I had low expectations for this title after Deus Ex: Invisible War... fortunately, this game holds up much better than DX: IW, although it still suffers from the console limitations. Thief: Deadly Shadows introduces plenty of ambitious features with good intentions, but unfortunately, their implementation creates a whole new slew of problems. It’s still a good game and worthy entry to the Thief series, but ultimately a large step down from the previous games – make sure to complete Thief 1 and 2 before playing this one. ([url=https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=802343127]please follow this guide before starting[/url]).
Thief: Deadly Shadows retains most of the core mechanics of Thief 1 and 2:
• A rich stealth system based on sound, light levels, line of sight, movement speed (w/ 3 options: creep, walk, and run; not including crouching), surface material, whether you are hugging a wall, and enemy alert levels (most stealth games are based on a small subset of these mechanics)
• A large toolkit of arrow types, potions, and consumables that provide multiple approaches for overcoming obstacles: water arrows extinguish torches, moss arrows silence your footsteps, flash bombs briefly stun enemies, ordinary boxes and cutlery can be picked up and thrown to distract enemies, etc.
• You are not a tank – enemies are tough and fighting them head-on is suicidal, so stealth and planning are essential for success
• An excellent difficulty system where higher settings add extra side quests and higher loot requirements that encourage full exploration of the mission and mastery over all challenges within it
• Fantastic mission design featuring multiple paths to your goals, countless secrets to discover, plenty of treasure to steal, lots of verticality, and rich environmental storytelling
• A seductive dark fantasy + steampunk setting brought to life through rival factions and engrossing stories filled with twists and turns
• Legendary sound design with proper sound propagation that serves as your main way of detecting nearby enemies (and vice versa)
Thief: Deadly Shadows even introduces some welcome additions. The compass is embedded in the light gem, and you can extinguish candles by right-clicking on them. NPCs notice their surroundings more often – you often hear enemies complain about and become alerted over extinguished torches and missing loot, for instance. Some guards carry torches/candles, introducing a unique threat that forces you to rethink your usual tactics. There are plenty of references to past games and later missions in this game reference earlier ones, and I appreciate that the city hub world is highly reactive – for example, you can find City Watch reports detailing your crimes the past night. The story may be short, but it is a fitting continuation to the events of the previous games and a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy [spoiler](I also like that the ending bookends the intro to Thief 1)[/spoiler].
I admire the new innovations that Thief: Deadly Shadows introduces, although their execution is heavily flawed. There is now a lockpicking minigame (bonus points for not freezing time around you), although it becomes repetitive fast. Climbing gloves are added to replace rope arrows, and although they sound like an improvement at first (especially if you have terrible rope arrow aim), the gloves are even clunkier in practice – it is often unclear which walls are scalable, dismounting onto nearby ledges is cumbersome, and latching onto a wall in the first place is just as unreliable as grabbing a rope arrow – you can tell most environments are not designed with the gloves in mind. Another change that seems like an improvement initially is that loot + inventory items now carry over between missions (a big criticism in previous games is that gold carried over only to the next mission). However, this decision destroys the in-game economy: the abundance of loot in missions (especially with the 90% loot requirement on expert) + low shop prices + huge number of free items in the city streets = an overabundance of every resource after the first few missions, allowing you to trivialize most challenges later in the game.
The most impressive feature is a city hub world between missions filled with story objectives, fences + shops, side quests, and rival factions. While I admire the ambition behind this feature and the fact the developers successfully implemented it, in practice, the flaws are endless: each city hub is the size of a small back alleyway; the streets are way too cramped and crowded ([spoiler]especially when Keeper Enforcers appear[/spoiler]); guards respawn every day; running away from pursuers is too easy; there are tons of mediocre side quests with equally shoddy rewards to pad out the run time; and the story requires you to retread these locations constantly. Wandering through the city quickly becomes a chore, and you will spam flash/gas bombs to ignore enemies instead of sneaking around them by the second half of the game. The game experiments with faction reputations, but the system is underdeveloped: it is too easy to raise reputation, the system becomes irrelevant once the meters are full, and the quests are painfully uninspired – killing a bunch of bugs/undead and shooting lots of arrows into (almost invisible) cracks/cocoons is not a riveting experience. At least the proper side quests related to faction reputations are more interesting and better designed.
There are numerous downgrades from Thief 1 and 2. All the missions are noticeably smaller than Thief 1 + 2, and swimming is removed (in fact, touching water instantly kills you). The presentation is blander and more generic: every level looks like a bunch of shoe boxes clumsily glued together like all console games from the 2000s – 2010s. Every street and mission looks the same, since all the buildings are made of stone, impairing orientation and exploration. I also found the new flash-tier cutscenes unappealing and the soundtrack more forgettable compared to previous games. The mechanics suffered as well – the blackjack hitbox is much wonkier, and it cannot knock out sleeping/sitting guards. The enemy AI has a shorter line of sight compared to previous games, almost certainly due to the smaller level sizes. Expert difficulty now adds a tedious 90% loot requirement on all missions, which only increases backtracking instead of meaningful challenge. To make matters worse, loot looks identical to nearby ordinary cutlery and furniture, and it is easy to miss special loot items/objectives.
Easily the biggest issue in Thief: Deadly Shadows is the new third-person view. You can easily angle the camera to peek around corners at no risk of exposing yourself, eliminating the need to pay attention to enemy footsteps and trivializing most sneaking challenges – it’s like a built-in cheat. Since first- and third-person perspectives share the same player model, the first-person experience suffers greatly: movement is notoriously stiff and jittery, as if your shoes are partially glued to the floor; platforming is a nightmare; and leaning left/right is useless while leaning forward is removed. (Movement is fine in third-person view, though – you can really tell this game is built for that perspective). Third-person view does not belong in the Thief series, and its inclusion comes across like an attempt to copy the trends set by other stealth games of the time, such as Splinter Cell, Hitman, Sly Cooper, Metal Gear, and Tenchu, all of which were in third-person view.
Thief: Deadly Shadows is a step down from Thief 1 and 2, but it ultimately remains a solid game that preserves much of the series’ core identity while introducing many flawed but ambitious features. It’s worth playing at least once after completing Thief 1 and 2, if only to see the conclusion to the trilogy.
7/10
