Ten long years after the series’ third installment titled Deadly Shadows, the fourth and latest episode in the Thief franchise is now released – not as a sequel, as many have initially speculated, but as a full-fledged reboot. But will this new addition to the series capture the hearts of gamers today the same way its predecessors did?

Sort of, yes. But not nearly with as much success as I would have liked. But more will be said on that topic below. First of all, it is important to know that Thief was not handled by the same team that gave us the originals – instead, it is brought to us all the way from the offices of Eidos Montreal, the same team that created 2011’s hit stealth/action-RPG Deus Ex: Human Revolution. A year later, Arkane produced Dishonored, a game that very much drew inspiration from the classic Thief games that came before it – as such, it would be fair to say that the parallels between it and the new Thief, now in 2014, are ironic, to say the least.Nonetheless, I would not wish to simply cast Thief into Dishonored’s shadow. What does need to be mentioned, however, is the following:those expecting the resurrection of the first two episodes, that is, The Dark Project and its follow-up, The Metal Age, will be disappointed to find little of that in Eidos Montreal’s vision of Thief.

A city reborn... but still the same.

Thankfully, this fact does not make Thief a bad game. The atmosphere is still more or less what we would expect from the series, and both the graphics themselves, as well as the fundamental art direction give back the general feel of a Thief title, along with a couple of references and easter eggs for long-time fans. Slightly muddy textures aside, Thief presents a beautifully grim world that is an absolute joy to explore and sneak around in. Furthermore, there still exists an uncanny balance between steampunk technology and the darker, sinister forces of the supernatural present in the City. The highly atmospheric, ambient hums that dominated the soundtrack of previous installments make a return as well, accompanied by a few new-ish tracks that, in all honesty, belong more in The Dark Knight than a Thief title but nonetheless do not feel too out of place, either. The bottom line is this: despite all its changes, the game still feels and plays like a Thief title – for the most part. What comes as more of a disappointment is the variety of audio bugs that plague the game: at times, I could hear a person’s voice as if he was standing next to me, even though we were relatively far apart; on other occasions, guards and civilians roaming the streets would endlessly repeat the same dialogue over and over again for minutes straight, which, quite honestly, becomes somewhat jarring to someone who wishes to enjoy the game’s otherwise brilliantly dark and gloomy atmosphere.

Assassin's Creed? Not quite.

Unfortunately, the game occasionally makes use of the somewhat out-of-character chase sequences seen in the trailers, with explosions and shouting, forming a very stark contrast between the slow and methodical stealth mechanics found in other parts of the game. Thankfully – as if to balance out all this –, Thief also has its fair share of memorable moments, be it the Moira Asylum – Eidos Montreal’s love letter to the Shalebridge Cradle – or its follow-up chapter that sees Garrett break into a surprisingly large mansion of multiple floors and rooms. It is a game ripe with genuinely enjoyable bits and missions that, for many players, will most definitely ease the pain caused by its less than stellar aspects. And yet the actual story of the game… well, the less spoken about it, the better. What starts out with moderate promise soon turns into an arrangement of clichés and ends in one of the most unsatisfying endings in recent history. Those expecting the quality of previous installments, or something resembling the dark, genuinely terrifying tale of Deadly Shadows and its Hag will come away disappointed. The relative linearity of certain levels is also a trend that I most definitely noticed in the new installment – there are, of course, exceptions, and yet some missions of the game do give the impression that the player can only really walk the straight path that the developers want him to walk. What can potentially simplify the semi-linear levels even further is Garrett’s so-called Focus ability, a skill that highlights points of interest in blue or red colors (climbable walls, traps, switches), thus robbing the game of the joy of exploration and discovery. Luckily, this and all other hand-holding mechanics can easily be disabled from the in-game menu, which is definitely a commendable design choice.

10 years of absence and not a smile?

While the size and linearity of certain missions could most definitely be improved upon, the freely explorable hub areas of the City – accessible between each chapter – are a definite step in the right direction after the painfully small and cramped streets of Deadly Shadows. Each district of the city offers a maze-like network of streets, rooftops and homes that can be entered, making the slow exploration of all the nooks and crannies all the more enjoyable: it’s the kind of hub area that’s easy to get lost in, but that in itself comes off as a positive thing. However, problems do arise in this department as well. The most notable one would probably have to be the fact that despite the sheer enjoyment that comes from leaping from rooftop to rooftop and breaking into homes, almost every single residence (with 2-3 exceptions – I counted) within the City is empty. And all of this happens during a curfew, in the dead of night, when you would normally expect townsfolk to be at home sleeping. Thief takes a step in the right direction with its complex hub areas, but falls short simply because it forgets a very important detail: that a good chunk of the enjoyment comes not merely from breaking into a home and stealing all its shinies, but rather from the sheer risk involved in the act. Failure should always be an option, whether it’s making sure not to wake the sleeping residents as we break into their rooms, or the adrenaline-filled tension that happens when a man catches Garrett red-handed as he’s still busy emptying a cupboard of all its valuables. The fact that most of the homes in the city are devoid of human life thus shows that the game did not take advantage of a potentially very exciting aspect of its gameplay.

A less gentlemanly approach.

Context-dependent climbing and jumping may also dishearten older veterans, but at the end of the day, it is not as much of a shackle as one might expect. Where one can reasonably expect Garrett to be able to climb and jump, he usually can. Usually. I say this because in one of the more disappointing exceptions to that rule, Garrett will find himself unable to bypass pressure plates that any thief – or person – could easily jump over… if said person had a proper jump button. But he doesn’t. A similarly questionable design choice is the inclusion of Rope Arrows in a way that they can only be shot at specific locations determined by the developers – which, needless to say, is a definite step back compared to the game’s predecessors, where the same arrows could be shot into any wooden surface of the player’s choice.

My overall experience with the artificial intelligence is somewhat of a mixed bag. The good news is that I didn’t find it mind-numbingly bad. In fact, it’s quite decent. Guards will spot you even from a longer distance should you step into the light, and will similarly notice Garrett even in pitch black darkness if they come close enough. Their hearing is, for the most part, quite functional as well: a carelessly toppled vase may instantly alert them to our presence, and they will indeed come – sword in hand – to investigate the source of the noise. They will similarly not ignore overly risky behavior, such as trying to steal a piece of loot from right under their noses; they will also react to changes in the environment, be it the opening of doors or turning off the lights in an area. Civilians in a given area that are alerted by our behavior will call for guards, while guards themselves may summon backup during a fight. It can all work quite nicely and trying to avoid guards is quite fun in itself. The problems start when all of the above simply fails to happen. I had the misfortune to experience several instances of a guard completely ignoring the fact that I had just extinguished a torch near him, and proceeded to stare blankly into the now dark room as if nothing had happened. At other times, certain guards may fail to react to a small bottle thrown as a distraction, and even if they do come to investigate, they may give up their search far too easily and return to their posts. As such, I would very much recommend playing the game on Master difficulty for the most optimal experience.

From shadow to shadow.

Additionally, Garrett’s new-found ability to swiftly dodge attacks with the press of a button feels a bit too effective at times. The problem with this is that a well-timed dodge – which isn’t particularly difficult – makes Garrett *completely* evade the incoming attack without taking any damage. As such, a series of well-timed dodges in a 1 on 1 encounter with a guard will always result in our hero coming out victorious with even a single wound to his name. Naturally, things change when two, three or more guards storm at us (dodging becomes a more difficult task when four people want to decapitate you at the same time), and guards do patrol in pairs quite often, but the fact remains that this ability more or less eliminates the threat posed by lone enemies in a very drastic way.

In summary, Thief is a mixture of positives and negatives: in one moment it impresses, then becomes a chore an hour later, only to find its brilliance once again by the end. It is nowhere near that trainwreck of a game many fans feared it would become: less critical gamers will find a game that’s genuinely fun for the majority of its campaign, but is nonetheless held back by shortcomings that prevent it from being a true classic. It’s like hopping on a rollercoaster, really: the ride has its ups and downs, but after it’s all finished, you can’t really say that you didn’t enjoy at least parts of it.