[GAME] Thief Review

Developer: Eidos-Montréal, Feral Interactive (Mac)

Publisher: Square Enix, Feral Interactive (Mac)

Genre: Action, Adventure, Stealth

Platform: PC (Reviewed), Mac, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Nvidia Shield

Release date: 18 Feb, 2014

Find the game here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/239160/Thief

Thief is an action and adventure title that focuses heavily on stealth mechanics and the various aspects that come along with it. In Thief you control a character named Garrett, a master thief that embarks on intriguing and twisted quests through what is simply known as ‘The City’. The quests are focuses around, you guessed it, thieving which may sound fairly bland, however, the way in which you undergo these quests is a unique experience.

The first thing I feel inclined to share with you is the fantastic atmospherics that make the gameplay much more engaging than it would otherwise be. Everything from the flickering gas lamps to the relentless rainfall hammering down onto the cobbled, Victorian-esque streets make for an idealistic thieving environment. Combined with exhilaratingly intense music and a variety of story-based or even humorous NPC interactions / conversations, the stage is set and feels alive for you to jump in, explore and get stealing.

The looting system itself is pretty basic, but it does a good enough job with the variety of loot to make it worth your time. You will be collecting a range of items from spoons to beautiful ruby necklaces in exchange for gold coins from random locations around the city which you can use to buy items and equipment for Garrett.

It’s not the looting itself that is interesting, it is how you get to and then acquire the loot. Thief offers a variety of different playstyles, whether you decide to go in all weapons blazing and take out all the enemies before reaching your objective or cautiously sneak past by using the environment and your abilities to your advantage without being spotted, the decision is yours to make.

Thief runs very smoothly, and coupled with the variety of stealth mechanics it becomes very immersive early on in the game. For me, using mouse and keyboard wasn’t a great experience, by default the key bindings were clunky and awkward to use, but that is something that you can change to suit yourself in the options menu. However, navigating the city does feel very fluid, whether you’re jumping from one rooftop to another or vaulting over crates to evade the pursuing guards.

On the topic of combat, Thief really makes you feel like the odds are stacked against you. Although you are equipped with a variety of weaponry throughout the story, facing multiple guards at one time can mean almost certain death, especially on the higher difficulty levels, but who doesn’t love a good challenge? The game definitely favours and rewards you for using the stealthy approach as these aren’t the kind of enemies that drop dead after a single attack.

Being aware of your environment is crucial and you are punished for rushing. Things such as stepping on broken glass as well as caged birds being alarmed at your presence can cause guards to charge in your general direction, which I have to say, does give you the typical horror game feeling of being stalked and hunted. Overall, the combat is solid but nothing impressive or worth shouting about, unfortunately in the case of a one vs one you can simply evade every single melee attack with a well-timed dodge and also the ‘takedowns’ are very bog-standard and not as badass as you’d hope, which is a shame.

Onto the world design itself, the city is not actually that large, however, it is the verticality that the city offers which makes the map feel much larger than it actually is. You are never confined to just the ground floor, you can climb up several stories onto the rooftops to quickly travel the cityscape whilst avoiding detection. I was slightly concerned that the higher up you go, the less there would be to do, but there turned out to be lots of enterable windows and doors which contained both loot, journal entries and even quests. For me this is what makes Thief such a desirable game to play and explore, as unlike other more linear titles you don’t feel like your path is ever blocked off.

Although the abilities are useful and fun, I can’t help but think the game would’ve benefited from a proper skill tree and levelling system to add some form of replayability. Whilst I am being picky, I usually opt for subtitles in story driven games to ensure I don’t miss any vital information or lore, however, not sure if this is a bug or not, but the subtitles themselves didn’t match up with the in game dialogue which made it more confusing so I had to turn them back off.

I have really enjoyed playing Thief, even though the game is over 4 years old, the graphics are plenty good enough and easily fit in with the level of current titles. The storyline is fairly short, just 8 chapters in total but with extras, completing the game can be achieved in around the 24 hour mark, depending on your play style of course. However, it costs £20 or regional equivalent on steam, but you can find a key online for just a couple of pounds. For a few pounds, this is a no-brainer, it is by no means perfect, but if you want to be a badass thief, this is a pretty good opportunity.

Thief – 7.0 out of 10

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