Thief™ Gold

I can't believe I waited so long to play this. For its time there is really nothing like it. The setting is great, and the sound is in a league of its own even compressed as it is. Your limited resources and the willingness of the game to mislead you adds a lot of tension and makes it quite immersive. The plot is pretty good for its time too, but really there is limited exposition. The story is told by cutscenes between missions and the levels themselves. The only thing is that due to the nature of the design, you can screw up by wasting resources or, in some places, soft lock the game. As such, when playing you should keep multiple saves. If the game did not have quicksave it would be very difficult so expect to use it often your first time through.

The AI is frustrating and the levels are confusing labyrinths but its stealth mechanics are more advanced than modern games (somehow). It's also got a lot of charm and personality.

LOVE the ambience, hate the maze levels

This is how it's done.

This game and its sequels are the best stealth games ever made. And yes, they are still amazing to play.