With the number of games out there that have focused on killing everything in sight, the notion for a developer to design a game that focuses on doing the exact opposite would seem unlikely. Luckily, Eidos Montreal has decided to bring back a franchise that not only focuses on staying in the shadows, but also one that very few console gamers have ever heard of. Thief, last seen in 2004 on the PC and Xbox, was finally shown getting a next-gen reboot at E3 2013 – here is what we thought.
The first-person stealth mechanic has been seeing a bit of a rebirth as of late with games like Dishonored and Deus Ex: Human Revolution showing off just how much can be done on current tech with stealth gameplay. Thief, the game that pretty much gave birth the the first-person stealth genre, is back. But, from what was shown off at E3, it looks a bit late to the show.
Garret, the main protagonist, uses the darkness to creep around behind enemies, pick pockets, extinguish torches and climb walls to bypass guards, but these mechanics are far from anything we haven’t seen before. As combat is slowly becoming a decision that must be made in games, the ability to have a full fledged stealth mechanic as well as a well defined combat system is becoming standard. Thief, while not without some ability for combat, looks to be little more than just half of that system based on the footage shown behind closed doors. Games like Dishonored and Deus Ex really set a bar this generation, giving players the choice to be quiet or to kill everything in their path, and it seems that Thief is now trying to play catch-up to that without bringing much new to the table. Thief may have helped create the genre, but it now seems far too much like Dishonored.
While it is still too early to write off Thief completely, as they still have plenty of time to announce just what is going to push it beyond its competition, I would just make sure to temper expectations until we find out more.
Stay tuned to PlayStation LifeStyle for more information on Thief as it gets announced, as well as a full review once the title hits store shelves on the PS4 sometime next year.
