Posted on: June 14, 2021
REALclaire
Games: 129 Reviews: 1
If you like old Thief, you won't like it
Enjoyable in many ways, but absolutely not for series fans. Some series reboots like Human Revolution strike a good balance where the series finds a new fan base while retaining a lot of the appeal of the previous games in a sleeker package. This absolutely isn't that. Everything that's good about this game is completely at odds with the appeal of the original games; Thief 1&2 were great for their intricate, sprawling level design and the open-ended systems that prioritized creative use of tools. Old Thief discouraged combat with clunky sword-fighting and low health; New Thief discourages combat by making it feel straight-up bad. Combat is not only inefficient and risky, but also janky and it feels on a primal level unsatisfying (not to imply Old Thief was great at combat). Playing in a fighting-focused style feels like you're breaking the game in a way unintended by the devs. However, if you enjoy ghosting stealth games, there is enjoyment to be had and good difficulty customization to facilitate it. To ghost a level in Old Thief took either a *lot* of patience or a solid understanding of how to manipulate the game's mechanics; on the other hand, New Thief is tuned for satisfying, silent, invisible B&E right out of the box and its tension comes from the inevitable temptation to play recklessly — performing more and more risky maneuvers to steal as much petty treasure as you can. Like a hybrid between a collectathon and a stealth game. To be clear, it isn't great; it's still let down by repetitive and long animations for collecting treasure, jank, and occasional bad level design. It's fun but hard to recommend. There's a lot to like as long as you aren't expecting more The Dark Project. They're nothing alike and those that compare the two to explain why "New Thief is bad and Old Thief was good" are overlooking the enjoyment that this game can give the right audience; and if you're a big fan of Old Thief, that audience probably isn't you.
Is this helpful to you?
