Spirited Thief

It really reminds me of Invisible inc. Considering Klei have no desire to make Invisible inc into a series, this is a pretty excellent little spiritual successor. That being said, it comes with enough of its own ideas to be unique and an experience, that stands on its own merits. I'm having a blast with it and I hope the devs work on a sequel / DLC. It's got a lot of potential and is definitely worth playing. I haven't completed it, so I can't quite tell you how long it is.

Having put over 500 hours in Invisible Inc (easy to play in the background), Spirited Thief is a spiritual successor that elaborates on its basic mechanics, while building on the atmosphere and setting of Thief. This functions more as a puzzle game than a more free-form stealth experience, but you're given enough tools and abilities that it's never an insurmountable challenge. I give the experience a 5/5 because of its clear mastery of its mechanics, its warm atmosphere, and the more-than-competent writing. Don't let my comparison to other titles weigh down your assessment of this game. This is clearly a developer who saw mechanics and built on them masterfully. Give this game a shot!

The art and initial tone of the game set you up for a stealth game where you dodge some guards, get some loot, do this well enough to not embarass yourself in front of the Thieve's Guild, etc. However, during the second act, both the story and gameplay start to take a turn, and this will essentially be the point where the game clicks for you or you get tired by it. Spirited Thief just starts asking a lot more of you. The story goes from odd jobs here and there with laid back banter to going up against fantasy Illuminati and coming to terms with somebody's death. The gameplay, that started with keeping track of a few guards while using your favourite tool for a mission, grows to having massive maps where you have to control 2-4 people and learn that you can't have a "favourite tool" anymore. As you're scouting with your spirits, you have to plot out a path in your head for everyone, which thieves to take with you, and which tools should they take and when should they use them. It kind of gets out of hand, but something about it clicked for me. Maybe it was the setting up of a status quo for a few long hours and upending it that made it stand out for me. Or just the good old feeling of beating a hard challenge.