U Thief (2014) It didn’t work out over time to become an underrated classic, as sometimes happens with not the most popular projects. The players did not accept the new interpretation of the famous series under the patronage Square Enix, from the studio Eidos Montreal. Even now, despite not the most representative sample, based on player reviews here and now, you can easily track the trend – it’s common to criticize the game. And it doesn’t matter whether you passed it or not, you can and should scold. Praise, however, too, but only with a number of reservations.
Frankly, I also took the position that Thief is some kind of very dubious substance, which you probably shouldn’t touch. As a result, I only got to know the game thoroughly now, seven years after its release. As a result, the first impressions from 2014 turned out to be false, and the game is not what it initially seemed. Why?
In one of the videos I recently watched, I came across a very plausible proposition. The first thing people pay attention to before starting to play a particular game is the genre and setting. A certain interpretation of a well-known proverb “You are greeted by your clothes, but you are escorted by your mind”, only applicable to video games. And needless to say, stealth is not the most popular genre. It is alive now, in fact, only as a secondary mechanic, as an alternative passage option, which, according to the designers, will only be used by enthusiasts.
The setting is also a mistake. Thief invites you to take a trip through the classic plague city of the Victorian era, only instead of the plague there is another infection, darkness. The city is dark, cloudy, stuffy. This is not the kind of interior that could be inserted into a commercial and sold to people. It doesn’t have, as they call it, killer features. A killer feature that can sell the game. IN Dishonored, for example, there were interesting fighters on metal stilts, recognizable design of locations from Half-Life 2, no less recognizable, grotesque visual style, and the main character’s face was covered with a pathetic mask. There’s nothing like that in Thief’s design. The only thing that catches your eye here is the main character’s mustache.
But even if the player still decides to join the game, he is faced with another obstacle in the form of the first hours of gameplay, where he is introduced to the basic mechanics. In a world where there is Assassin’s Creed, allowing you to climb in general on everything, and Dishonored, which allows you to be everywhere using teleport, local parkour can put you in a stupor. Simply because it is strictly assigned to contextual, interactive objects. You can’t just get on the roof. The rope can only be hung in a clearly defined place. The player’s movement is strictly controlled by the designers.
Questions may also arise regarding secondary aspects. The first of them is frequent reloads. The world in the game consists of several interconnected locations, and is not open, although it is fully accessible for exploration. Obviously, this was done due to the fact that Thief was released on two generations of consoles at once, and the old hardware was not capable of loading large spaces and this level of graphics at the same time. I had to sacrifice something. Another such insignificant irritant is lock picking. After the games Bethesda, where it was possible to simply break a master key and which offered some kind of challenge, a local win-win mini-game that seems somehow pathetic.
The combat system, if it exists, also looks extremely strange. In a world where players are spoiled with bloody carnage of varying degrees of entertainment and scale, Thief offers you to fight off enemies with a club, alternately pressing the dodge and attack buttons. And stealth at first glance seems as primitive and uninteresting as possible.
Moment After
Thief belongs to a genre that is rare today – it is a purebred stealth. The game punishes direct collisions with several things. For example, the difficulty of battles. At first it may seem that there is nothing difficult about hitting a guard in the head with a baton three times, but. But if there are already two of these guards, and I’m not even talking about three, then a quick reboot will turn out to be the most correct decision of all possible. Because controlling the actions of even two enemies is not an easy task. In addition, not all of them willingly fall to the ground with two or three hits, it depends on their armor and equipment. Also, not all blows will hit the target, because opponents know how to block and will do this at every opportunity. It seems that a bow and arrow can come to the rescue, but it’s not that simple either. It takes time to draw the arrow and fire the shot. Any blow interrupts the bow drawing animation. And the arrows themselves, especially the most effective ones, cost gold and are in a constant state of shortage even among merchants. These are the things you don’t want to waste. In other words, combat in Thief is resource-intensive, unprofitable, difficult, and not very entertaining. But sometimes you have to enter into confrontation, at least for a change.
There are different rewards for different playstyles. Of course, the game encourages the silent style more.
Stealth is also not revealed immediately. Later, when the story campaign offers wide levels and quite challenging conditions, the game of cat and mouse with enemies begins to be enjoyable.
Here it’s worth starting with the fact that Thief provides a gentleman’s set of stealth mechanics. Depending on the lighting, the noise produced, the cover and the direction the enemy is looking, the player makes decisions – nothing new here. But a number of add-ons make the game truly exciting. It seems that it would be best to quickly dash past the guard who has turned away? As it turns out later, there was a cage with a bird next to him – alarm. I made a mistake when picking the lock, the lock clicked, the guard heard something? Anxiety. Didn’t notice the trap – death. I tried to somehow climb through the illuminated sector – ..
For funds earned during the game, you can upgrade items of equipment, for example, a club, a bow or a cloak. You can buy various devices from the merchant: poisonous arrows distract enemies for a while, fire arrows set fire to oils, explosive ones explode, water arrows extinguish torches, jagged ones pierce armor, and flash bombs allow you to leave the battle without being pursued. There is also skill leveling. In difficult situations, a skill that allows you to shoot silently can be useful – then you can kill enemies secretly from afar. For those who often have to face the enemy face to face, the ability to knock out enemies with one hit is suitable, sacrificing some local mana. In general, there is a lot to roam around, and after studying the entire assortment, you will certainly want to put it to use, not to mention the fact that this opens up new opportunities in gameplay.
Pleased AI enemies. A common thing for stealth games – you throw a bottle to the side, the enemies come together to study the place where it fell, meanwhile you go through the scene. Not so in Thief. Only one guard will be distracted when another one says: “Go check it out, and I’ll stay here.”. The persecution is also not so easy to reset. If the player decides to leave the battle, then one should take into account that the enemies are very persistent, and the matter will not be limited to running to the nearest turn. In addition, the AI reacts more than adequately to noise and risky actions on the part of the player.
The game also keeps the bar in terms of variety of playthroughs. The local level design may not be as broad as in the Dishonored series, but it is not uncommon for the same stage to have several paths to complete. So at one location, just after purchasing special scissors that allowed me to disarm traps, I ended up in a hard-to-reach room by cutting the necessary wiring in the mechanism. And after that I checked how it was possible to get here in another way. On another level, for example, you can generally make it easier for yourself to pass by putting all its inhabitants to sleep. Not to mention different ventilation passages or a well-placed ledge giving access to a safer route. In general, a thorough study of the environment allows you to find various loopholes.
Do not forget that we are playing as a thief, and replenishing the wallet is our professional responsibility. Therefore, it is worth exploring the levels not only to find secret paths, but also for your own enrichment. Don’t miss the notes. Perhaps not only a piece of lore is hidden there, but also the treasured key to a locked safe.
Perhaps what impressed me most about Thief was the story campaign, namely the variety of missions. Somewhere the player will be offered a driving chase, albeit not a difficult one, somewhere the player will be placed in conditions where he needs to quickly look for a way out, i.e.To. Over time, health ends. Somewhere the game will offer a logical riddle, and somewhere it will be a real horror game that will truly scare you and make you shudder. The game even has a boss fight, and unlike the stock version Human Revolution, it can be completed without a fight, as the main character of the game will kindly warn you about. In this aspect, it is clear that the developers really wanted to make sure that the player would not be bored. And, in my humble opinion, they succeeded. The eight-hour campaign turned out to be rich, interesting and varied.
Artwork by Rhianna Pratchett
I specifically kept silent about one of the reasons why Thief was not accepted by the gaming community. The fact that the game is not the same as its predecessors from the 90s does not bother me at all. I judge by the material that I have here and now. Different times, different contexts, different authors – comparisons should be made with extreme caution so as not to end up in the notorious “It was better before, because before”. Or “It was better before because you could hang the rope everywhere”. But here "silly" story from "stupid" Rihanna Pratchett can’t be ignored anymore.
I already wrote the following about Rihanna Pratchett:
…For example, this is why I don’t consider Rhianna Pratchett’s work in "Rise of the Tomb Raider" bad, contrary to public opinion, because in the plot there the author consistently sets the context for what is happening, and Lara Croft from a fanatical character for whom the goal is of paramount importance turns into a character who takes the position that the volume of justified means must also be taken into account. In the subsequent chapter, in “Shadows of the Tomb Raider”, this context is no longer there, and the screenwriter has changed. There, in the worst traditions of summer action movies, the build-up of heroes leads to nothing, the meaning of everything is given not by actions, but by quotes spoken out loud, unexpected turns mean nothing, and in general the story is for everything good and against everything bad.
But gamers are furious, the plot in Rise of the Tomb Raider is stupid! How so?
In fact, everything is both simple and complex at the same time. The reasons for dissatisfaction with Rihanna Pratchett’s work can be summed up in one word:, “BadComedian, illogical, I wouldn’t do that”, and delving into the deepest depths, outlining the problems of understanding and misunderstanding of art; delving into the nuances of consumerism, the tendency to not want to think and just relax, and ultimately to defining what a creative work is at the most basic level. I am more than sure that the format of a full-fledged book would be better suited for this topic. It’s so interesting and extensive. But let’s limit ourselves to small things.
Rhianna Pratchett writes well. It’s a fact. Analyzing her works from an academic point of view, you can clearly trace the “before” and “after” states, highlight the main theme of the narrative and determine the roles of the characters in the story.
To be honest, the interpretation of Rise of the Tomb Raider was easy for me. She came into my hands on her own during the game and did not require additional effort. It didn’t work out that way with Thief, but as sometimes happens, the necessary threads were found a little later and the tangle began to unravel.
The next two paragraphs may contain minor spoilers. But believe me, it’s okay. Basically it’s a setup and a little interpretation.
The story of Thief begins with the https://cloudbetcasino.co.uk/bonus/ fact that Garrett and his friend the thief Erin are given an order for another theft. In the process, it turns out that the girl does not adhere to the unspoken code of thieves, and does not mind getting her hands dirty with blood when it can be avoided. She even has a special device for this – a baton covered with blades. Garrett, as a representative of the old school, of course, scolds her, but understands that this is not enough. So he steals her killer weapon. When the characters reach their goal, it turns out that the case they were sent to is very serious. Intuition tells me to get out, but my companion doesn’t agree. A fight breaks out, everything goes wrong, a magical ritual goes wrong, and Erin dies. The main actions of the game take place a year after these events, when the city is gripped by panic, illness, and Garrett, in addition to not remembering the details of what happened, acquires magical abilities.
Overall, as I see this story, Thief is about the juxtaposition of new and old, innovation and tradition. This theme can be seen in dialogues, characters, events, and visual images. So, for example, the final mission takes place on a large, dilapidated ship, reminiscent of Noah’s Ark. It is difficult to isolate a clear author’s position on this issue, but taking into account the actions of the characters in the finale, I am inclined to think that it is somewhere in the middle. That is, traditions are, of course, important, but you shouldn’t forget about growth points either, and there may be exceptions. The same Garrett is not a hero, is not a savior, but at a crucial moment, when necessary, he is ready to give up the rules. Unlike Garrett in the prologue, who did not understand or take into account Erin’s individual approach and desire to do things her way. The character has become more flexible. “To be a loner, you need to have someone to avoid” – a phrase from the game perfectly describes this concept. Like another thrown phrase that new cities stand on the stones of old ones.
I can’t say that this is some kind of top screenwriting, but the plot is intriguing. I was interested to know what would happen next, who the Baron was, what really happened to Erin and where the disease came from in the city. I wouldn’t call Thief’s narrative a failure or a “stupid plot”. At least it serves its function. The only thing where I agree with the players is that the ending is really messed up. She didn’t have enough afterword, but you can live with it. Rihanna Pratchett’s work passes my criteria. Including work on the production of commercials, in which she took part.
Second chance
I myself avoided Thief for a long time and looked in its direction with an impressive amount of skepticism all this time. But in the end I was wrong, and I’m incredibly glad that I finally managed to get acquainted with the game. It turned out that this is a truly underrated project, lost somewhere in the outskirts of history and not accepted by the gaming community. Today, when the industry has changed a lot, at first glance, the once passable game has given something that few can offer now – a rich, interesting adventure and a unique gaming experience. This is why I personally play video games. Perhaps in some of its aspects it is not so strong, it’s not for nothing that I mentioned Dishonored, Assassin’s Creed, and games from Bethesda above, but its charm lies elsewhere. In a dense atmosphere, in immersive gameplay, in detailed animations, in interesting role-playing and diverse, memorable tasks. Thief is simply very beautiful, taking into account, of course, the year of its release.
Pay attention to the project. Give a second chance to Thief. Be flexible and don’t become hostage to your own views and opinions.
Best comments
Honestly, I don’t understand what the game can be praised for in principle, other than the thick atmosphere and the level in a madhouse. Nonlinearity there, if there is any, is minimal. Like – you can go left or right, but you’ll still be walking along a narrow corridor. The locations, as the author himself noted, are small, with constant reloads. Stealth – as primitive as possible.
If in Deus Ex you could use implants to bypass/eliminate opponents, and in Dishonored you could use magical skills that greatly diversified the gameplay and really gave you variability, then here you are stupidly stuck in the shadows. Even the goblin in Styx (this, by the way, is also a purebred stealth, but at the same time people loved it) had more tools for solving problems than Garrett.
I didn’t understand the argument about the setting at all.
“The setting is also a mistake. Thief invites you to take a trip through the classic plague city of the Victorian era, only instead of the plague there is another infection, darkness. The city is dark, cloudy, stuffy. This is not the kind of interior that could be inserted into a commercial and sold to people.".
People squealed with delight (me included) when we were first shown Yharnam in Bloodborne. Gloom and depression did not scare people away from A Plague Tale: Innocence. On the contrary, such a setting is what attracts people.
Therefore, I will repeat a simple and obvious thought – the main problem of the Thief is the weak game design. And that’s why the game won’t become an “underrated classic.”.
I think I understand. Correct me if I’m wrong. I just remember there was one person who didn’t like the fact that it wasn’t a review in my work. And he directly persistently wrote in criticism precisely some purely review things that I was not even pursuing. In Thief, unlike other games, we were forced to dwell in more detail, for example, on the gameplay, on some features of the gameplay. Because, damn it, it seems to me that really few people played it normally, few people passed (according to the replay on Steam, about 14 percent). When, like the same Deus Ex, everyone already knows, and it’s not my thing to write what the reader knows.
As for errors… Well, this is the language. You can’t change it that easily. If it’s not syntax, spelling, semantic errors, then it’s not scary. I can imagine that somewhere the same idea could have been expressed differently. Moreover, in the draft versions there were many points that were rewritten in order to present them more correctly. But that’s all my powers. This is the language. I think so, I talk so. I can’t do anything xD
Thanks for sharing the blogs. I’m pleased 🙂
I liked Thief 2014. Completed it and enjoyed it. There are bugs and annoying things (lack of jumping, constant loading between locations, inconvenient map, crumpled plot narration. ). But in general, cool main missions (in the brothel and mental hospital are SUPER!), good soundtrack, some cool side effects, cool graphics.
I wouldn’t mind a remaster with some bugs fixed
Stopgame is no longer the same.
There are two options: 1) Either the planet has become so clear 2) Or the minus factor is still sleeping
I love this game dearly and replay it from time to time. I don’t compare it with the old parts and perceive it as a thing in itself.
It was the atmosphere that captivated me, the combination of Victorian locations and mechanisms, these gray boards of houses, overheard conversations of NPCs on the streets. The soundtrack may not be memorable, but it’s not distracting at all.
Yes, the map is a disaster, the scratching of windows and beams during reloads begins to irritate after a while, but this will not dissuade me from the opportunity to once again run across the rooftops in Stonemarket or the fishing quarter.
I love the variety of options, a screwdriver is the first thing I want to buy. A special bow for the razor and the collection of paintings that can be cut out of frames with its help, I would collect one for myself.
I won’t recommend it to everyone, but if you want something chewy with the ability to stomp on the tiles of someone else’s house, go for it.
I really liked Theif too, I was surprised at how low the game was rated. I liked the dark and melancholic world in the spirit of Dishonored. And Moira’s shelter was both a bloody terrifying and terribly interesting location)
What is this, a post from Lovegrub, which was not bombarded with a bunch of minuses? Naughtyyyyyyy
For some reason it seems to me that it’s mostly the fans of the old parts who hate the Thief. Their hopes and expectations were not met. Of course it may seem that way. I wasn’t familiar with them, but I bought Theif for 100 rubles on Sonya and expected much less than what I received. I really liked the gameplay, secrets, variations of missions and the world itself.
I absolutely agree about the comments about the game. Especially regarding the map and windows – it was very difficult for me, as someone suffering from exceptional topographic cretinism)
Let me argue with the author.
Thief (2014) is a hidden sequel to the originals, as evidenced by several things. The presence of the ancient Hammerite temple, the presence of the abandoned Guardian citadel in the old City, the existence of the hospital of Moira (the widow whom old Garrett robbed), which was founded exactly during the period of the original parts. The icing on the cake is the numerous references to one Sneak Thief, who was a master thief long ago who stole from Moira and who had a mechanical eye. This eye, by the way, can be found, it is in the basement of the hospital.
These things do not allow you to separate the new part of the game from the old ones. They truly are part of the same universe. Other hints are given to this – the cyclical nature of events in the City and the existence of Garrett – an element of the balance of factions in this world.
Let me note for a second that the art design in the game is very beautiful and many of the locations are nice to look at, so that’s a plus for that.
Now a little about the actual plot. Unfortunately, despite its possible artistic and aesthetic charms, it is extremely predictable. Right from the start of the mission, playing through the game for the first time in 2014, I realized that the mission would fail. To do this, you don’t need to be Sherlock, just look at the person of our companion Erin, who immediately declares and shouts with all her behavior that she won’t cope. Yes, indeed, the altercation started over Garrett, but he had each and every reason to say, “Let’s wind down.”." – Baron, cult, MacGuffin.
“Unexpectedly” the ritual does not go according to plan. ‘Surprisingly’ Erin is actually alive. “Unexpectedly” Garrett’s patron and customer is a traitor. Every key moment in history can be summed up with the phrase, “This is the twist.”!" – and this is not a compliment.
It’s just not interesting to follow.
Fortunately, we are in Thief not because of the plot, but because of the gameplay. However, here a joke happened to the game, such a wicked one. It’s called Thief. It carries with it a certain cultural heritage of stealth games. If it had been called anything else, it would have no price.
Why problems? Let’s start with level design. The incredible corridors and linearity of the locations are simply amazing; there is simply no room for movement. This is a stealth design in the spirit of Splinter Cell and Deus Ex, where the locations were also corridors with branches, but this is definitely not a Thief design. Thief is known for its open environments with many corridors, independent patrols, hidden corners and passages. It was necessary to study the location, look for valuables and MacGuffin yourself. The game required thinking and this gave it its charm, because of this the game worked. Because the player was a thief. He thought like a thief and acted like one.
The design of Thief (2014) involves leading the player by the hand. The contrast is especially acute if a fan has gone through all the previous parts to remind himself of Thief, what it was. This transition is not justified by a change in genre; Prey 2016 is an excellent game, which is also an immersive sim.
Another point is the sadness of the stealth itself. Thief wasn’t just a stealth game about sight (like Dishonored or Deus Ex), it was also about sound. Each surface was unique and produced its own sound, by which you could track not only your position, but also the position of enemies on the map. Thief (2014) uses no sound at all. You can easily complete the game without sound. I tried (+ without interface). I finished one level and got a little bored. Not the point.
Very often patrols are located in such a sequence that it is physically impossible to pass by. The level at which this is most noticeable is the brothel. The opponents stand close by, you can’t pass them by (they’ll notice on hard), and if you distract them, you won’t get the coveted Ghost badge. You’re an opportunist, my friend. And the whole game is played out by opportunism.
The game is simply not designed for the passage of a ghost without unnecessary pain in the area of the fifth point, namely unnecessary, and not fair. I don’t argue, you can go through it this way, but it’s not much fun, really. It’s like rape with kitchen utensils.
With that said, I’m of the opinion that Thief (2014), had it been called anything else, would have been better. If there were no burden, any vision could be made, but heritage imposes certain limits.
I will be happy to discuss and listen to your opinions.
I knew about the Thief series for a long time, but my first game was Thief 2014. And I agree with the author, I also liked the game purely mechanically, I like to stealth. nevertheless, these artificial restrictions on movement, due to clearly marked places for the rope, special cornices, and so on, somehow strained. Just look at the moment where I look at my feet and see a trap button, about 50×50 cm, and due to the lack of a “jump” I simply cannot help but step on it, well, this is stupidity… As I wrote above, this was my first Thief, and then I was lenient about it, yet the game was some kind of pleasure, but then I completed the original trilogy and after Thief 2, which came out almost 15 years earlier, this game is just seems unworthy of her name. This is about gameplay.
But in terms of the plot… One gets the feeling that this is just a set of fillers. Maybe I just don’t understand something, and I’m ready to admit I’m wrong if they answer my questions clearly: What exactly does this primal do?? Why and what kind of ritual was this in the beginning?? What actually happened to Erin? What happened to Garett for a whole year?? I had some other questions but I don’t remember, I played the game 3-4 years ago.
Most likely you are right, but it’s as if after the release of this game no one wanted a continuation of something unknown. T.e. I didn’t get answers to these questions, but I didn’t get a complete story to want to continue it and it just looks like a game about nothing. Gameplay for gameplay’s sake. In the original trilogy, the plot from the sky of stars was not enough, but it was interesting and complete within each part.
I’ll also add that the game features objectively rudimentary leveling. Garrett, in the story, is already a master thief. Because of this, cognitive dissonance arises, which in the format of this work could be easily avoided if the developers had made the levels more difficult, but giving the player everything that is in the leveling tree right away.
And yes, the plot in the original parts also didn’t always have enough stars in the sky, much of it depended on the charisma of Steven Russell, Garrett’s voice actor, but nevertheless, this plot was at least interesting to follow. The character had negative traits, namely greed.
Everyone knew that working for Sebastian was a bad idea, but Garrett did it anyway. Why? Very simple. Money. The character is given humanity through this. He is still a master of his craft, an extremely skilled thief, but simple human greed is not alien to him. He is also no stranger to rancor – he is extremely reluctant to trust Victoria due to the fact that she forcibly removed his eye. He is extremely reluctant to get into trouble and generally strives to ensure that everyone leaves him behind. Well, let the person steal quietly, why are you even?
Garrett in this part is much less felt as a character; to a greater extent, it seems that he is a plot function for the transition from point A to point B, and this is sad.
I completed Thief for the first time literally at the beginning of this year. Started playing around November 2020, then had a break for other games and finished in January. This was my first introduction to the series as a whole. And I didn’t regret at all that I played this game, I really enjoyed it! Yes, maybe this is not an AAA project, but in such “smaller” games you can always find your own charm, zest and some kind of lamp corner that will definitely hook the player. And so Thief turned out to be for me a mixture of all this lamp, not pompous and promoted project, but a very good story, the development of which was very interesting to follow. And the gameplay in general is also at a good level. The game is in first person, but it is very convenient to play on PS4 (which is what I played it on) and control from a gamepad is also very convenient. So, my personal assessment of this game is Commendable, and very! 🙂