I went into this game expecting a burglary simulator, what I got was more like DnD thief simulator. You do break into people's houses and steal their stuff, but just as often you'll do things like raid tombs infested with traps and monsters.

From a gameplay standpoint I would say the dungeon-y stuff reminded me of something like Doom or other retro FPS games, while the more stealth-focused levels reminded me more of modern Imsims that Thief inspired.

The more dungeon-focused levels lead to some really memorable atmosphere and imagery. I generally enjoyed exploring them, and atmospherically they're borderline horror at times which was pretty awesome. With this said, I'd be lying if I didn't say the most fun part of the game, gameplay-wise, wasn't the parts where you're just robbing places full of humans. I did enjoy the more dungeon-y stuff but some of it could get a little tedious, and it took too much of the game. I wouldn't want to remove them from the game, but maybe I'd loosen the loot requirements in those levels just so they don't take so long to finish.

The more stealth-focused levels where you're sneaking around humans were the gameplay highlight, but I'll point out that I do think that the AI in this game could be smarter. They feel a little oblivious towards other NPCs. Like, I'll accidentally make one guard suspicious and he'll be searching for me, and like 3 other guards will just pass right by without even noticing this. Sometimes they'll team up and work together but this felt inconsistent.

This isn't as much of a problem as it could be, as even one guard looking for you is a real threat in this game. Garrett's not a badass assassin, he's not a soldier, he's basically just some guy. One guy with a sword can kill him. For this reason I still think the stealth is pretty fun, despite the guards sometimes being a bit dense.

Pretty solid game, looking forward to playing Thief 2.

Reviewed on Dec 22, 2023


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