One cannot be famous for good deeds. Thief Overview

Under the night sky lies a City (or a Town?),

And in it quite nasty order reigns:

Some crazy baron, devastation, stench, and death.

A charming thief roams the streets...

Hello to all lovers of dark deeds. I hurry to run from the pesky guards to share with you my stolen impressions of the year's most anticipated reboot. Just like that, no more, no less! After rummaging through some chests, I found the PC version of the new "Thief" and I'm ready to tell you about how the long-awaited return of master Garrett to the streets of the City turned out.

THE DARK PROJECT

Retro-Garrett is beloved by fans.

A bit of history. The end of November 1998. Developers from Looking Glass Studios together with Eidos Interactive release a game that fans of all levels of obsession will drool over for many, many, loooong years. The game was called [Thief: The Dark Project](/games?search=Thief: The Dark Project), and the main character was a pickpocket boy named Garrett. The local Order’s (of course, secret) employees invited him over, where for several years the boy honed his skills at their advanced training courses. Leaving the Order after his education, Garrett returned to the streets, but no longer as a boy, but as a shark taking on the most complex jobs and snapping the most cunning locks like nuts. However, he is not allowed to indulge in the pleasures of a thief's life: he is drawn into a not-so-cheerful story involving pagan gods, mechanical eyes, and mysterious portals. And although in the end Garrett emerges victorious from this tale, the guys from the Order hint to him: don't relax too much, this is just the beginning.

The continuation appeared in March 2000. [Thief II: The Metal Age](/games?search=Thief II: The Metal Age) brought us back to the streets of the City. Garrett didn’t have to hide in the shadows for long or rummage through the chests of the rich: after a while, the infamous “Metal Age” caught up with him too. The master thief was to stealthily deal with the particularly brazen sect of mechanists and save the city from the dominance of robotics, which categorically ignored Asimov’s precepts. Like its predecessor, the second "Thief" was developed by a team from “Look Glass Studios,” with Eidos Interactive serving as the publisher once more.

The master thief from the trilogy's final part.

Released in 2004, [Thief: Deadly Shadows](/games?search=Thief: Deadly Shadows) turned the series into a trilogy. The development was tasked to Ion Storm, which inherited some former Looking Glass employees and had previously made two parts of the old-school [Deus Ex](/games?search=Deus Ex). Once again, Garrett had to maneuver between the factions of pagans and mechanists while fending off former colleagues from the Order, a particularly gaudy local witch, and all sorts of prophecies. The storyline culminated with Garrett, completely tired of saving the City, the world, and its people, turning off the glyph magic for good and leaving that behind. And thus, the classic trilogy ended, leaving fans to make maps in the editor and howl for a sequel.

Although whispers about Thi4f had been heard for a long time, Eidos Montreal announced the reboot only in 2009. Interestingly, Garrett's fate intertwined once again with [Deus Ex](/games?search=Deus Ex): while Ion Storm developed the classic, Eidos Montreal delivered a very decent reboot aka Human Revolution, after which they directly took on Thief. So here it is.

MASTER-THIEF, VERSION 4.0

This is Garrett. He’s a charm.

Garrett belongs to that nice type of characters who don’t infuriate you with dramatic lines and knightly behavior. To say the least, Garrett might very well snatch an old lady’s pension without feeling any pangs of conscience. Of course, breaking into the homes of corrupt rich people is much more interesting and profitable, but during the search, any other loot will also come in handy.

Players like the master-thief for his sharp sarcasm, mockery of the guards, and the ability to make life interesting for everyone around. Although Garrett is no saint and very much prone to asocial acts, players understand that deep down this thief is a normal guy who is quite capable of saving the world. Again. Ironic, calm, confident, but cautious, Garrett is the ideal hero for such a game.

Garrett's fingers make you feel like a master-thief right away.

He knows how to hide in the shadows, climb ropes, and scale walls. He picks locks with frightening ease and opens safes and chests with a flourish. Along the way, Garrett's skills can be upgraded, spending some of the loot on enhancements. Then you can move quietly through the streets or work with the infamous lockpicks faster.

Traditionally, the master-thief is equipped with classic gadgets for dark deeds. You will have a Robin Hood-like bow with arrows for all occasions, a club (sorry, cold weapons were confiscated at customs), as well as thieving tools: lockpicks for dealing with locks, a screwdriver for unscrewing bolts and plates, cutters for disarming traps, and a knife, the best friend for picture thefts. This entire toolkit can be upgraded and enhanced over time, for instance, to make the bow more powerful or increase the “carrying capacity” of the quiver.

However, despite all the innovations and retro nods, Garrett remains a thief, not a warrior. And we won't be allowed to forget that for even a moment.

PLOT CANVAS

This is Erin. Unfortunately, you’ll have to work with her in the prologue.

"Hello, esteemed master-thief! On behalf of Eidos Montreal, we are pleased to welcome you at the very beginning of the prologue. This is a training level for beginner thieves who are undergoing physiotherapy after a 10-year coma. Please sit back up in your chairs and embark on your mission. You need to steal the Stone of Primali. Don't ask what it is; we won’t tell you anyway. Better go over there... That charming girl with panda makeup is your ward, Erin. Follow her and imbibe the respectful tone of her sarcastic comments. Let us know if you feel like tossing her off a roof or at least injuring her, but honestly, that response to this character is entirely normal... No, turning left or right is not recommended. Follow Erin and refrain from asking questions".

The corridor prologue introduces us to the characters of our adventure and allows you to get a handle on the controls. The wiry guy in ninja attire is, as you might guess, Garrett. The skinny girl in a hood is Erin. Once, Garrett found her on the street and taught her his craft. Ever since, she has continued to troll him, ignoring his advice and whacking the guards with a homemade hook. As it turns out later, they both ended up on the same mission – to steal a certain Stone from Baron Northcrest's residence. The baron and his friends dressed in brown robes are dancing their shamanic dances around this stone. While Garrett immediately understood the implications of what was going on, Erin could not boast of any natural caution. She blissfully ignored her mentor's words and climbed onto the dome of the residence for her hook, which Garrett had taken from her. And when the baron's festivities ended with a “big kaboom,” the girl fell down with the stone, and the barely surviving master-thief gained amnesia for an entire year. This is the beginning of the story. Dive in.

The City at the very beginning of the game.

The events of the game still unfold in a city ominously known as... the City. Quite a city, though incredibly gloomy. If you search for the phrase “social inequality” on Wikipedia, the corresponding page will feature a photo of the local streets. Even before the events of the prologue, it was not a particularly pleasant place, and afterward, it definitely became a dump. An unknown plague is reaping both the poor and the rich, the residents grow restless, and the baron, holed up in his residence, squeezes the life out of people in the name of technological progress. In the midst of the chaos, theft is more interesting, so despite a rather bleak picture of existence, Garrett thrives.

Since I don’t like to spoil things, I won’t reveal plot details. I will note, however, that it contains unusual twists and interesting puzzles. It captures you. I wasn't blown away, of course, but I enjoyed the storytelling. The narrative delivery somewhat resembles a mosaic. Some things we learn from cutscenes (which are very well done, by the way), some we overhear in the streets or read in papers. Some will be told to us by vigilant NPCs, and some – by not-so-watchful (ha-ha!) guards. The sources of information are plentiful, and from these fragments, a complete picture gradually comes together. What’s nice is that we aren’t shoved into the facts but are allowed to explore the story gradually and in the details we can personally uncover.

SNEAKING UP QUIETLY...

A club is our stunning little weapon.

Thief is a game where you get hooked primarily by the process. Anyone who has played will understand me. There is nothing more satisfying than stealthily walking down a street, successfully bypassing a patrol, snatching coins from the guards, dissolving into the darkness before the torchlight reveals you, and picking a lock a few seconds before the guards return. This is a game where sometimes it’s worth waiting and hiding in the shadows or on the roof. You must watch the guards and estimate the pacing of their patrols. You balance all the time between stealth and detection, and that is gratifying. In Thief, you cannot play aggressively, but this seemingly slow-paced strategy not only doesn't detract from the game but makes it more flavorful. You need to rush slowly. And Garrett quietly sneaks through the alleys, including dashes between saving shadows. Picking locks needs to be done as quickly as possible, while movement sometimes needs to be very slow to avoid being caught. And that's the whole game, all its balance, all its flavor. Puzzles and mysteries change to dynamic escape scenes, only to return to quiet careful strolls through the night streets.

At no point are we allowed to forget that Garrett is a thief, not a kamikaze. Fighting the guards is a very thankless job: what doesn’t kill us... ahem... follows us and gets louder. And a marathon runner Garrett is not, so a no-attack policy is the best option in this situation. Besides, who needs all those corpses and screams in the streets? Bloodshed is for the weak, and a real master leaves no traces.

One of the first treasures you will acquire.

Every self-respecting thief's life goal is to steal a million, a Fabergé egg, and the Mona Lisa. In Thief, all this is abundant. Besides the classic tasks from clients like “Steal that cool thing over there,” you can rob a whole heap of wallets and valuables, swipe who-knows-how-many plates off the streets, cut out an entire art gallery from its frames, and stash a whole pile of various trophies in a chest. Garrett in this regard is like a gadget-packed magpie, grabbing everything poorly hidden into his nest. And what’s well hidden, he finds and has carried off to the nest too.

Generally, you will often have to get distracted by side objectives: what’s the point in sneaking into the residence of a wealthy architect if you completely ignore his wallets? Of course, for the sake of speed, you can quickly sprint straight through... but what’s the point of playing Thief if you're not trying to explore the alleyways and are satisfied with completing the main task? You play as Garrett, but you don’t even try to explore the City. Don’t do that.

BEAUTY IS A TERRIFYING STRENGTH

A typical City.

Traveling through the streets is the filling, wrapped, by the way, in a very attractive wrapper. From a visual perspective, Thief looks great. The residences of the powerful look quite ostentatious, while the homes of the poor are stunningly miserable. Rain drums on the roofs of the City, and some streets are shrouded in fog. The balance of light and shadow is perfectly defined: this is what makes the picture truly atmospheric and flavorful. You dive deep into the thief's adventures immediately, supported by a carefully illustrated picture of decay and gloom, seamlessly integrating the characters. Both the main characters and the street guards look very natural, leaving you with pleasant impressions after meeting them.

The soundtrack works to create the necessary mood. The music is atmospheric yet unobtrusive. It perfectly complements what is happening on screen: in stealth mode, it’s quiet and a bit sinister, in chase scenes – energetic, screaming that it’s time to run. Special mention goes to the voice acting department. This is the rare case where the localized version sounds better than the original. Russian Garrett sounds simply luxurious, far outplaying his English-speaking counterpart. The other characters, including extras, also boast pleasant voices and well-chosen intonations, but Garrett... this guy is simply charming.

Sleeping is a thief's best find.

By the way, if you’re asking yourself, where will all this wealth look better, the answer is pretty simple: PC. No fanboyism, trust me. I had the chance to try both the PlayStation 4 version and the PC build on AMD’s gaming R9 hardware. So, all those yummy treats and bonuses, which [you were told about after