Thief™ Gold

20+ years and still the best around.

The pioneering first person stealth game, antithesis to Quake-style action, Industry Corner Stone and blah-blah-blah and yak-yak-yak. Don't listen to folks vocalizing those banalities. What LGS got absolutely right, is that a good stealth game is a slow game and must play like reading a good book. End of story. PS Oh, and as of today, its gorgeous cutscenes are absolutely working (thanks to community's efforts) and it is 100% playable on Linux (and maybe also Mac?) via wine.

After so many years this game is still very good! I had a great time, everything worked out of the box without any tweaking or modding on Windows10. Do yourself a favor and play it on Expert. That is the best way to experience it - it is more challenging but also more rewarding. Get it now, none of the new games gave me that much fun. Absolute classic.

If I said this game is "influential", hoo boy, that would be the understatement of the day. Thief: The Dark Project, without any exaggeration, perfected the stealth game play on one fell swoop. You get FPS-style controls, with new "leaning" controls to peek around corners... and you're told to sneak, *not* bop everyone you see in the face with an arrow. And sneaking is what you will do. Keep in the dark, keep your eyes peeled, mind your steps. As long as you remain in shadows, you're practically invisible. You can sneak through every level in the game on the hardest difficulty, killing *no one* - leaving behind empty chests and blank spots on mantles where tacky silver vases used to be. If that proves too difficult, you can knock out most guards with a blackjack, so you still kill no one. Oh, you do get a sword and bow, but trust me, you're usually only going to get killed. The bow is incredibly handy with the other interesting arrow types, like water arrows that can be used to put out pesky torches and rope arrows that, uh, let you attach ropes. And all this happens in an *incredibly* atmospheric, well-detailed, and well-thought-out dark fantasy-steampunk world. Opulent manors of rich fat cats who are clearly asking for it! Grim cathedrals! Zombie-infested tombs! Nasty prisons where pious religious orders make criminals die 'neath righteous punishments! Lost cities of ancient mystery! Utter, sheer horror that is forever unrivaled! Drunk guards! Slithery pagans! Cowering civilians! Gibbering idiots! Places of utter weirdness! (Also: You get Thief Gold, which adds even more weirdness.) Thief is an incredibly immersive and atmospheric game that rewards exploration and thinking rather than reflexes and speed. The only recent game that comes even close is Skyrim, and they got there by practically ripping off the sneak mechanics from Thief series. (Didn't I say this game was influential?) I'm glad they took it from the best, because frankly, there's *no way* Thief can be topped and more games should be doing it. This is just how sneaking works, guys! Game developers should start realising that sneaking just isn't going to work any other way! The only slight problems are that the game may have some small compatibility problems with modern systems, but luckily, there's a thriving community of people out there who have conjured a fix for just about every minor annoyance you may encounter. GOG's release ran perfectly on my Win7 system as long as I remembered to run as admin. (Another small hitch was that the bonus MP3 soundtrack has some *weird* ID3 tags, like song titles all set to same. Tsk, tsk, minor sloppiness.) But I wouldn't deduct any points for these - the game has aged well, all things considered. Tiny flaws, completely inconsequential in face of the colossal greatness of the actual game. So heck, if you haven't played it, get it so you know where all of the awesomeness in today's games stems from. Video games were just awesome before Thief, but this is where the video games became *totally* awesome.

Review done after finishing the game on highest difficulty. Tl;DR One of the greatest stealth games in existence, even my modern standards. There are some issues that prevent me from giving it a perfect 5* score, but know that even if I leave it with 4* - it’s the highest-tier 4* can be. Pros: + General gameplay Your sword and blackjack (mace) can be used to kill or knock out enemies. Your bow can use different arrow types, from the damage dealing broadheads, to water arrows that can put out torches, moss arrows that make your steps quiet, or gas arrows that instantly put enemies to sleep. You also have rope arrows that can be attached to any wooden surface and will produce a thick rope for you to grab onto and climb. Human and some monster enemies will be very dangerous in combat. You are a thief, not a warrior – while you can fight, it’s not usually a recommended option as wounded enemies tend to run away to seek help from other guards. + Weight of movement Your character has a momentum. It takes a fraction of a second move at full speed from standstill. Slippery surface will make moving difficult. Metal or tiled floor is loud to walk on. All of this has to be taken into account while sneaking. + Difficulty selection Each map can be played on Normal, Hard or Expert. Higher difficulty not gives you less HP, but also gives you more objectives like stealing specific, rare items. On Expert you are also forbidden from killing any humans, while on Hard you must avoid killing civilians. Cons: - 3 out of 16 maps are pretty bad I won’t spoil them whole, but I have to talk why I think they are bad. From least to most bad: Wizard towers – idea behind the level is nice, the execution is not. This map makes it very annoying to navigate and finish stealthily. Casino – about half of this map are samey looking sewers which you will easily get lost in. Escape – one of the later maps will make you fight a lot with low resources and enemies are plenty and difficult.