truly ahead of its time.
On the other hand, I find myself not being able to recommend it due to how poorly its controls aged and this is truly a shame.
If you want a stealth game with an amazing atmosphere and don't mind old fps jank, I definitely recommend it but otherwise you should play something else.
On the other hand, I find myself not being able to recommend it due to how poorly its controls aged and this is truly a shame.
If you want a stealth game with an amazing atmosphere and don't mind old fps jank, I definitely recommend it but otherwise you should play something else.
*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*
Cant get enough of this game Replayed nearly 5 times
Great immersive gameplay
Great Stealth. Story is just right to keep the gameplay and maps engaging
Great immersive gameplay
Great Stealth. Story is just right to keep the gameplay and maps engaging
Long.
This doubles as a review for the original release and the gold release, except for when I mention exclusive missions. This review is story-spoiler free.
If you're interested in playing the game, it often goes on sale for less than a dollar on steam. I heavily recommend using TFix, installing OpenAL to restore surround sound, and changing the controls to your liking, I prefer loading the Unreal preset and tweaking. Play on Hard or Expert for the best balance in difficulty. Last thing to note is that, while excess wealth carries over to the next mission, it cannot be hoarded throughout the game. After buying for the mission, any gold you don't spend is gone.
Thief Gold is a brilliant stealth game, one that is decades ahead of its time, and a product of its time in the best ways possible. The game features sprawling levels with high levels of interactivity, and a gameplay loop in which many of your actions can have consequences that will affect how the entire mission plays out.
In Thief, you assume the role of Garrett, a petty thief who, while meticulous, is ordinary as a white sheep in terms of capability and in status. The start of the game illustrates that you are someone who simply steals from largely dimwitted lords and royalty to pay for his rent, as opposed to some grand scheme. This is further emphasized in the game, as your combat skills compared to most, if not all enemies you face, are subpar; you have to use the shadows and the environment to your advantage. This factor is probably one of my favorite aspects of Thief, a game that forces you to play on its own terms, but also gives you a variety of options to tackle your objective. You cannot, or at least should not, simply kill the guards with your sword and bow, because you are at a disadvantage at any time when doing so. You have a whole arsenal of tools to use that, while requiring a condition to be effective, is the greatest way to develop an advantage when addressing any situation you find yourself in.
As the story ramps up, one other major element that Garrett has is, as stated prior, his meticulous nature when approaching his missions. Despite this, he is not perfect or clairvoyant. Early missions will grant you a detailed map, hand drawn by the player character, or other diagrams scavenged prior to departure, but later missions can have drawings that are misleading, objectives that are inaccurate, so on and so forth, and it is up to the player to extrapolate information along the way, or to get a mental image of what you're dealing with. There are no map markers, or location markers, or anything of the sort. I love how the team developing Thief forces engagement from the player, requiring attention and planning, as opposed to handing you the directions as if you stopped by a tour guide. The game does help alleviate any frustration by allowing you to buy tips prior to a mission, and you can also find notes that can tell you where to find something important in the mission, but otherwise it's up to you to get the job done optimally.
Interactivity is arguably the strongest suit of the game, and that is best shown by the amount of tools you have by default. Your best friend is the Blackjack, which can instantly incapacitate any guard, as long as they are unaware of you, or flashbanged by consumable flash bombs. A bow and arrow can take down a target from a distance, but you can have a wide variety of arrows that can do multiple things, such as a water arrow to douse a torch, giving you more darkness, moss arrows to soften your footsteps, and noisemakers that can alert a group of guards. You don't technically have to use all of these things, but the options being all there creates a highly interactive sandbox in every mission for your exploitation, both in game mechanics and the spoils stolen from greedy lords.
Thief Gold adds 3 missions, placed in between missions from the original release of the game. The latter two are good missions, but the first Gold mission (6th in game) is pretty bad. Speaking of bad missions, the later missions in the game can be of middling quality for many players, there is no shame in skipping them using a cheat code if you ever feel that a mission is a slog. My only other complaint about the game is that the Normal difficulty often cuts out major parts of missions that I feel make them more enjoyable as a whole, which is why I recommend the Hard difficulty even for the first time.
I give Thief Gold (and Thief II) a hard recommendation for just about anyone who enjoys stealth games, or immersive sims. I feel that the game is simply monumental within that niche, and I don't think I could run out of words of praise within my lifetime.
This doubles as a review for the original release and the gold release, except for when I mention exclusive missions. This review is story-spoiler free.
If you're interested in playing the game, it often goes on sale for less than a dollar on steam. I heavily recommend using TFix, installing OpenAL to restore surround sound, and changing the controls to your liking, I prefer loading the Unreal preset and tweaking. Play on Hard or Expert for the best balance in difficulty. Last thing to note is that, while excess wealth carries over to the next mission, it cannot be hoarded throughout the game. After buying for the mission, any gold you don't spend is gone.
Thief Gold is a brilliant stealth game, one that is decades ahead of its time, and a product of its time in the best ways possible. The game features sprawling levels with high levels of interactivity, and a gameplay loop in which many of your actions can have consequences that will affect how the entire mission plays out.
In Thief, you assume the role of Garrett, a petty thief who, while meticulous, is ordinary as a white sheep in terms of capability and in status. The start of the game illustrates that you are someone who simply steals from largely dimwitted lords and royalty to pay for his rent, as opposed to some grand scheme. This is further emphasized in the game, as your combat skills compared to most, if not all enemies you face, are subpar; you have to use the shadows and the environment to your advantage. This factor is probably one of my favorite aspects of Thief, a game that forces you to play on its own terms, but also gives you a variety of options to tackle your objective. You cannot, or at least should not, simply kill the guards with your sword and bow, because you are at a disadvantage at any time when doing so. You have a whole arsenal of tools to use that, while requiring a condition to be effective, is the greatest way to develop an advantage when addressing any situation you find yourself in.
As the story ramps up, one other major element that Garrett has is, as stated prior, his meticulous nature when approaching his missions. Despite this, he is not perfect or clairvoyant. Early missions will grant you a detailed map, hand drawn by the player character, or other diagrams scavenged prior to departure, but later missions can have drawings that are misleading, objectives that are inaccurate, so on and so forth, and it is up to the player to extrapolate information along the way, or to get a mental image of what you're dealing with. There are no map markers, or location markers, or anything of the sort. I love how the team developing Thief forces engagement from the player, requiring attention and planning, as opposed to handing you the directions as if you stopped by a tour guide. The game does help alleviate any frustration by allowing you to buy tips prior to a mission, and you can also find notes that can tell you where to find something important in the mission, but otherwise it's up to you to get the job done optimally.
Interactivity is arguably the strongest suit of the game, and that is best shown by the amount of tools you have by default. Your best friend is the Blackjack, which can instantly incapacitate any guard, as long as they are unaware of you, or flashbanged by consumable flash bombs. A bow and arrow can take down a target from a distance, but you can have a wide variety of arrows that can do multiple things, such as a water arrow to douse a torch, giving you more darkness, moss arrows to soften your footsteps, and noisemakers that can alert a group of guards. You don't technically have to use all of these things, but the options being all there creates a highly interactive sandbox in every mission for your exploitation, both in game mechanics and the spoils stolen from greedy lords.
Thief Gold adds 3 missions, placed in between missions from the original release of the game. The latter two are good missions, but the first Gold mission (6th in game) is pretty bad. Speaking of bad missions, the later missions in the game can be of middling quality for many players, there is no shame in skipping them using a cheat code if you ever feel that a mission is a slog. My only other complaint about the game is that the Normal difficulty often cuts out major parts of missions that I feel make them more enjoyable as a whole, which is why I recommend the Hard difficulty even for the first time.
I give Thief Gold (and Thief II) a hard recommendation for just about anyone who enjoys stealth games, or immersive sims. I feel that the game is simply monumental within that niche, and I don't think I could run out of words of praise within my lifetime.
It took me many months, but I finally managed to complete this game with many great ideas but for the most part poor execution. Levels are massive with samey rooms and corridors you'll definitely get lost in without a guide. There are little to no visual cues to guide you around them either, and the map you're given is borderline useless since you cannot see your own position in it. Progression in them is also often very obtuse even if you ignore all the aforementioned complaints; Some times you have to use some item you might not even have at that point in time, some times there is one room that has a switch you need to push which is hidden like Waldo, other times you better pray you have an item at your disposal. Some levels can't be finished without rope arrows in your inventory at crucial points.
In spite of this being a stealth game, there are numerous times you are forced in to combat, and that part has perhaps aged even worse. Janky doesn't even begin to describe it, feels like it's just RNG whether you can avoid taking damage or not. Thank goodness for save scumming otherwise this game would be completely unplayable in my book. And then there are the zombie levels. The less said about them, the better.
This game came out the same year as classics like Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Panzer Dragoon Saga. This game is the milk to their wine in terms of aging.
In spite of this being a stealth game, there are numerous times you are forced in to combat, and that part has perhaps aged even worse. Janky doesn't even begin to describe it, feels like it's just RNG whether you can avoid taking damage or not. Thank goodness for save scumming otherwise this game would be completely unplayable in my book. And then there are the zombie levels. The less said about them, the better.
This game came out the same year as classics like Ocarina of Time, Metal Gear Solid and Panzer Dragoon Saga. This game is the milk to their wine in terms of aging.
I played Thief Gold up to its 8th mission, The Haunted Cathedral. I did not rate it because it was a bad playthrough, but here are my thoughts:
1. Thieves' Guild sucks ASS, it was my worst experience in Thief Gold. When I get back to it, I will probably do The Dark Project instead, and maybe come back for the Gold missions later.
2. Missions like The Haunted Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard were odd, certainly not what you expect from a legendary stealth game, but I've grown very fond of them. This game's atmosphere is overwhelmingly dark; these missions best capture that.
3. I am really bad at this game. When I played Hitman 2 (2018), I found myself getting frustrated when I fucked up the stealth too much and had to reload, and it was even worse here, because this game is way harder. Screwing up the stealth forced me to do combat, which is not Thief's strength, and also messed with my immersion. Maybe that's on me, but hey, that's why I'm not giving a rating.
I feel like I can love this game, because I so clearly found things to love, but I owe it another, more earnest try. I got more into Hitman 2 recently, so hey, maybe I'm not as bad at video games now, lol.
(feel free to comment)
1. Thieves' Guild sucks ASS, it was my worst experience in Thief Gold. When I get back to it, I will probably do The Dark Project instead, and maybe come back for the Gold missions later.
2. Missions like The Haunted Cathedral and Down in the Bonehoard were odd, certainly not what you expect from a legendary stealth game, but I've grown very fond of them. This game's atmosphere is overwhelmingly dark; these missions best capture that.
3. I am really bad at this game. When I played Hitman 2 (2018), I found myself getting frustrated when I fucked up the stealth too much and had to reload, and it was even worse here, because this game is way harder. Screwing up the stealth forced me to do combat, which is not Thief's strength, and also messed with my immersion. Maybe that's on me, but hey, that's why I'm not giving a rating.
I feel like I can love this game, because I so clearly found things to love, but I owe it another, more earnest try. I got more into Hitman 2 recently, so hey, maybe I'm not as bad at video games now, lol.
(feel free to comment)
realmente um jogo antigo que parece antigo
A veritable classic, some of my favourite movement in any game, with great atmosphere, voice acting on part of the protagonist, and labyrinthine levels that are fun to explore, only thing I didn't enjoy was blindly running through the level like 3 times every time searching for the final bits of loot to meet the quota.
i skipped Thieves Guild. fuck that mission
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.
It's a non usual thing for me to make reviews on games that I didn't finish, but this one'll be an exception.
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.
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.
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.
A fun thing from the 90s, i played it one night but it hasn't aged particularly well. Still pretty cool and fun if you're into older games
I got filtered by hole in wall that is literally indiscernible 🤧
Can't say I got very far, found the mechanics hard to get used to and had the hardest time seeing where it was supposed to be dark. But I'll get back to this one in the foreseeable future. Really dug the vibe of the locations.
I'm not gonna play this game anymore because it's simply not for me with its jank, puzzles and some non stealth sections. The second mission was good and I could've accepted till then but the third mission, seriously? It's a literal tomb that I'm going to steal from and I didn't sign up for that, I thought this was a stealth game not a tomb raider kind of game so yeah I'm just gonna stop playing the game, maybe I'll come back one day but I don't think I will because it doesn't align with my tastes. I love stealth games and solving STEALTH puzzles, not puzzles in general like a door to a tomb or something.
Rant over, now, if you like stealth games and really like sneaking and also doing a little of tomb raiding, then you'll absolutely love this game. What is undeniable is the sheer amount of stuff you can do in it, the maps are so big that it's dizzying at times and I was scared of stopping a mission midway so that I don't forget the mental map I had. This game tests your senses and allows you to be creative in numerous ways and rewards you with an ultimately very satisfying gameplay. Just because the tomb raiding isn't what I want doesn't mean you won't like it, it's pretty dang cheap so you should most definitely go give it a shot.
I was reminded of Splinter Cell by this game and that means that Splinter Cell was clearly inspired from the breakthroughs in the genre this game made. So I applaud the devs for it, I'm rating the game purely on my experience till the second level and deducting 0.5 stars because of the third one. It is a good game at the very least and an excellent game for most. Music slaps, graphics look okay, sound design is top notch, gameplay is cool af (though admittedly the combat is kinda bad for me, but if you liked skyrim's combat you'll like this one too i think) and map design is phenomenal(ly confusing).
Okay, editing this after a week or so, I've played it again, same as before I loved the first 2 missions, hated the third one and played the fourth one. I think I see why people liked this game but I usually like playing games on hard and this game, bruhh just nope. I ain't doing it. The next mission is "Thieves' guild" and most people seem to hate it so I'm scared of playing that. But yeah after Assassins I understood that mainly it was playing on Hard that was an issue I think. Anyways, the rating goes up from 7/10 to 8/10, I enjoyed Assassins even though the first part was annoying sort of, it must've been revolutionary back then cus nearly every assassin's creed has it lmao. Really dig the game, just think it's a tad bit annoying at times with its complete openness requiring a walkthrough at points like the Mystic soul in third mission or the bloody silver poker in Assassins. I had found the secret library thing as well but not the poker. I hate secrets and weird ahh challenges so that's just me. My tiny brain can't handle this game. You might have fun though so it's definitely recommended. I really liked this for the most part so a very enjoyable experience overall just that some slight jank and annoyances take away from the great experience I was having. Guards sometimes hone in on you like a missile and that's just plain unfair when I'm hiding behind a wall, they're already mad cus of the alarm and then in some loads of the same scenario they stay static and in some they come at your exact direction even if you're hidden behind a wall and they couldn't see you. Weird AI a lot of the times. But still that ain't the issue for me, the problem for me are the objectives themselves and scenarios still. Assassins is a good mission but the poker thing come on 😭. Maybe it's because I'm a zoomer or something idk but I have played some old games and yeah I did see walkthroughs a little but come on, Silent Hill 2 is too good yk. Anyways rant over, sorry Thief fans. If anyone even remotely likes the idea of stealth, sneaking, puzzles and tomb raiding then this game is for you.
Rant over, now, if you like stealth games and really like sneaking and also doing a little of tomb raiding, then you'll absolutely love this game. What is undeniable is the sheer amount of stuff you can do in it, the maps are so big that it's dizzying at times and I was scared of stopping a mission midway so that I don't forget the mental map I had. This game tests your senses and allows you to be creative in numerous ways and rewards you with an ultimately very satisfying gameplay. Just because the tomb raiding isn't what I want doesn't mean you won't like it, it's pretty dang cheap so you should most definitely go give it a shot.
I was reminded of Splinter Cell by this game and that means that Splinter Cell was clearly inspired from the breakthroughs in the genre this game made. So I applaud the devs for it, I'm rating the game purely on my experience till the second level and deducting 0.5 stars because of the third one. It is a good game at the very least and an excellent game for most. Music slaps, graphics look okay, sound design is top notch, gameplay is cool af (though admittedly the combat is kinda bad for me, but if you liked skyrim's combat you'll like this one too i think) and map design is phenomenal(ly confusing).
Okay, editing this after a week or so, I've played it again, same as before I loved the first 2 missions, hated the third one and played the fourth one. I think I see why people liked this game but I usually like playing games on hard and this game, bruhh just nope. I ain't doing it. The next mission is "Thieves' guild" and most people seem to hate it so I'm scared of playing that. But yeah after Assassins I understood that mainly it was playing on Hard that was an issue I think. Anyways, the rating goes up from 7/10 to 8/10, I enjoyed Assassins even though the first part was annoying sort of, it must've been revolutionary back then cus nearly every assassin's creed has it lmao. Really dig the game, just think it's a tad bit annoying at times with its complete openness requiring a walkthrough at points like the Mystic soul in third mission or the bloody silver poker in Assassins. I had found the secret library thing as well but not the poker. I hate secrets and weird ahh challenges so that's just me. My tiny brain can't handle this game. You might have fun though so it's definitely recommended. I really liked this for the most part so a very enjoyable experience overall just that some slight jank and annoyances take away from the great experience I was having. Guards sometimes hone in on you like a missile and that's just plain unfair when I'm hiding behind a wall, they're already mad cus of the alarm and then in some loads of the same scenario they stay static and in some they come at your exact direction even if you're hidden behind a wall and they couldn't see you. Weird AI a lot of the times. But still that ain't the issue for me, the problem for me are the objectives themselves and scenarios still. Assassins is a good mission but the poker thing come on 😭. Maybe it's because I'm a zoomer or something idk but I have played some old games and yeah I did see walkthroughs a little but come on, Silent Hill 2 is too good yk. Anyways rant over, sorry Thief fans. If anyone even remotely likes the idea of stealth, sneaking, puzzles and tomb raiding then this game is for you.
Goated, not finished but mods are incredible
im psychologically incapable of playing modern AAA games because they don't have maps in them the way thief has maps. also the main guy is a mega dork and i wanna shove him into locker
this game is worth playing just for the voice acting lmao
garrets voice actor is really good and i like him alot but the guards and bystanders kill me LOL
when guards sleep they make looney tunes snoring sound effects its "gold"
tbh its a fun and very detailed game for its time but does drag in the last 3 or so levels. its such a old game time has not been kind in the controls department tho
garrets voice actor is really good and i like him alot but the guards and bystanders kill me LOL
when guards sleep they make looney tunes snoring sound effects its "gold"
tbh its a fun and very detailed game for its time but does drag in the last 3 or so levels. its such a old game time has not been kind in the controls department tho
I was a bit worried since it's a stealth game and I'm not muchinto stealth. It exceeded my expectations, especially for a game that was released in '98/'99.
The game itself worked okay in Steam but it wouldn't play cutscenes. I was extremely confused after the first mission I stole a vase and then the second mission I was in a quarry all of a sudden. Thankfully the older Thief games have a lovely fan base that made a free "patch." It updated the graphics a bit, improved compatibility with new pcs, and (most importantly to me) it fixed my cutscenes. So that was necessary for me to play the game.
It aged fairly well for a game that was originally released in 1998. Heavy focused on stealth, tons of gadgets, original story, and some world building. I thought this was set in sorta medieval ages but there's magic and otherworldly enemies. It was creative and neat to see this new environment in an older game. Honestly even refreshing.
The Bad: well the voice acting isn't great. I mean it was made in '98 so I'm giving it slack. Sometimes the characters speaking would make me laugh. The cutscenes were fine. The protag and the soldiers are good for their time. The house servants in the game though? Oh man...it was like the voice actor wasn't taking their job seriously but it came off as humorous. It didn't bother my gameplay though, made me laugh.
I did not enjoy some of the maps. I felt the last three missions in the game were big MEH. A lot of underground dirt tunnels and the enemies did NOT compare to earlier enemies. I wanted to shake in my boots when I first saw the Haunts in earlier missions.
The Good: I enjoyed most of my time playing this gem. I like in older games, game devs weren't scared of using bright colors in their maps. Some "current" games on the top of my head that are dark and stealthy are covered in black and gray tones. Boring. This game had mansions with bright reds or greens on floor tiles, walls, furniture, etc. I wasn't expecting the big arsenal of tools either. Rope arrows to climb on high ledges, water arrows to drench torches so you can hide in the dark, etc.
All in all, I'm glad I played this game. I only played the missions on normal difficulty; there's harder content to play in the game to keep you entertained.
The game itself worked okay in Steam but it wouldn't play cutscenes. I was extremely confused after the first mission I stole a vase and then the second mission I was in a quarry all of a sudden. Thankfully the older Thief games have a lovely fan base that made a free "patch." It updated the graphics a bit, improved compatibility with new pcs, and (most importantly to me) it fixed my cutscenes. So that was necessary for me to play the game.
It aged fairly well for a game that was originally released in 1998. Heavy focused on stealth, tons of gadgets, original story, and some world building. I thought this was set in sorta medieval ages but there's magic and otherworldly enemies. It was creative and neat to see this new environment in an older game. Honestly even refreshing.
The Bad: well the voice acting isn't great. I mean it was made in '98 so I'm giving it slack. Sometimes the characters speaking would make me laugh. The cutscenes were fine. The protag and the soldiers are good for their time. The house servants in the game though? Oh man...it was like the voice actor wasn't taking their job seriously but it came off as humorous. It didn't bother my gameplay though, made me laugh.
I did not enjoy some of the maps. I felt the last three missions in the game were big MEH. A lot of underground dirt tunnels and the enemies did NOT compare to earlier enemies. I wanted to shake in my boots when I first saw the Haunts in earlier missions.
The Good: I enjoyed most of my time playing this gem. I like in older games, game devs weren't scared of using bright colors in their maps. Some "current" games on the top of my head that are dark and stealthy are covered in black and gray tones. Boring. This game had mansions with bright reds or greens on floor tiles, walls, furniture, etc. I wasn't expecting the big arsenal of tools either. Rope arrows to climb on high ledges, water arrows to drench torches so you can hide in the dark, etc.
All in all, I'm glad I played this game. I only played the missions on normal difficulty; there's harder content to play in the game to keep you entertained.
The Bloopers level > The last three levels
Esse jogo tem o take mais único que eu já vi em uma obra steampunk.
After trying a few different times and always giving up on the Thieves Guild, I finally beat this game. So much of it is very immersive and has more good levels than not, but the bad levels are really bad. Some people dislike the supernatural stuff but at least those levels were immersive enough to not be bad like Thieves, Mage's Tower, or Lost City. Most of the ending levels aren't good though (Escape in particular), but they're not as bad as those 3. I only skipped skipped one level, but skip the levels you hate and you'll have a lot better of a time. Sound design unmatched and I often found myself sitting still and taking it all in.
It does a couple of things better than just about any game. The first of which is that it's one of the most embodied first person games I've ever played. This is to say that as a player, one feels keenly aware of one's own physical presence. How visible and audible the player is is almost the entire game, and the level design and balance of mechanics make it so that tiptoeing in and out of shadows is naturally dramatic and of consequence. Moreover, the game has a pretty decent movement system; leaping and climbing are actually really enjoyable, and it makes the more exploration-based levels work.
The other thing I like is a little in spite of itself. We can't pretend that Thief isn't set in a generic world, and that its larger story isn't similarly generic and that its major beats don't really land. But its concept and perspective---its choice of lead character and the spaces it puts them in, maintain interest and provide each level with its own arc. Something as simple as having the objectives change mid-mission based on environmental discovery goes a long way in legitimizing and immersing the player within its scenario.
It's a game where individual chunks of it are exquisite, but the quality of the levels, which I'll add feel very separate from one another, is inconsistent. There is glue holding it all together and that glue is very visible. Sometimes it's visible in its narrative presentation and other times it emerges as mission design that feels contrived (the switches in Undercover, the ghost fetch quest in the otherwise terrific Return to the Cathedral). Thief is an imperfect game with a wonderously imaginative central premise and mechanical execution. I'm looking forward to playing the sequel.
Also a theoretical extra half star for The Dark Project over Gold. Two of the additional levels are the worst in the game and just add bloat.
The other thing I like is a little in spite of itself. We can't pretend that Thief isn't set in a generic world, and that its larger story isn't similarly generic and that its major beats don't really land. But its concept and perspective---its choice of lead character and the spaces it puts them in, maintain interest and provide each level with its own arc. Something as simple as having the objectives change mid-mission based on environmental discovery goes a long way in legitimizing and immersing the player within its scenario.
It's a game where individual chunks of it are exquisite, but the quality of the levels, which I'll add feel very separate from one another, is inconsistent. There is glue holding it all together and that glue is very visible. Sometimes it's visible in its narrative presentation and other times it emerges as mission design that feels contrived (the switches in Undercover, the ghost fetch quest in the otherwise terrific Return to the Cathedral). Thief is an imperfect game with a wonderously imaginative central premise and mechanical execution. I'm looking forward to playing the sequel.
Also a theoretical extra half star for The Dark Project over Gold. Two of the additional levels are the worst in the game and just add bloat.
This review contains spoilers
Mage Towers is tedious, but i'd take it any day over the last 3 missions. Escape especially dear god. What in the hell were they cooking?
Other than that though, great game. Genuinely ahead of it's time and a lot of fun.
Other than that though, great game. Genuinely ahead of it's time and a lot of fun.