I played Thief over twenty years ago. Twenty years of playing stealth-action games and watching them develop and I think in the back of my head I was always comparing them to this. Blatant nostalgia? Possibly. And yet, returning to the original I find it is still one of the best. I love how in the first mission you are dumped outside a mansion with a scribbled map and a task to steal prized loot... and then left to it, to figure out how to get inside and how to get around and avoid the guards and escape with the gold. It sets the stage perfectly from the get-go. There are so many ways to complete each objective and so much to explore in the huge mission areas. There's no immersion-breaking mini-map or omniscient objective marker, which is a very good thing. Do yourself a favour and wander off the beaten track and see what is around each corner. The art design is a sumptuous mix of medieval and steampunk and renaissance themes and much of the lore is provided via notes and overheard conversations and environmental clues; to take the shortest path means you miss much of this finely crafted world. Besides, you will find the direct route often proves lethal: despite being equipped with blade and bow, a thief is no fighter. Better to sneak around and find a clever back door. This is a game that rewards exploration, both in tangible loot and in the smug satisfaction of ghosting through an area leaving your unwitting foes untouched. Or with a blackjack to the head. The only real criticism I have is the late-game emphasis on monsters rather than human enemies, and indeed the 'monster levels' are the weakest on offer. But there's still something about the moan of a zombie in a haunted cathedral that gives me a cold chill, gets the blood racing more than the fear of getting caught by a guard which permeates the non-supernatural levels. So maybe each has their place. Works well on modern systems, recommend using the tfix mod for bugfixes and support for higher resolutions.
