Thief is a stealth video game developed by Eidos Montreal, published by Square Enix, and released in February 2014 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and Microsoft Windows video gaming platforms. It is a revival of the cult classic Thief video game series of which it is the fourth installment. Initially announced in 2009 as Thief 4, it was later announced in 2013 that the game is a reboot for the series.
The game is set in 'The City', a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian, gothic, and steampunk aesthetics. Players control Garrett, a master thief who embarks on several missions focusing on stealing from the rich. Players may approach levels in a variety of different ways; players can choose the action oriented and lethal approach, where players will kill enemies on their way to their destination, using knives and takedowns, or opt for the non-lethal stealthy approach, where players avoid conflict all together. Players also may choose which path to take to their destination, as each location contains several branching paths.
Upon release, the game received a mixed critical reception, with critics praising its replay value and stealth gameplay, but criticizing the map layout and story.
Gameplay:
Players control Garrett, a master thief, as he goes about a series of missions, most of which are focused around stealing from the rich. As with the previous games in the series, players must use stealth in order to overcome challenges, while violence is left as a minimally effective last resort.
There are a variety of routes through each level and players are able to utilize a variety of playing styles to traverse them. The game contains a variety of ways to distract or kill guards, such as barrels of oil which can be set alight. Levels also contain money and valuable objects which Garrett can steal; these are immediately converted into money which can be spent on equipment and upgrades. Garrett is also able to pickpocket guards and other characters. The player may evade guards by hiding in shadows or around corners and is able to peek around edges and through keyholes in order to track the movements of enemies. Once Garrett has been spotted, guards and other non-player characters will attempt to hunt him down. The developers have stated that the game's artificial intelligence is aware of the level design, and as such guards will know in advance of potential hiding spots that the player may be utilizing.
Players may enter a "Focus" mode, which provides several advantages. It enhances Garrett's vision, highlighting pipes that can be climbed, or candles that can be put out to make the area darker. Focus can also slow down time, so that Garrett is able to steal more effectively while pickpocketing. Garrett can also use Focus to push enemies or perform debilitating attacks. It can be further upgraded over the course of the game.
Garrett carries a blackjack, used to knock guards unconscious; a collapsible, compound bow, which can be used for both combat and non-lethal purposes such as distracting guards; and a claw, which can be used to grapple onto higher ledges.
An XP system for the in-game growth of the character was meant to be used in the final game, but was later scrapped after negative feedback from fans, and to reflect the fact that the character was already a master thief.
Synopsis:
Setting : Thief is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian, gothic, and steampunk aesthetics. Garrett, a master thief who has been away from his hometown for a long time, returns to it, a place known only as The City, and finds it ruled with an iron grip by a tyrant called the Baron. While The City is ravaged by a plague, the rich continue to live in isolation and good fortune while the poor are forming numerous mobs against the authorities. Garrett intends to use the volatile situation to his favor.
The story is set several hundreds of years after the events of the original series in the same universe (clues to the backstory are hidden among documents, letters and plaques). The original master thief Garrett's (known as the legendary Sneak Thief) iconic mechanical eye is one of the hidden unique loots in the game that can be found inside of a prison complex. Other references to the original series include the Keepers, Hammerites and the Old Gods, with ruins relating to them being visitable locations throughout The City and beneath.
Plot:
The story begins when Garrett is paired with his former apprentice, Erin, with both accepting the same job from their contact Basso. On their way there, Garrett steals Erin's claw without her noticing, because she usually uses it to kill guards when not necessary. They arrive at their job's location, Baron Northcrest's manor, and find a ritual taking place. Garrett gets a bad feeling and calls off the job, but Erin disagrees. They struggle on the rooftop and she ends up falling into the center of the ritual, which was nearing its completion. Erin stops and floats in mid-air as she is surrounded by the ritual's energy. A part of the building falls on Garrett, knocking him out. When he awakens we learn that he has been gone for a year, and The City is being plagued by a disease of unknown origin known as "The Gloom" and that the Baron had put The City in lockdown because of it. Back to his hideout, Garrett is hired by Basso to steal a ring from a man named Cornelius who died recently, and sneaks into a foundry where the victims of the Gloom are being disposed of. Just as Garrett grabs the ring he is discovered by the Baron's right-hand man, the Thief-Taker General, and flees. After completing the job, Garrett is introduced to Orion, a man who leads the resistance against the Baron's tyranny and hires him to infiltrate the "House of Blossoms" brothel in search for an ancient book. Before sneaking into the brothel, Garrett pays a visit to Erin's hideout where he has some visions of her mentioning the Moira Asylum. At the House of Blossoms, Garrett finds the entrance to an ancient library where he retrieves the book, and confronts the General and his men on his way back to the surface. Upon learning that Basso has been arrested and imprisoned inside the Baron's Keep, Garrett infiltrates the keep and rescues Basso, but he decides to take advantage of the confusion to steal the contents of the Baron's most secret vault, where the General ambushes him. The thief escapes nonetheless, taking a piece from the Primal, the same mysterious stone he saw in the ritual one year before. The stone gives him another vision of Erin, revealing that she is still alive and under the influence of its power.
Garrett explores the Moira Asylum searching for clues about Erin where he finds the second piece of the stone but no signs of her whereabouts, and decides to confront the Baron at his manor, amid a revolution led by Orion to overthrow him. The Baron reveals that he intended to harness the power of the stone to use it into a new energy source, but when the ritual was interrupted, it unleashed the Gloom into The City, and Orion, who is revealed to be the Baron's illegitimate brother Aldous, took advantage of the chaos that ensued to arrange his downfall. After realizing that the final piece of the stone is embedded in Garrett's eye, the Baron drives him away, and the thief is informed by one of his informants, the Queen of Beggars, that the Primal stone must be reassembled and its power contained, not only for Erin's sake, but to save The City from the Gloom. Garrett then breaks into the old Cathedral where Orion is using Erin to heal the citizens, unaware that this 'cure' will eventually transform them into monsters. Once Garrett reaches Orion, the General appears and he has a final confrontation with him while Orion escapes with Erin. Garrett then follows Orion to his hideout, the ship known as the "Dawn's Light", where he attempts to dissuade him when Erin unleashes the power of the stone, killing Orion and attacking Garrett with it. In the end, Garrett succeeds in calming Erin and reassembles the stone, returning her to normal. The scene then cuts to the two of them on the ship in a reenactment of their original accident with Garrett struggling to save Erin from falling off the ship into the depths below. She slips from his grasp but this time he throws her the claw. There is a flash, and when Garrett awakens on the floor he finds the claw next to him, implying that Erin used it to climb back, but she is nowhere to be found.
Development:
Thief was initially announced in 2009 under the working title Thief 4 (stylized as Thi4f), after rumours of its development. Developed at Eidos Montreal, the game was handled by a team other than the one that made Deus Ex: Human Revolution. The development team was initially kept small, and the game remained in concept phase for a long time. During this, numerous experimental design changes were proposed, such as having a third person perspective, having a new protagonist, or environmental clambering similar to the Assassin's Creed series of games. The general manager of the studio, Stephane D'Astous, was quoted as stating Thief 4 was currently in early development: "We're in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly ambitious project and a very exciting one. It's too early for us to offer any specific game details. Right now, we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to join the core team at the studio and help us make what we believe will be one of the most exciting games on the market." After some gossip that several major members of Eidos Montréal left their jobs, D'Astous countered these claims by saying, "We will be able to be a little more communicative later on, hopefully before the year's end. Right now, Thief is our priority and we're putting everything behind it to make sure it's as successful as our first game". In January 2013, NeoGAF found LinkedIn files that indicated network programmers were working on the project. Eidos Montreal was expanded in 2010 with a separate team for multiplayer development, and when MP producer Joe Khoury was asked if they would also work on their next project, Thief 4, he did not deny or confirm. Steam users that pre-ordered the game received Team Fortress 2 items for the sniper class (cosmetics based on what Garrett wears and a modified version of the huntsman weapon styled after the bow used in-game) and/or Dota 2 items based on the game.
Although the game was initially expected for seventh-generation consoles, it was switched to eighth-generation consoles during development. This was confirmed when in March 2013, the game was officially unveiled through that month's issue of Game Informer and announced to be released on the PC, PlayStation 4 and "other next-gen consoles". The game is a reboot of the Thief series itself. Based upon initial press release photos Phil Savage of PC Gamer made some comparisons to Dishonored, stating "It all looks a bit Dishonored, which is apt, given that Dishonored looked a bit Thief."
Eidos announced that the veteran voice actor Stephen Russell has been replaced by actor Romano Orzari for the role of the main protagonist in the series, Garrett. In a statement, Eidos explained their decision. "We made the decision to record our actor's voices and their movement at the same time using a full performance capture technique. The actor playing Garrett needed to be able to perform his own stunts. Garrett's a really athletic guy. We could have pasted Stephen's voice on top of the actions and stunts of someone else, but this wouldn't appear natural." However, this decision has upset some fans of the series who initiated an online petition requesting Eidos Montreal to bring back Stephen Russell as lead voice actor. This issue however was later explained in the game's lore as this Garrett is not the original but a descendant of him.
Thief supports Mantle as well as AMD TrueAudio. An OS X version was released on November 24, 2015.
Reception:
Thief received "mixed" reviews, according to video game review aggregator Metacritic. Most reviewers praised its stealth gameplay, level design, graphics, and replay value, but criticized its map layout, technical issues, and story.
GameZone's Mike Splechta gave the PlayStation 4 version a 6.5/10, stating "Some might be able to look past Thief's shortcomings and instead only focus on the moments of brilliance. However, I imagine long-time Thief fans hoping for Garrett's grand return might be somewhat disappointed." Giving the reboot a score of 6.8, IGN's Dan Stapleton criticized the decision to replace the voice actor for Garrett, saying that the new actor, Romano Orzari, made the protagonist seem "flat" and "poorly lip-synced"; Stapleton also took issue with the sub-par AI, lack of variety or creativity in Garrett's choice of weapons, the poorly designed and cumbersome layout of The City, and the story, calling it "bland" and "supernatural-driven". However, he praised the ability to change the difficulty of the game so as to make it more challenging and was also positive about Garrett's new sprinting mechanics. The Telegraph's Tim Martin was much more scathing in his review, giving the game 2 stars out of 5 and lambasting the rote manner in which each level plays out, forcing the player to conform to one set path through the maps and very rarely allowing him a sense of freedom and challenge. The review also pointed out that increasing the game's difficulty will do little to heighten any sense of danger or unpredictability; overall, it was thought to be quite a half-hearted disaster.
Eurogamer Italy gave it a score of 9/10, saying: "one of the best action-stealth titles in years and the first serious contender for the '2014 Game of the Year' contest". Digital Spy gave it a glowing review, stating: "While the game does have its faults - particularly falling apart when Garrett is spotted - Thief excels in the shadows as a pure stealth title, becoming increasingly enjoyable as your skills improve."
Sequel:
At an OXM official press event, Eidos Montreal's Nick Cantin hinted at the possbility of a Thief sequel: "Nothing's announced yet but we're very keen to see how people respond to the game [...] We've built a really big universe around the first game, and there's a lot of layers to it – the world is really deep [...] so there's a lot of possibilities to jump on."
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