JOE has been playing away at the hit first-person stealth game Thief for the past few days so here’s a look at how we’ve been getting on picking pockets, thieving loot and taking what’s not ours…
Thief is the perfect game for anyone who wants to live a morally ambiguous life stealing from the rich (and the not-so-rich) in order to survive and thrive. Why so? Well, in case you haven’t guessed already, the game sees you playing as a master thief…
Developed by Eidos Montreal, the same people who brought us Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition and published by Square Enix, the same people who brought us Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition (can you see a pattern emerging?) comes Thief, a revival of the cult classic series of stealth games from the late ’90s/early ‘00s that sees you creeping and crawling your way around a place known only as ‘The City’.
The game is set in a strange Victorian/gothic fantasy world that’s loaded with steampunk aesthetics and there is a constant air of doom and ‘gloom’ lingering over the place.
You play as Garrett, a master thief who sets out on a job with his former apprentice, Erin, to steal a precious item from the baron of ‘The City’ known as Baron Northcrest. However, when you get to the Baron’s manor you find a mysterious ritual taking place and that’s when the fun begins…
After those particular events, which are filled with spoilers so we won’t ruin the fun, a year passes and Garrett learns that a plague, known as the ‘Gloom’ has taken The City by storm and so the Baron’s right-hand man, known as the Thief-Taker General, issues a city-wide lockdown and curfew which doesn’t go down too well with the local bandits, thieves and regular Joe Soaps of The City. So an uprising begins and Garrett seizes his opportunity to find out what exactly is the ‘Gloom’, along with what exactly happened in the Baron’s manor at the start of the game.
So, that’s the gist of Thief’s story, but what is it like to play?
Well, first and foremost, THIS IS NOT a fighting game. Don’t be like this particular JOE and assume that if sh*t goes south you’ll be able to bludgeon your way out of trouble with your trusty club, called the ‘Blackjack’, before making your way back to the brothel for a few gargles and a chinwag with the owner, Madame Xiao Xiao.
Unfortunately, I was wrong, very wrong. However, once I realised that the aim of the game was to remain undetected (and not to become the next Ultimate Fighting Champion of this particular fantasy world) I enjoyed Thief a lot more and began blaming myself, instead of Garrett, for any schoolboy errors that may have given away my hiding spot.
If you’re an avid PC gamer then you’ll definitely feel at home with the Xbox One version of Thief and the first person view gives the stealth game an interesting dimension that’s usually unseen in similar games like Tomb Raider, Uncharted and the Splinter Cell series.
The only problem I had with the game was the length of time that it took to load between various villages and road networks that connect The City. Going from one side of The City to the other takes quite some time, thanks to tedious loading screens and a somewhat confusing map system that may lead you to run about in circles if you’re not paying attention. Having said that, the extra load times give you a chance to take a break from the game and check your phone before the thieving starts all over again. Silver-lining, and all that…
Anyway, all in all Thief is a great awl game that you really could spend hours upon hours playing as you search for all the different treasures that are hidden around The City and, if you’re an achievement hunter or someone who likes to see ‘100% Completed’ beside the game’s title, then you’ll definitely get your money’s worth from Thief. No, really… you will.
You can pick up a copy of Thief over on Littlewoods.ie for just €59.99. Click here for more.
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