Filcher's a decent Thief clone, that plays well, but has some hiccups one must consider.
There are some great positives here, such as the art style, movement, and the satisfaction of playing well. The game doesn't hold your hand, nor does it punish you unnecessarily. There's a great mix of surfaces, meaning you'll never feel stuck in a situation where you cannot possibly stay quiet or unseen. Of course, that comes with a catch. The levels are short, ranging from 5-30 minutes, depending on your familiarity and method of going through them. This shortness is fine, but you're not allowed to save throughout. This means you could lose up to half an hour of progress because you're lacking a resource, or simply get unlucky. That means going through the exact same routine repeatedly for no reason at all. At times this increases the tension and forces you to play more safely, at other times it leaves you dead in the water.

The guard's AI is simple and easy to read. Make a sound or get spotted? They'll come running. However, an unfortunate choice was to make the guards know your exact position when you hit them with a sleeping dart. This means that you'll have to bugger off for a little bit and hide. Not even staying in the dark will help you, as they will be able to spot you regardless. Once you know of this mechanic it's not too bad to deal with, but annoying regardless. There's already heavy bullet drop, combined with a slow projectile speed on the darts. Adding in that additional element feels like a poor choice. Another mechanic is knocking the guards out with a blackjack. This mostly works, so long as you're doing it from behind, but the game's otherwise excellent artstyle is a hinderance here. It can be difficult to judge precisely when you're able to blackjack the guard, due to the billboard sprites used to represent them. This is especially true while they're flashbanged, as they will randomly swap directions. If you go for a hit while their back is turned, they might suddenly swap to a forwards-facing sprite and get knocked out of the stun, allowing them to attack you.

Returning to the movement for a moment, there is one key element that feels missing. That is mantling. Seeing as Filcher wears its inspirations on its sleeve, it should come as no surprise that all the mechanics from Thief 1 and 2 are included. However, this doesn't include mantling. It's hard to feel like a master thief when a small desk is enough to get in your way, much less a chair. The level design, however, does reflect this, and there's never a moment where you feel ripped off by the inability to mantle. The sliding mechanic is a welcome addition as well, allowing you to build up a sprint on more silent surfaces before sliding past the noisy marble and metal. This sliding is also crucial to catching up with guards in order to blackjack them, and it feels great every time.

The artstyle is quite excellent and feels very well-defined. A sort of comic book noir aesthetic, which is allowed to shine through the harsh shadows. This benefits gameplay as well, as you're never in doubt about which areas are in the dark. There were a couple instances where the harsh shadows tricked me into believing there was a space to hide, when it was simply a shadow-cast wall. Besides that, and the issues with knowing when I can attack enemies, the 2.5D aesthetic works well for me. Though, the viewmodels could use a little added polish as they felt quite small and unrefined.

The story is quite simple, but it works out well. It tells you all you need to know about the Fensbrook Filcher, and there's notes strewn around that help to build this world of corruption and greed.

Each map felt like its corridors had a purpose, though the basic textures gave each map less of a unique identity. The designs were simple and intuitive, and even on a first playthrough, so long as I'd survived, I got my bearings. This was quite pleasant, as anyone who's read my Thief: Gold review will know that I detest the level design in that game.

Despite my grievances, and the frustrations that I had with the last level, precisely due to the lack of a manual save, I enjoyed my time with Filcher. I do hope that Johan continues developing games, and I look forward to a potential sequel (though hopefully with manual saves and a mantling mechanic). For a single person's efforts, Filcher is a charming run-through that's worth the low price tag. Especially worth it if you're craving a nice thief-like game to spend some hours on.