Thief™ Gold

With a name like "Thief," you may expect the game to involve a fair bit of burglary, pilfering, and snatching. It does, surely. The first mission, a classic, has you swipe a baron's prized possession and as many other valuables along the way. However, there is a deeper story and world to this game. A world with its own religions, secret societies, and zombies. Of course, there has to be zombies. By the second level, you're fending off the undead with holy water. By the third, you're going toe-to-toe with dinosaur-like monsters in underground caverns. This is when the game starts to become simultaneously wonderful and frustrating. On one hand, it has some incredible level design. There is a strong emphasis on verticality and paying very close attention to your surroundings for loot. My favorite level, "The Sword", plays with your mind in ways that I almost never see in modern level design. It's wonderous, especially in this version. However, for as much wonder, there are sections or entire levels that devolve into endless, featureless mazes. Almost paradoxically, you will find less and less loot for thieving. This becomes frustrating when certain loot levels are required to clear a level and you have to scour every nook and cranny for the darn goblet you missed. Also, there is a fair amount of platforming which feels a bit clunky in the first-person perspective. Combat is a bit hairy, but you're actively encouraged not to engage in combat so it is not a major issue. The AI is a bit dull-witted so it is not hard to avoid combat even on the highest difficulties. The atmosphere is dark and foreboding throughout, and the occasional monster does add a spice of ambience. However, I typically come to a game like this for stealth and thieving, not so much blowing up monsters. Overall, an interesting experience and inspiring for designing other games.

The stealth is seriously challenging but incredibly intuitive; you hide from line of sight, especially by moving through bright areas between really dark ones when certain no one can see you. Many of the materials you move on may make noise, especially if you move fast andor jump. Basically you'll only want to do that when you're certain there's no one around that you're trying to hide from, or when you're on for example carpet. You can also intentionally throw something heavy onto something hard to distract. Sometimes you can choose to knock out which is difficult, kill which is easier but may require cleaning up blood, in order to render entire areas safe. Or you can choose to leave them untouched if you love expert mode. In this unlike the second there are a number of times where you simply have no choice but to use violence, especially against creatures; this is one thing that I prefer about the second. Certain enemies are aggravating to deal with; personally I find it to be worth it but certainly if you're looking for a game where you'll almost never have to use violence, this might not live up to your expectations the way that one will. This works incredibly well when it comes to the simulation. There truly are few limits to what you can affect. It is literally possible to trick enemies of different factions into fighting. If you steal the key a patrolman is carrying he may not be able to carry out his job, because he'll not be able to unlock the door. It doesn't come across as if these were actually intentional but rather that the freedom they give the player enables it. You get to explore a good variety of areas; the city, a cathedral, castles. A particular one has a true wealth of absurd, impossible elements; not as a lack of talent, it's clearly meant to be that way. Like other Looking Glass games, the plot has at least one huge twist that you don't see coming but in retrospect you realize that there were a bunch of clues.

The game is one of my all time favorites, sneaking through all sorts of places and stealing valuable treasure out from under the noses of the guards and whatnot, but when I downloaded and installed it, none of the cut-scenes would play, which is to say, really annoying, and I would really like it if GOG would fix that.

Thanks Mandalore.

I first discovered Thief over a decade after it was released. I'd never heard of it but the series has become one of my all-time favorites- if you haven't had the pleasure of experiencing this game, you owe it to yourself to pick it up! The gameplay is fantastic: stealth-based exploration in large, immersive, non-linear environments that reward exploration and ooze with atmosphere. Strike from the shadows and dispose of your foes one by one, carefully hiding the bodies so as not to leave a trace, or hide in dark corners and dart from room to room between patrols, never letting them catch a glimpse of you. Use the tools of your trade to extinguish torches, muffle your footsteps or create a climbable rope up to hard-to-reach places. The strategy and freedom of choice are endless and the rewards are immensely satisfying. All of this, combined with the engaging, well-crafted world of The City and its different factions, makes for a fantastic and memorable game. There are very few drawbacks to this first entry in the series- it's arguably weaker than its sequel, thanks to some combat-heavy levels and an abundance of undead, as well as one lackluster sewer-based level added for the Gold edition, but that's largely a matter of taste. The textures are rather grainy, so I'd recommend doing what I did and installing the TFix mod (check the forums) to give them a nice boost- but even if you don't, it doesn't look bad for the time and isn't likely to impact your enjoyment. Admittedly, it's not for everyone- if you're not patient enough to move slowly and carefully to avoid guards and strike when they're alone, if you get lost easily with only a rudimentary, hand-drawn map based on rumors to guide you, if you're not observant enough to seek out hidden treasures, clues and secret switches, this might not be your cup of tea. But for those who love an atmospheric, tense, stealth-based challenge, it doesn't get any better than the Thief series.