Thief: First Impressions

Hey everyone,

So I finally got a little bit of time to spend with Thief, and I wanted to give you my first impressions of the game. If you were reading any of my previous posts about the game, you would have known that I was a big Thief fan, and when Thief: The Dark Project first came out I was all over it.

Not only that, but I was spending a lot of my parents' money on computer parts so that I could run the game to begin with, which they didn't really like.

Nevertheless, if nothing else, this is one of those titles. The new Thief will inevitably get the geek inside us all to splurge on new hardware, as it can really take advantage of it.

Since we're already talking about it, let's start with Graphics.

Graphics

The graphics in Thief are beautiful. That's not to say they don't make the game hiccup here and there, or just make it outright jerky. Sometimes, especially on higher settings, the game does slow down. But that's to be expected when you're stressing your hardware to as much as it can handle.

Aside from the great aesthetic appeal, you have a plethora of settings for the graphics in the options menu. Almost any technical aspect of the graphics system in the game can be customized to your liking, and to the capability of your PC.

Beyond this I am happy to report that the game's looks tend to immerse you in the gameplay. You feel like you are a stealthy predator, like the shadow is your friend, and the light your enemy. The light of the moon pops out of the night sky, as if to mock you. The wet stone wall ahead reflects light perfectly and warns of possibly hazards around the corner. And a simple puddle of water reflects and refracts light just as it would in the real world, showing the appropriate amount of cobblestone street textures from below. It's nice that they really paid attention to the details, because it's really the little things that make an experience great.

Sound

Unlike the graphics, I found the sound in Thief to be slightly sub-par. It's amazing to see how the graphics do so well to immerse you into your role as a "master thief" and yet how the sound then falls flat to deliver some equilibrium in your complete experience.

I found that many of the game's sound effects were flat sounding. They didn't have that depth, that umph, that made you believe that what you were listening to was real. Even if it isn't.

During combat, swinging your blackjack or shooting an arrow - the sounds were very generic and there wasn't much variety in the effects heard after repeating similar actions. Other sounds such as picking a lock or opening a safe or drawer sounded equally flat and got boring after a while.

However, the sound of your own footsteps while sneaking or walking were done very well. There are a number of environmental hazards such as glass; that, when stepped upon, create a greater amount of noise and may alert guards. This was a big relief after listening to the monotonous and dull combat sounds as it helped to give greater depth and focus importance on how you approached certain situations.

It's easy to just pick a point and go from A to B without thinking. But what if there's glass in the way? Or a metal catwalk? If you want to remain stealthy, you have to choose to move slower, and know when to do it too. One wrong move can be the difference between pulling off a heist without being detected, and a sword through your back.

In addition I found the ambient sounds of the environment to be quite pleasing to the ear. It was yet another piece of the puzzle that when put together right allowed you to feel immersed in the world.

Gameplay

Here's where I was a bit disappointed in Thief. Mind you, I came to this game preemptively expecting a masterpiece. Although Thief does many things very well, it never really felt like a complete package when considering the playability issues.

Firstly, the combat is really wonky and clumsy. I know, you're not supposed to really fight in this game. I mean the idea is to keep your head low and rob people blind. But hey, when it does happen, and it will happen, you want it to feel ...I don't know... satisfying? rewarding? Insert an adjective here? It's not. It's just clumsy with the same swing animations over and over again, it feels and sounds like you're hitting a punching bag and when you do finally dodge and swing your way to victory, it feels like you just wasted 5 minutes. If anything, this is what really makes you avoid combat. Not that you shouldn't fight, just that it's better not to - for your sanity.

On top of that, the navigation in what's known as "The City" - the one big spawling city Garret used to call home is a nightmare. Having to go from map to world to map to world is just annoying. There's usually no clear way of knowing which way to go - just a bunch of trial and error. On top of this, the game doesn't even allow you to go anywhere you want - which kind of eliminates the notion of "choosing your own path" towards an objective. You're often either in a map, in a loading screen, or not playing.

There are several instances where I ran into invisible walls, which are probably the biggest cliche in gaming. Don't make it feel like open world if you're going to put invisible walls into the game.

I do however really like the sneaking mechanics, which I found work very well. The AI is not completely dumb-as-a-post stupid but they do have their moments getting caught on various environmental objects here and there. More often than not I find myself laughing even though I am really frustrated, but that's beyond the matter.

Stalking people, and making them freak out as you take out lights and guards around them is an incredibly awesome feeling. There's really nothing quite like instilling the feeling of hopelessness into someone before you finally take them out. Violence in silence is really what makes Thief a lot of fun for me. And though it's no Splinter Cell, it doesn't have to be. There's really a whole different idea to this game, and I think that when it works it works wonderfully.

I like the idea of being able to stalk, kill, and take what I want. That is a feeling I am glad I can still have in a new game that is, suffice it to say, not entire un-problematic.

Stealing from chests and drawers is one thing, but getting away after pickpocketing a completely oblivious guard is super satisfying. It doesn't really look badass, but at least it feels badass.

I found that the side missions were a little bit more interesting as the main story doesn't really draw or hold my attention. That's not to say it's bad, it's just not great.

There are so many difficulty settings however that it makes this one of the most replayable games I think I've ever played. You can initially choose one of three difficulty levels, however, you can use custom settings which give you bonus points on global leaderboards once turned off.

For example, Thief's focus mode (an alternative vision mode that allows you to see things in the environment that you can interact with) can be turned off. This gives you not only greater difficulty in the game overall, but also gives you points towards your score on the global rankings, which means that the best thieves are probably really good thieves. Relying less on aids and hud readings and more on skill, patience, and cunning strategy.

The Verdict

All in all, though it does have some obvious shortcomings, I really enjoyed Thief. I don't think it's for everyone, but it does offer quite a bit of satisfying gameplay that can be re-played at higher difficulty settings and offer a new-ish experience.

If there were less (no) loading screens, a true free roam world, better sound and just a better feeling of having an impact on the world you inhabit, Thief would have done very well for itself. By my standards, it's not a terrible game by far, and does many things very well.

By history's standards....

...It's no Dark Project. 

Thanks for checking out my first impressions of Thief. If you like what you see, please come back for more and make sure to check out my YouTube channel for awesome weekly content. Please share, like, subscribe - and as always,

Stay Classy.



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