Thief™ 3: Deadly Shadows

This game LITERALLY had my heart racing and gave me the chills during the "Robbing the cradle" mission. I am not a fan of scary/horror games, but the story was so well written that I could not stop there. Please, do yourself a favor, BUY THE GAME!!!

is still the single most scary level I have ever played. I am not going to rehash the positive or negative reviews saying that it wasn't the same as Thief DP/Gold and The Metal Age, complaints about console porting or anything. The thing that Thief: Deadly Shadows gave me was an immersive atmostphere (yes, even with the horrible level transitions). And the best atmosphere came from creeping through the Shalebridge Cradle. I don't do scary. I hate scary. I'll admit it, I'm a wimp and when the zombie apocalypse comes I'll be one of the first turned. When I first played the Cradle I finished it in the middle of the day, with the lights on because it scared the living snot out of me, I was that sucked in. And that is the mark of a good game.

Not as good as Thief 1 and 2 for sure, and I give it a 3.5 stars when comparing and say it is worth a solid play through even without this next bit, with that next bit being that it has something special hidden 3/4th the way through that is more special than any game ever made. It is called Shalebridge Cradle and it is likely the most scary and horrifying level ever placed into a video game. Nothing else comes close to making the hair stand up on the back of your head. Nothing.. I bet if you look up the most scary levels ever in a video game, this one is at the top.

Thief 3 is not a bad game by any means, unfortunately it struggles to run on modern PCs. However, with the right mods (I use the sneaky upgrade) it is perfectly playable. The game was made by many of the same staff as the previous games, and retains much of the same feel, with a notable graphical overhaul. Thief 3 is notable for having more of an open-world feel and less of a level-based structure. This is fine, however, the levels themselves vary wildly in terms of quality. There is also an alignment system, which is better in theory than in practice. These are quibbles mostly; taken as a whole, Thief Deadly Shadows is likely still one of the better stealth games out there.

Simply put: yes, the game is different from the first two. It's more modern, the graphics are far superior, but it's lost the giant scale of prior levels and the animations are more stilted. It doesn't matter. Although smaller, the levels are far denser than anything in the other games (which tended to be vast, but minimalist and empty). A few inconsequential details have changed, but overall the entire trilogy is still one of the best series ever created and each game is incredibly immersive. Do yourself a favor, make sure you apply the "John P. high res texture pack" before you play - the game will look nearly as good as any modern release.