I finally managed to complete the game. My thoughts became nuanced but I still recommend it. Just make sure you come prepared.
At a first glance, Spirited Thief resembles simplified strategy RPG games, only stealth is the main focus. All the skills you unlock are there to help you escape or kill a few guards. There are 3 acts with 22 missions and mostly 5 characters, 2 for scouting phase and 3 for looting phase. The scouting phase involves using the spirit Trin and her sidekick to explore a level. You try to understand the lay-out of the levels, find secrets that can only be activated with Trin and decide on the characters/skills to take with you. The looting phase is where things become physical. You try to reach objectives, find all the secrets and steal all the gold. You have more freedom to prepare yourself when scouting, but you’re supposed to carry out the operation ideally flawlessly and as quick as possible when you’re looting. Looting phase comes with threat levels that can go up to 5, each level makes the situation more challenging. Each threat level is kind of like a ticking clock that is affected when each turn passes or when you’re discovered by guards etc. Each character receives between 2 and 3 skills whenever you start a new act. You have a few default skills when you start the game but you buy new skills with the money you steal. You get cutscenes before and after each mission. The cutscenes are for the most part not too long and not too short. They feel just right and they’re the driving factor why you’re carrying out your missions. The story starts with random looters trying to survive but things become more personal and you’re getting dragged in conflicts due to Elaj and Trin their past. The story also focuses on building the characters and their relationships to one another. The story might not win the Oscar awards, but I enjoyed their banter and I wanted to see how things would end. You can skip cutscenes if you don’t care about that.
That’s pretty much the game. It’s a solid foundation. I love the world created, the gameplay, the story, the music and the thinking involved. However, there is one serious flaw = the balance/challenge. Let me say upfront that this is most likely fixed with the last update (I’ll talk more about it) but most of my experience before that was a struggle in act 2 mainly. The game starts out strongly with act 1. The challenge felt just right. You were pushed to use everything at your disposal and it was fun. Things started to get bad with the last mission of act 1 and things became worse in act 2. The levels kept getting bigger, more complex, harsh and too many things to keep track of. It stopped being fun and became exhausting. It’s not the direction I expected the game to take. It also didn’t help that I experienced bugs that made the missions even more challenging and annoying. I didn’t want to accept this for a while because I loved the game so much and I was gushing about it all the time. So this hit hard.
However, the developer has been great at coming up with solutions. He has released several patches to balance the game out, changed some of the levels that went too far and released 1 new difficulty option that is very important to the already VERY extensive difficulty options you have. If you scroll all the way down you will see the new ‘less enemies and puzzles’ toggle. I’ve tested this with the last 2 missions of the game and it made the game far more pleasant to play. I wish I had this option before I went through act 2.
The difficulty options menu is very important to the game as every element can be controlled and adjusted. You can control how fast the timer ticks, whether the threat levels are truly threatening, whether rewind is limited or infinite and much more. You can make the game impossibly hard or make it a better experience suited to what you want to get out of it. It’s a MUST to look through this menu every once in a while and not just at the start. You can adjust everything at all times and not just when starting a new game.
The game is in a much better state now. There are a few bugs left that I reported (2-3) with the last patch but the developer is already committed to fixing them. While I became a bit bitter with the challenge/balance, I’m still glad to have played the game. I expect new players will have a smooth ride as long as they look at the difficulty options when needed. As for me, the plan is to slowly get the rest of the achievements and follow whatever happens with Spirited Thief/Koi Snowman Games. This has been a very good game to start with and I’m looking forward to more.
At a first glance, Spirited Thief resembles simplified strategy RPG games, only stealth is the main focus. All the skills you unlock are there to help you escape or kill a few guards. There are 3 acts with 22 missions and mostly 5 characters, 2 for scouting phase and 3 for looting phase. The scouting phase involves using the spirit Trin and her sidekick to explore a level. You try to understand the lay-out of the levels, find secrets that can only be activated with Trin and decide on the characters/skills to take with you. The looting phase is where things become physical. You try to reach objectives, find all the secrets and steal all the gold. You have more freedom to prepare yourself when scouting, but you’re supposed to carry out the operation ideally flawlessly and as quick as possible when you’re looting. Looting phase comes with threat levels that can go up to 5, each level makes the situation more challenging. Each threat level is kind of like a ticking clock that is affected when each turn passes or when you’re discovered by guards etc. Each character receives between 2 and 3 skills whenever you start a new act. You have a few default skills when you start the game but you buy new skills with the money you steal. You get cutscenes before and after each mission. The cutscenes are for the most part not too long and not too short. They feel just right and they’re the driving factor why you’re carrying out your missions. The story starts with random looters trying to survive but things become more personal and you’re getting dragged in conflicts due to Elaj and Trin their past. The story also focuses on building the characters and their relationships to one another. The story might not win the Oscar awards, but I enjoyed their banter and I wanted to see how things would end. You can skip cutscenes if you don’t care about that.
That’s pretty much the game. It’s a solid foundation. I love the world created, the gameplay, the story, the music and the thinking involved. However, there is one serious flaw = the balance/challenge. Let me say upfront that this is most likely fixed with the last update (I’ll talk more about it) but most of my experience before that was a struggle in act 2 mainly. The game starts out strongly with act 1. The challenge felt just right. You were pushed to use everything at your disposal and it was fun. Things started to get bad with the last mission of act 1 and things became worse in act 2. The levels kept getting bigger, more complex, harsh and too many things to keep track of. It stopped being fun and became exhausting. It’s not the direction I expected the game to take. It also didn’t help that I experienced bugs that made the missions even more challenging and annoying. I didn’t want to accept this for a while because I loved the game so much and I was gushing about it all the time. So this hit hard.
However, the developer has been great at coming up with solutions. He has released several patches to balance the game out, changed some of the levels that went too far and released 1 new difficulty option that is very important to the already VERY extensive difficulty options you have. If you scroll all the way down you will see the new ‘less enemies and puzzles’ toggle. I’ve tested this with the last 2 missions of the game and it made the game far more pleasant to play. I wish I had this option before I went through act 2.
The difficulty options menu is very important to the game as every element can be controlled and adjusted. You can control how fast the timer ticks, whether the threat levels are truly threatening, whether rewind is limited or infinite and much more. You can make the game impossibly hard or make it a better experience suited to what you want to get out of it. It’s a MUST to look through this menu every once in a while and not just at the start. You can adjust everything at all times and not just when starting a new game.
The game is in a much better state now. There are a few bugs left that I reported (2-3) with the last patch but the developer is already committed to fixing them. While I became a bit bitter with the challenge/balance, I’m still glad to have played the game. I expect new players will have a smooth ride as long as they look at the difficulty options when needed. As for me, the plan is to slowly get the rest of the achievements and follow whatever happens with Spirited Thief/Koi Snowman Games. This has been a very good game to start with and I’m looking forward to more.