The director behind Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Steven Gallagher, is also behind Thief, a reboot of the original, classic Thief series that began in the late 90s on PC. Thief, referring to the new one, will be out for X1, PS4, and PC next year. The demo shown to us today was played on a PS4 in a pre-alpha state.
{media load=media,id=2026,width=720,align=center,display=inline}
Master thief Garrett is back, but the story takes place neither before or after events in the previous Thief games. The timeline and setting are roughly the same — medieval England. In the demo, which takes place around ten hours into the game, has the commoners rioting and burning the city in some kind of violent protest. Riots require security, so Garrett is going to take advantage of the reduced and pre-occupied security to get into a mansion to steal a priceless gem known as the Heart of the Lion.
The mission takes place just outside of the mansion but within its walls. It’s essentially a walled garden, complete with a couple of water features and a small bridge. In the demo, Garrett stayed above the patrolmen below to start, using water arrows to douse torches. You also have rope, fire, and broadhead arrows all making a return from the original Thief, too. I should point out that Steven said the gameplay could be taken from more than one angle. You could play as a ‘ghost,’ getting through each mission completely unseen, or you could take a more action oriented approach but not to the degree of a typical action game, by any means.
Thief is best played by sticking to the stealth elements at your disposal. One new move, called the ‘swoop,’ is sort of a quick sidestep that Garrett can perform to smoothly, quietly, and quickly duck into cover. A visual cue to gauge your stealth is shown via a blackish-gray fog. I believe you might be able to disable this graphical indicator — I hope so, it was a bit much just to let the player know he’s not able to be seen currently.
Enemies will have visual icons above their head (that are definitely something you can turn off) as well, like when they’re alert. Garrett can at some point unlock a Focus feature that allows you to slow down time and zoom in for enemy kills, pick locks faster, pick-pocket multiple items faster, see traps, see environmental pick ups (like poppy seeds to replenish focus meter) and listen for enemies and see their footprints, even through objects. An XP counter increases when you pick pocket, lock-pick, or “search” an object (like a picture frame for a hidden “button”) too. The one Search that was performed in the demo today was more interesting than just pressing and or holding a button — once in the search mode, the player moved Garrett’s hand along a picture frame.
A few other notes I took include Garrett peering through a keyhole of a door to see what awaits on the other side. He’s also still able to hide bodies. Health and Focus are metered and must be replenished with consumables. The environment may have multiple routes to take, but you will have to find out how to use them. In the case of the demo, Garrett found a valve to shut off water to the garden’s water feature and this led to a new way to traverse the environment. Also, lock-picking will use visual and rumble feedback.
The latter portion of the Heart of the Lion mission involves escaping, which we were told was a big part of the game. During the escape, Garrett had to climb, and the camera will actually go from first person to third person when this happens, putting players in a sort of Uncharted-style climbing sequence. Finally, at the end of each mission, a series of x/y counters comes up to judge your performance and show you how much loot you missed out on.
I had a few questions but no Q&A was offered. I was curious, for example, if you choose Garrett’s loadout, clothing including (which in the demo included a lengthy ‘cape’). Or if the arrows, water arrows especially, make any sound when their shaft hits the structure behind the water or the ground? I’m also unsure if the HUD can be fully disabled. As is, you have the Health and Focus meters on the lower left and the ammo count for the currently selected item in the lower right. All said, Thief is likely going to be my game of the show this year.
###