Thief (2014)

It doesn't have a stealth meter. It doesn't have variable sound tiles. It does have linear maps. It doesn't have free tabling. It doesn't have stylistic animated chapter breaks. So how close can it possibly be.

That said, it's not a bad game. It's just aterribleThief game.

And they turned Garret into a douchebag.

Variable sound tiles? You mean how much sound varying by surface? That absolutely exists - shattered glass for example, water, etc. And stealth meter is still there, just individualized per character with the eyeball thing instead of a generalized thing.

The maps aren't THAT linear - 2nd mission has plenty of options available even though it has a few linear "chokepoints". The worst offender of Thief (2014) is far less linear than a good hunk of the back half of Thief (1999) for crying out loud - the levels with raptors and skeletons literally had very few optional choices to make.

"Free tabling" if you're talking about free jumping stuff like I'm thinking you mean was an odd omission but likely helps the contextual movement that they added which is pretty nice. As for the animated chapter breaks - you should well know that's a relic that doesn't get used anymore. (Heck didn't Thief: Deadly Shadows even skip them?)

Don't get me wrong, it's got some serious rough edges - but most of what you're talking about is just modernizing of old variants of things.

Bought - Gamefly went back to being cancelled after sitting with 2 empty slots for too long. Perfect world of pricing with foreknowledge I'd have probably waited till it hit $40 with how I've been enjoying it in doses. ($60 is better for binge games IMO)

And no clue why Outlast is showing, installed it but haven't played it at all yet - not even started on it. Planning to knock it out all in like an 8-10 hr session to 100% and been too busy to so not even started on it.

Protip: You want to go into chapter 7 being full on water arrows, in fact i am not sure it's possible to complete this chapter if you have none, or at least on master difficulty anyway.

Having just finished the game i have to say it deserves the 69 it's currently rated on metacritc maybe even a little less.

Vaclav_sl said:

Variable sound tiles? You mean how much sound varying by surface? That absolutely exists - shattered glass for example, water, etc. And stealth meter is still there, just individualized per character with the eyeball thing instead of a generalized thing.

The maps aren't THAT linear - 2nd mission has plenty of options available even though it has a few linear "chokepoints". The worst offender of Thief (2014) is far less linear than a good hunk of the back half of Thief (1999) for crying out loud - the levels with raptors and skeletons literally had very few optional choices to make.

"Free tabling" if you're talking about free jumping stuff like I'm thinking you mean was an odd omission but likely helps the contextual movement that they added which is pretty nice. As for the animated chapter breaks - you should well know that's a relic that doesn't get used anymore. (Heck didn't Thief: Deadly Shadows even skip them?)

Don't get me wrong, it's got some serious rough edges - but most of what you're talking about is just modernizing of old variants of things.

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Whatever it's worth, the original was linear due to tech issues as well as being concerned that if it was too open the player may become confused and frustrated not being sure what to do. It was kind of a fine line to walk.

Indeed Z - It was really open for the time, but compared to modern games it was at least as linear as Nuevo Thief. People have gotten spoiled by other open world games IMO.

Thief was not a very good game. It was a cool concept that was only partially executed. The undead sections alone were enough that even when it was new I never thought it deserved more than about a 7.

Thief 2 was Looking Glass' masterpiece.

Final judgment while going through to complete the platinum - glimmers of brilliance marred by a number of noteworthy things:
1) Supernatural enemies - was a bad idea before, still a bad idea. (In fact worse now IMO)
2) Being able to save anywhere removes alot of tension - the 180 pt chapter saves option in custom basically completely changes the feel of the game. (Or Ironman likely would as well)
3) Fire/Smoke scenes - cool thematically but doesn't play well with most of the concept. (Plus the entire facemask he wears should help with smoke inhalation - that's part of how firefighters would prevent smoke inhalation back in the old days before their real gear was developed)

I don't think the AI is particularly a gamebreaker - make the AI too smart and it would be impossible - at least as a whole - maybe a few should be more aggressive (i.e. the guard captain in Chapter 4 should probably pursue you into the house when you leave the door obviously open rather than calling off the search at the door while the grunts just want to stick pretty much to their areas unless they see someone) but overall it feels appropriate to the theme of the game where the AI lands for grunts.

It seems Eidos Montreal has a good habit of that whole "glimmers of brilliance" with a few extra ideas they try to throw in that just end up making things worse than better - happened with DX:HR and definitely here in Thief as well - both brilliant games with tons of new stuff that detracts rather than adds.

I'm thinking I'd give it a 7.5/10 though - I really WANT to give it an 8/10 - but I am absolutely biased towards "thiefy" games and its the ultimate of that style of game - I'd easily be 10/10ing it if it was unmarred because these style of games are what can easily hit my "perfect" category. So take that with appropriate levels of salt.

As a fan of the original Thief games, I would give Thief 2014 about a 5.0 out of 10. I just completed a run-through on the Master setting and it was a struggle to finish. Not a struggle of difficulty, but one of boredom. I almost had a sense of relief when it was over. My original plan was to make my 2nd playthrough more completionist (i.e. not detected, 100% loot, etc.) but I can't see myself ever playing this again.

The game is just too linear. Here's a courtyard/alley/room. Now either a) sneak by the guards, b) find the grate and use the tunnel, or c) find the wall that you can climb up. Move to the next courtyard/alley/room and repeat ad nauseum. And the chapters often have multiple points-of-no-return. So if you forgot something in the beginning (for the loot completionists) you can forget about going back. There was a chapter (Six I think?) where you had to infiltrate a mansion with 3 possible entry points. For a minute I thought "AHA! Finally, they are opening up the game!" That notion quickly passed when that brief, fleeting feeling of open-world play was replaced with the stark reality of linearity. Then the mansion caught on fire. And I couldn't retrace my steps.

They included the standard mental asylum level that falls woefully short of replicating the eeriness of the Shalebridge Cradle, complete with supernatural beings (ridiculous). The whole story is cringe inducing and contains plenty of bloated cut scenes.

I guess if you are a fan of the Dishonored "stealth-playthrough" achievement you would probably get some enjoyment out of this. For Thief 1/2 fans, probably a lot less. At any rate, I wouldn't advise dropping $60 on this - wait for a Steam sale.

I can't get into this game at all. I enjoyed dishonored and deus ex but this isn't even close to those games. Feels boxed in with retarded ai and the story is just terrible. Disappointing.

It's amusing seeing "Thief 1/2 fans" that don't seem to acknowledge that Thief (2014) has very similar warts to the original.... rose colored glasses and all.

Thief was an amazing game for its time, and Thief (2014) took many of the same missteps that the original did and didn't innovate that much. It should've been better for the time since Thief: The Dark Project - but to imply it's drastically lesser is laughable considering how similar the two really are. (Especially on a stealth playthrough)

It should've been better thanks to the improvements we've had - but it's fundamentally a set of identical pros and cons from the original. Even "linearity" - sorry, but there's a handful of places in Thief original where there's true options and generally not that many especially once inside an area (which all the main missions are) - the city which is very open in how you approach things is most similar to the "open area" part of the originals levels which it mirrors similarly. (Remember it's not just "bam - you're in a level" like before the time before the level compares to the actual old method of including the approach in the level)

Vaclav_sl said:

It's amusing seeing "Thief 1/2 fans" that don't seem to acknowledge that Thief (2014) has very similar warts to the original.... rose colored glasses and all.

Thief was an amazing game for its time, and Thief (2014) took many of the same missteps that the original did and didn't innovate that much. It should've been better for the time since Thief: The Dark Project - but to imply it's drastically lesser is laughable considering how similar the two really are. (Especially on a stealth playthrough)

It should've been better thanks to the improvements we've had - but it's fundamentally a set of identical pros and cons from the original. Even "linearity" - sorry, but there's a handful of places in Thief original where there's true options and generally not that many especially once inside an area (which all the main missions are) - the city which is very open in how you approach things is most similar to the "open area" part of the originals levels which it mirrors similarly. (Remember it's not just "bam - you're in a level" like before the time before the level compares to the actual old method of including the approach in the level)

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I actually played through the original Thief series over the last few months in anticipation of this title. There are no rose colored glasses here. There's a reason the first 2 games are lauded and this one is getting shit on,it isdrastically lesser from a stealth gameplay perspective. Did you just compare the "open city" side missions (lol) to the open world design of the original levels? Yeah, that only highlights that you just don't get it.

Game's a 5 out of 10

If Thief's a 5, then TDP must be about a 3.5 and TMA about an 8.

I'd say the two should be about equal personally, new is absolutely better with SOME improvements but far less than could be expected for the time difference.

Plus the entire thing of picking on this Thief's story while 1 and 2 can be almost completely described in a paragraph or two. This one was overly twisty needlessly versus super simple but most consider too complex a lesser sin.

Thief for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic
68 Critic/6.7 User= Shit on by reviews...

Might Magic X Legacy for PC Reviews - Metacritic
70 Critic/7.2 User = Amazing by reviews...

Vaclav_sl said:

Thief for PlayStation 4 Reviews - Metacritic
68 Critic/6.7 User= Shit on by reviews...

Might Magic X Legacy for PC Reviews - Metacritic
70 Critic/7.2 User = Amazing by reviews...

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Expectations.