Thief

By: Robert Murphy

Ooo shiny! Is the expression that I used through most of my play through of the rebirth of the Thief franchise game where anything that glistened in the corner of my eye had me stopping whatever I was doing and going in pursuit of the shiny object. It’s a little shameful I realize to have the urge to chase something shiny like a fish after a lure but I can’t help myself but while most of the time the item was a nonsensical coin purse or silver goblet many of the treasure items in the game are worth looking for and going after as you play a master thief moving through The City. You’ll make your way through this plagued town of corruption and greed in pursuit of treasures and information on just what is happening with the already cursed town.

Our story follows Garret, a master thief that can pilfer and steal just about anything even weeding out the little secret safes you think will protect your most pressure treasures but not from him. Often times though it will feel like you’re stealing anything shiny as I mentioned in the previous paragraph but that doesn’t diminish the good treasures that are hidden away in the levels of Thief but it can seem a little petty to steal forks and knives, times are tough though so he can’t be blamed. As you progress through the game though you won’t find something to write home about with the story, it’s rather 2 dimensional and tries to add twists with entering the realm of super natural which is only handy for Garret’s focus ability he gains from an accident right of the bat. One reason I say that the story is flat is because at one point early on it is pointed out that you have been missing for about a year? And that should have been more of a big deal but just wasn’t. But back to Garret’s handy focus ability which allows you to see hidden switches and mechanisms you may want to avoid in the game, it helps quite a bit but is a bit of cheap help tool for some. It is appreciated though since the game is very dark and if you’re low on health and are in a tricky spot the last thing you want is to step on a pressure plate and get squired.

An attribute that would have greatly helped Thief thought is the horrible moments of poor frame rate and stutter character dialogue. Not even Garret himself is an overly engaging character but many of the other characters that pop up in the story aren’t either and this becomes even harder to deal with when the dialogue doesn’t even come out when its suppose to. Due to poor frame rate players can hear the conversation but sometimes the game has to catch up and so will a characters lip movements, there were points where I was convinced people were telepaths talking to one another with their minds. The frame rate issue also extend to points that encumber your stealth such as guards that get stuck with a never ending loop of the same conversation or will not move when you know the game developers would have cued a character movement.  These don’t happen all the time but they occur way more than they should and it gets emphasized in a game like Thief that requires stealth and things to run the way they should in order to remain stealthy.

Thief as you already expected is a purely a stealth game but you know many games say that lately but when things come down to it you can find your way out of a situation by fighting your way out or that the stealth element of the game is there for achievements/trophies. But Thief is different, the game relies almost entirely on stealth and your ability to navigate through levels without being detected and you’ll find it hard to fight your way out if you can’t manage to stick to the shadows. It’s not that our character Garret is unable to fight but he isn’t meant to as he is simple equip with a bow which is used to aid in his stealth with trick arrows and he also has a cudgel or club which is used for stealth knock outs more than anything. This is a whole I absolutely love, I’m a bit less stealth and more of a predator player where I sneak but I like to take people out but I didn’t find it hard to walk through levels like a cloud of smoke and find it very enjoyable. Another ability that aids in stealth is the swoop ability which is a dash maneuver that allows you to slip through an area with a quick 15 foot dash to avoid getting caught by a guard. It is very impressive move that is almost like a ninja dash you’d see out of movies and that makes it even more fun to use especially when you’re in a pinch and need to get out of sight of that unwanted guard.

Now however fun it is to stealthily move through a level, looting and finding those unique hidden gems that you keep for yourself is great but it only works if the mechanics work with it and sadly they don’t. Garret’s movements throughout the game are often lumbering and cumbersome and they can often impair your stealth but also impair your escape if you’re unfortunate enough to get caught in the light by that one guard you didn’t see. One guard is okay to handle on any difficulty but two or three becomes a problem as it is extremely hard to parry your way out of the way of three swords or swords and a crossbow. So what do you do? You run but this can be difficult if Garret doesn’t respond the way he should, I cannot tell you how many times I’ve tried to run away to a nearby rooftop and he wouldn’t grab the ledge leaving me to get shot or stabbed from behind. In fact I sometimes had to resort to the old cheat move of finding a loading point to another area of the city to escape guards because I didn’t want to start back to my last save point. This is also a problem with the game as well because as far as the advertised open world goes things are very chopped up in “The City” with areas needing to be accessed and then loaded in like an old homage to the PS2 days.

In conclusion, Thief had all the right mechanics and moves for a great stealth game, moving through a level within the shadows, swooping by doorways and picking a tricky safe, all of it is an extremely enjoyable experience when it works. Everything else seems to fall flat though, the story is nothing to write home about and features frankly contains a list of bland characters that even includes Garret. Your character movements are sometimes lazy and with shoddy frame rate Thief ends up being a bit of a letdown for me who was finally excited for a title for my Xbox One to play.

Good:

- The game has all the solid stealth elements

- Swoop ability and your other stealth tools are great fun to use

- Some tricky and enjoyable scenarios to play through

Bad:

- A fractured city with frequent loading areas

- Horrible frame rate issues

- Flat and lifeless characters that include the main character Garret

- 2 dimensional story

Scully Rating: 6.0 out of 10