Thief™ Gold

Thief is almost a perfect game. Almost. The gameplay is absolutely solid, feels better than most games made today, the weapons feel great, the characters and voice acting is better than most movies, the graphics look a bit dated but have lots of charm, and the engine feels great. The level design is also beyond incredible. Most levels are dense, rich, open mazes that feel meticulously designed and perfected. Like Deus Ex, it's younger brother, the game allows you to go about levels as you wish, sometimes letting you explore the perimeters before diving into the meat of the game and allowing you to plan your attack. You could knock everyone out and go through the front door, or steal the key off the guard and swim through the sewers. For 1998, this was revolutionary and it still feels fresh today. What also feels fresh is the fact that your character, Garrett actually TALKS! Yes, Gordon Freeman, Link and Claude might be great because they don't speak, but it's truly refreshing to hear your character talk in a game made around the same time, especially as the voice acting is so superb. The voice acting of Garrett is just amazing and will simply never age. If you can find a way to get this game working with the cutscenes, you'll have a way better experience. All the weapons seem very well designed, but it's also were this game falls short. The blackjack for example is supposed to be used to knock out unsuspecting guards, however, getting close enough to hit them over the head without them or one of their friends seeing is a real pain as, if spotted, all it seems to do is agitate them, so quicksaving will be used frequently and there is no other way to knock them out without them finding out or harming yourself. Over all though, the game is phenomenal and these are very minor problems. Would highly recommend to anyone who enjoyed Deus Ex or SS2 or really any oldschool FPP/RPG/FPS games.

Thief games belong to small list of games I constantly replaying. I also often playing its fan-missions (fan-made mods) despite I'm not an avid player of mods. It's essentially a stealth game in which you are to avoid your opponents rather than fighting them (possible on lower level of difficulty). Each level of Thief is small sandbox full of obstacles and problem-solving. Developers paid attention to architectural aspects - not only fancy window-dressing, the architecture of level serves to gameplay purposes: you can shoot rope-arrows into wooden surfaces or stack crates, you can climb on some heights, heck you can even went out of the level! The events of Thief set in gloomy and moody steampunk world not unlike what envisioned in expressionist works, films noir and early comics: the big, sprawling and seemingly neverending medieval/clockwork City in which operating the main (anti)hero called Garrett, former novice of mysterious faction/sect of Keepers. Garrett is great tactician and undisputable master of silent infiltration into seemingly impregnable mansions of City lords, hideouts of secret sects, cathedrals full of undead, sinister mountain caves... You can explore each level and figure out your approach to every obstacle you face. The immersion and interactivity of Thief is what distinguishes this game from other stealth-oriented games (strategy games, like Commandos, or action games, like Splinter Cell or Hitman - despite I like them very much): here are no clearly defined algorithms for solving problems, and interactivity of objects plays a colossal role. Let me explain : there are boxes on almost every level. You can build a mini-pyramid out of them and climb, or you can throw them and distract enemies. You can also break closed doors with a sword. I have already mentioned rope arrows. Today the biggest nitpick of this game is weak AI. The bottom line is that Thief is very atmospheric and tactical game still well worth your time despite its age.

It's not the best stealth game ever made, but it's an experimentation with an incredible pay off. One of the most innovative and unique first person games ever made. Although most the Gold missions are not as enjoyable as the base game, it's still worth picking up. Thief: The Dark Project is a must have for every PC gamer out there. Amazing level design. Fantastic lore and plot twist. Both main protagonist and villain are filled with charisma. And the factions have so much personality. Especially the guards with their funny conversations. Arguably the best art direction in any PC game. Creative gameplay that requires significant brain usage. It's a thinkng man's game on that regard. Some enemies might be annoying (humanoids and undead specifically) but most encounters are manageable. I own it both physically and digitally and I don't regret any penny I've spent on this game.

The only reason this game gets 4 stars (instead of 5) is because of a particular level that requires you to backtrack too many times and kill everyone - 30% of the game is frustration, 70% of the game is pure stealth bliss. The frustrating part is where you encounter zombies, haunts, spirits and spend ton of time solving senseless puzzles or finding loot in obscure locations to complete your objectives. Stealth mechanics - 5/5 [Hide in darkness, use moss arrows to reduce your footsteps sounds, throw items to distract, hide bodies, remove fires to create darkness, etc] Treasure hunting - 5/5 [Solve puzzles in the level to find hidden treasures that are most of the times your objectives on expert difficulty] Nit picky treasure objectives - 2/5 [Spend 2 hours in some levels trying to find that specific 10 gold lying somewhere in the huge map] Level design - 5/5 [Awesome level design, filled with secrets and multiple paths to your objectives] Combat - 2/5 [No reason to play this game for the combat] Gadgets/Devices - 5/5 [Water arrows, moss arrows, lock picks, rope arrows and much more] Story - 4/5 [Pretty cool story considering how good its gameplay is] As good as it gets, unbelievable this released in 1998, most games these days aren't as good. Highly recommended.

The first time I tried this, I got to Cragscleft, became frustrated, then stopped. I tried again next year, freed Cutty, took a break for the night, and... just didn't return. There was just too much friction for me to want to go back. I'm not sure what happened, but I finally arrived at the Bonehoard. This game finally clicked for me. However, each mission took at least 2 hours (real time) because I just got lost over and over again. I was watching a playthrough to see how other people approached it... well, it turns out that my problem was two main things: 1) I have terrible spatial memory & 2) I have such a terrible reading comprehension that I didn't bother to decipher any clues. I was too impatient to figure out the directions the game had given me and instead wandered around aimlessly for far too long. Clearly, I'm not the intended audience for this - Quake is more my cup of biscuits. Regardless, I stuck through it, including the Thieves' Guild. I recognised how compelling the gameplay was and embraced how brilliant the mechanics and level design meshed together. The variety of styles one must use for success kept me from being complacent. But my absolute favourite part is the weirdness: monsters, steampunk, fantasy, surrealism... yeah, the surrealism is mint. If the setting was more dry, then I probably wouldn't bother. But the fact that I felt this game was weird in spite of my tendency to play experimental indie games says quite a bit.