Thief 2014

[Kreekakon]

Okay so I’ve beaten Thief for quite a while now, and I’ll give you my full impressions on it based off of this one playthrough, because contrary to what I thought I don’t think I have too much desire to play through the game a second time.

(This probably will just seem like a more detailed version of my checklist above, but that's mostly because except for the main story I didn't particularly get too much other thoughts beyond that post upon completing the game)

Stealth System

I’ve never really gotten into the previous Thief games except for a very brief amount of playtime in Thief 1, and the Dark Project. When I started out with Thief I thought the core stealth mechanics were extremely interesting. The idea of hiding in the darkness, and having light as an additional “enemy” is the main carry for the game’s stealth. Though it was a satisfactory effort, I wish they put in more ways to interact with light as a whole beyond using switches, and water arrows to put them out to give the system more depth.

Speaking of more depth, here is likely one of the main issues I have with the game: The stealth system along with the tools at your disposal can feel very same-y as the game goes on. There are multiple arrow types, but I think the game could have done a better job balancing out the game to make options all equally appealing to employ. I often found myself resorting to the same few tricks because the others would not yield results as desirable.

Another very important KEY ISSUE I have with the game is that the entire interacting gameplay wise with the world is extremely clunky. You cannot just "fall" off most platforms, you have to jump. Also you have to interact with corners to be able to enter "leaning" mode, and lean, which is very frustrating.

I do have to say I really enjoyed the enemy AI in the game as well as the aspect of sound. The AI will never do anything that you do not expect them to do. They successfully tread the fine line between being too realistic that they see you right away, and being completely blind to their surroundings.

Even though this sounds rather negative on my side, I am actually leaning more towards positive for the core foundation of the game’s stealth system. I just wished it could’ve been overall more versatile.

Levels and Setting

The game takes place in “The City” during which there appears to be an extreme depression going about, and everyone is suffering greatly from it.

The games levels, and map design reflect this greatly. The atmosphere is great, and you can really get the feeling of dread, and corruption coming from the city’s streets. There is also a level in an Asylum in which I thought the atmosphere was superb.
However another major issue I have with the game is the linearity I feel from the levels. Many of them have a tendency to feel streamlined for the player to follow a predetermined path very often. It is not blatantly obvious, but you can tell that the level was designed with a particular path in mind the devs intended for the player to follow. This is an extremely major issue because I felt it detracted from my feeling of being truly free to approach situations from multiple angles.

Not all levels are like this however. In some levels like the brothel, the map felt much more open, and free. It was extremely enjoyable to play these levels, and I only wished more of the game could’ve had that sort of feel.

Also an issue is the map in the game’s menu. It is extremely hard to navigate, and know where it is you have to go, and what is what on the map.

Story, and Characters

This is definitely an extremely weak point of the game. Mostly because the overall arching plot seems to stumble quite a bit, and really has no true focused feeling of heading in a direction. It gets particularly bad at the game’s ending where it just baffles, and confuses me. It is extremely hard to get invested into.

Often times the plot will present the story requiring Garret to go do something only for him to disregard that thing in favor of going to do something entirely different on the fly. It can get extremely jarring at times.

The characters also feel particularly flat. They almost have no depth to their characteristics. They are never developed, and their character traits are all just sort of there without any fleshing out. I don't think there are any characters in this game at all I feel didn't suffer from this at all.

One of my most disliked examples in the Thief Taker General who to me seems as stereotypical as one can get with the cruel law enforcer. I never saw anything at all in his character other than a cruel person being cruel just for the sake of being cruel. It didn’t really help that they tried to build a rivalry between him, and Garret by simply having him appear at every place Garret was infiltrating at the time. It is an extremely boring, and paper-thin way of attempting to develop a rivalry in the plotline.

Verdict

At the end of the day while the core of the stealth mechanics are extremely enjoyable with you being able to play with light, and dark, I can’t recommend Thief as it has many other issues that hold it down from being an exceptional experience.