Lets Take a Look at - An Underrated Game? 'Thief'

Hey gamers,

So as you know I like to spend time looking at the game sales each week and occasionally will pick up the odd game (way to many actually!). I had been looking at the new Thief reboot for some time, and despite the hate that this game gets it always stayed on my radar thanks to the late Total Biscuits positive outlook on the game. So last week I decided to take the dive and purchase the game for 4.99 on Fanatical.

Game Description:
Garrett, the Master Thief, steps out of the shadows into the City. In this treacherous place, where the Baron’s Watch spreads a rising tide of fear and oppression, his skills are the only things he can trust. Even the most cautious citizens and their best-guarded possessions are not safe from his reach.

The initial mainstream media reviews can be seen below and were OK but the game was savaged by user scores and the gaming public. I do note that this trend seems to have been reflected on and the game holds a 'mostly positive' rating on steam these days. This game always confused me, intriguing and interesting yet savaged by the player backlash against it. I do think that the stopped me from purchasing it a long time ago instead waiting for a sale almost 5 years later!

Mainstream Media Scores
PC Gamer Score: 79
IGN: 6.8 out of 10
Gamespot: 6/10

So I fired this game up after an initial 18.1gb download and was pleasantly surprised at the quality of both the user interface and the initial opening tutorial for the game. The atmosphere of the opening 5 minutes is excellent and sets the scene for much of the game to follow. I will say at this point that I have never played any of the thief games previous to this and I understand much hate comes from the fact that the reboot deviated from the original formula. I decided to approach this with an open mind and judge it on its own merits. The game certainly has a quality AAA finish to it and Im not sure if this was evident on release or if a number of patches were released (if you bought it at release do let me know in the comments!).

The sneaking mechanics are actually fun and quite challenging at times. Dashing between the shadows make you feel like a true stalker of the night. The game has numerous dark areas where guards cant see you, at times though this can be a little unrealistic. On more than one occasion a guard was standing right in front of me and couldn't see me because I was "in the shadows". I do understand that this is part of the game mechanic but it feels a tad weak at times and actually left me laughing out loud on a few occasions (no harm I suppose!). Generally the stealth in the game is great fun despite the realism aspect and you feel like you are truly a thief in the night. I had a couple of very cool moments early on where I dashed around the shadows leaving guards confused and chasing shadows. If you are spotted during your adventure you are soon able to dash away and use the darkness and terrain to your advantage to evade capture. The ability to dash from the shadows and ascend onto the rooftops is a very satisfying feeling indeed. To me this seemed a lot more effective than fighting the guards and may also be why a lot of people didn't like the game. The combat is fairly weak and frustrating resulting in you feeling rather under powered in the blunt force department. However is this not the point of the game? You are supposed to be a thief and combat should be a last resort. I had absolutely no problem with this design choice and tended to avoid direct combat where possible.

One area that the game really deserves praise is the sound and atmosphere. From NPC conversations to ambient noise you really get the sense that your character should not be partaking in his thievery and there is a real sense of getting caught if you are discovered! I really am enjoying the sound design in Thief so far and think other games could learn from this aspect of the game. I think that sound design in a game is so important for creating that atmosphere of immersion and Thief demonstrates some serious quality in this department. For instance broken glass on the ground and failure to pick locks will alert nearby sleeping guards. On more than one occasion I made a mistake and cringed as the glass broke underfoot!

Taking into consideration that the game was released in 2014 the graphics are actually quite good and the aesthetic is predominantly dark as you would expect. Overall I though they did a great job and it runs silky smooth on my PC which is always a bonus. The animations of stealing loot adds to the overall immersion and character models are well done. One of the early missions that introduced me into how the game works saw me creeping around a Jewellers house. This was great fun and evading sleeping guards and obstacles that would alert them to my presence was very enjoyable. It was at this point that I started to question whether the game was truly underrated!

The game is quite linear in many regards and gives the illusion that it is an open world city. However I think this actually is a bonus, the direction gives the player something to focus on and limiting the game world in this way gives you an objective. The trend today for open world games has gone way over the top! Many are just sandboxes with nothing to achieve and feel half finished. The developer in this sense delivered a finished product in Thief with a start and end. The story is serviceable if a little predictable but overall I have no issues with the narrative. The only areas that are a little weak are the loading times between areas and the totally awful map that does not help you navigate the city at all.

Take Home Points
The 2014 remake of Thief is no doubt a quality release and an underrated game. The hate that it received on release was clearly some sort of unjustified fan backlash over designs decisions or nostalgia for the original titles. Taking all that aside the game is worth a buy especially considered that it can be picked up so cheaply these days. This is certainly a game to put your bias aside and jump into and enjoy. Thief is far from being a perfect game but it has direction, atmosphere and quality stealth mechanics in abundance. Ignore the consensus on this one!

Lrev