The supreme master of stealth gaming finally arrives on Good Old Games. Even better it’s the Gold edition, with has three extra maps and used to be a bit harder to find.
Here’s the quick version of Why thief was awesome:
1: large maps with a high degree of freedom – find your own way around. Try to either evade guards, or knock them out, or fail, run desperately for your life, hide in a shed. Then try again. Hell you can try being an action hero if you want. (it probably won’t work)
2: AI with convincing multiple levels of awareness, from oblivious patrols to actively hunting you
2: art, design and sound lead make it amazingly atmospheric
Here’s why some people thought it went off the rails: the way the maps flick from a more-or-less realistic medieval setup, to sneaking past undead monsters (and some weirdy “spirits of the forest” types). But I think the games survives that change of direction. For one thing it’s still stealthy, and also we got some truly memorable “survive ancient, haunted ruins” type experiences. But if you still really dislike that I’m sure Thief 2 will be along later, which swapped the undead for a more steampunk theme.
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Speaking of Thief, is Deadly Shadows one we could possibly cover in the future? (Er, and by ‘we’, obviously, I don’t mean me).
One for the ‘to do’ list?
January 31, 2012 @ 5:46 pm
Yeah I do intend to add it, at some point!
January 31, 2012 @ 7:12 pm
I never played Thief 2. Well, sort-of started it but never got past the first level.
Perhaps I’ll go back and play Gold in preparation. And then write a review about it, for everyone who’s been on the edge of the fence since 1998 over whether to play the game or not!
Ah, who am I kidding? At this point, I’m mostly past the illusion that these reviews are for anything other than encouraging me to play the absurd stack of games I already own. You know, like Thief 2.
February 2, 2012 @ 7:39 am
Ah, but doesn’t the fact that you write reviews make you buy more games than you can possibly ever play? (For me, the answer is yes).
February 2, 2012 @ 11:26 pm
No, *sales* make me buy more games that I can ever play, and Steam and GOG are the worst culprits. I’ll buy anything for a dollar or two… as proved when I bought the Megarace 1&2 pack.
February 3, 2012 @ 1:20 am