Thief is the latest installment in a franchise that is near and dear to my heart – in fact, I can think of one title only that predates the first installment in the franchise in my experience, and that was some nonsense pack-in with the first computer my family ever purchased – Thief was the first real ‘game’ I ever played. It has a very special place in my heart, along with the early Elder Scrolls games, Might and Magic, and Baldur’s Gate.
I walked into Eidos Montreal‘s Thief with extraordinarily high expectations. Not only was Deus Ex: Human Revolution one of my favorite titles in recent history, but I was surprisingly pleased with their work on the multi-player element of Tomb Raider, and Deus Ex: The Fall was one of the more ambitious ‘real’ gaming experiences on mobile devices to date. Consequently, their stewardship of one of my favorite franchises built great hopes.
Thief has been met with mixed-to-mediocre responses across the board, and after plumbing its depths, I can firmly and definitively state that I disagree with these assessments, but not whole-heartedly. Thief is firmly rooted in the history, world, and lore of its forebears and the mechanics of the hardcore stealth-genre it defined. There are some issues with polish, and it is unflinching in its commitment to the central precepts of it’s design, but on the whole it’s one of the most satisfying additions to the genre in a long time, if you can forgive it for its weak points.
Gameplay 8 of 10
Thief does nothing to reinvent the wheel, but as it invented most of said wheel, this isn’t the world’s largest criticism. In short, Thief tasks you with larceny on the largest through the smallest of levels, and while your ultimate success doesn’t depend on the method by which you achieve these objectives, the title does tend to reward you for maintaining a low profile throughout each individual sequence, and to a lesser degree for maintaining a unified approach to the level (Ghost, Opportunist, Predator.)
There is no question that the melee combat gives you little in the way of options. But as Erin reminds you early on in the prologue, you’re a thief. There is a much greater motivation to strike from the shadows and more still to simply evade any threats. If you allow any encounter to devolve into hand-to-hand combat you will witness the single greatest weakness of Thief. that said, if you allow any encounter to devolve into hand-to-hand combat, you have made a grave error – this is not Dishonored, this isn’t any of the last 3 Splinter Cell‘s. This is not any of the handful of recent stealth-cum-action titles. This is a stealth game, and it was designed to be played that way
One of the most pleasant surprises of Thief is that it isn’t a flash in the pan. Provided you don’t bulldoze your way through the title, you’ll get a good 18-20 hours out of the single-player, and that’s with a far-less-than-perfect completion rating. Thief has a tremendous amount of depth, and a if you’re planning on completing the mission challenges or hundred-percent-ing a mission, it’ll take far more than that. and that’s speaking to just one play-through.
Presentation 6 of 10
Easily the weakest aspect of the title, Thief‘s presentation is riddled with poor facial animation, terrible lines, and an odd juxtaposition of story-telling methods. The story itself is sound, and the world as appealing as it had ever been. The level design is solid, albeit a touch married to the hub-world to level back to hub-world mentality.
Similarly, the noir-like commentary is deeply rooted in the titles history, but could have been achieved in a much more palatable manner, as recent titles like Max Payne 3 and LA NOIRE have proven.
Visuals 7 of 10
Thief is well above mid-line in terms of eye-candy, with some exceptional texture and particle work, but to be frank the facial work is just appalling. The animation as a whole is better, particularly anything involving Garrett’s interaction with the environment. The lighting work is quite good, as are the particle effects, and there are moments where Thief will surprise you with its stark beauty.
The lighting effects are particularly good, and given the importance of light and shadow in this title, that is pivotal.
Sound 6 of 10
As I mentioned before, the voice-over work is far below average – there are sequences that are simply … cringe-worthy and that cannot be excused – Garret, has moments of genuine brilliance, despite the script. The environmental audio, what little of it there is, is workmanlike. The musical cues are quite haunting, startling and sparsely used to great effect – a hallmark of well-thought-out game design in stealth titles.
The surround sound work seems to be a touch off – it comes from the proper orientation, but it will often deliver dialogue at a level that is just far too loud for the source: you’ll hear a guard or citizen speaking and you’ll turn in the direction of the sound and … nothing. I will examine every bit of surrounding area, and then eventually determine that the source of the sound in absolutely in that direction, but two rooms away and a level above (that’s a slight exaggeration, but really quite slight).
Tech 7 of 10
It’s difficult to successfully express my main concern with Thief‘s technical side – there may well have been a choice to make the title claustrophobic and labyrinthine in nature, but given the narrow range of available visual options and its mediocre performance on a very powerful PC rig, I am forced to conclude that the minuscule size of the maps is due to an optimization issue within the engine. In short, the maps are tiny and there are far too many loads for areas that are as small as they are. The title isn’t bad looking, but compared to some similar titles of the past few years, it’s nothing to write home about, which then begs several questions, but paramount among them: why is it, with visuals that aren’t quite off the chart and such middle-of-the-road performance, does this title require so many many load gates, for such small areas?
There’s also something odd about the marriage of an otherwise brilliant lighting engine and the fog-related particle effects.
Intangibles 7 of 10
I have always found it is the presence of the tiniest of details creates some of the greatest gulfs between good and great. This is not the case in Thief but only because certain technical and presentation issues hold it back. Thief does a great job creating an interesting world. It does a great job peppering the world with interesting details and documents of note, and it does so in a very complete manner. But the vast majority of this detail is marred by the ham-fisted dialogue or the mediocre delivery of same.
The brothel sequence has gotten a hefty amount of publicity recently for its particularly direct – or tactless, depending on your interpretation – expression of the sex-trade. I am, to what I choose to assume is my credit, far from an expert on the details of any of the sex trades, but the canned and poorly-performed dialogue would have a much better shot at building atmosphere if it hadn’t repeated perhaps 15 times during the process of solving a single puzzle.
Overall 7 out of 10
Thief isn’t perfect. Thief isn’t for everyone. Thief isn’t going to be the title that wins over hearts and minds to the stealth-action genre. But Thief is an incredibly genuine, loyal and, for all its faults, enjoyable addition to the genre. If you’re a fan of stealth titles or of creatively-realized fantasy worlds, you’ll want to give it a shot.
Thief released on the 25th of February on PC, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox 360 and XboxONE.