Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004)

Solid title. Very systemic, NPCs fight each other all the time in city streets, sometimes it gets a little crazy, but I appreciate the hard-core systemic nature of the game.

Missions are great, I loved visiting the Hammerite cathedral or the Kurshok underground city. There's tons of environmental story telling as well as collectables and NPC conversations that tell a lot about the environment. Widow Moira House and The Museum are also highlights.

The city, when it works well, is amazing. Breaking into an apartment to see a guard patrolling it the next day is amazing open-world attention to details. At one point you can overhear a conversation about a potential robbery and the payment that will be left in a hidden spot. You can get rid of the would-be thief and steal the item yourself and get paid. All in the open-world. Totally awesome. Also, the first time you get killed in the City, you wake up in Prison, that starts a small prison-break mission. Such cool moments are only possible with an open-world and I'm glad, the developers went that route. Towards the end of the game, it gets a little chaotic with multiple factions fighting each other and preventing you from simply exploring the environments.

I enjoyed the story, although it doesn't add much to the lore. The first game explores how the Trickster was losing the people to the Builder, since technology and stone cities were becoming the norm, while pagans living in the woods were considered to be marginals. His plan was to bring about the new Dark Age to make people submit to nature, whether they like it or not. The second game focuses on the other side, the extreme sect of the Hammerites and the dangers of obsessing over progress and technology.

The third game revolves around the keepers and their role in the City. The antagonist is not as interesting, their motives aren't that clear and the journey towards uncovering the plot was more interesting than the plot or its resolution.

There's a rudimentary faction system with Hammerites and Pagans patrolling certain districts. You can easily become their ally by completing small side-objectives in the city. It's not a factor at all and could've been removed from the game without losing much substance.

The game was made for the original Xbox, so its design differs from the classic PC Thief games. The graphics are very good for the time, especially the lighting and the real-time shadows. But corners had to be cut to support such technology so the maps are smaller, less sprawling, less maze-like which some might consider an improvement. You can use a mod (Thief 3 Gold) that removes the load-screens in the missions and currently work is being done to remove them in the City. That makes the missions flow better and, dare I say, fixes that particular flaw. Other than that, I'd say the game is very consistent with the originals. Made easier in some places, but I didn't mind.

The sound is amazing, especially using DSOAL and enabling EAX and 3D Sound.

The style and the atmosphere, however are on point. I love the "drawn" cutscenes and the soundtrack. It feels like a successor of the originals in that regard, not a knock-off. The Hammerite texts feel like actual scripture, the Kurshok underground looks like an actual ancient city and the writings that tell the story of Kurshok are very detailed, especially for a single level.

Each Thief game has a frustrating and overly complex last level, and T3 isn't an exception. But it works, whereas T2's last level cannot be completed without a guide.

I liked Thief 3, safe for some open-world issues towards the end. It deserves to be part of the "classic trilogy". The sound is great, graphics are impressive, story is good and the gameplay is faithful, albeit a little easier.

Glad to have experienced the series. It really shows, that even the third game, which was a "disappointment" for the fans, is still a great experience. Compare that to Dishonored, it's a much more atmospheric, unique experience that forces the player to overcome, rather than giving the player all the tools to breeze through. Or something like Gloomwood, which is a rethread of the same old, but without Eric Brosius' soundtrack or amazing voice acting. Without the deeply thought-through story with a rich lore. Games aren't just gameplay, music, story, voice-acting, level-design all play an important part in building what is called a "video game".

Thief is a must play for all stealth fans. T3 included.

Deadly Shadows is the first game I have played from the Thief series. Chronologically, it is the third entry. The three games are part of the same continuity, but each of them tell a separate story.

The gameplay of Deadly Shadows is about, well, being a thief. It has been described as a 'first-person sneaker', and that's a fairly accurate description. A typical mission involves infiltrating a building, finding one or two specific artifacts, stealing anything valuable along the way, and getting out. You can pick any lock you come across (take that, Skyrim!), opening up alternate passageways, and of course, chests of loot. To deal with enemies, you have a wide array of lethal and non-lethal options. The game is set in a fantasy world involving magic, which means you'll encounter non-human enemies later on in the game.

In terms of the plot, Deadly Shadows focuses on a secret faction of The City (where the game takes place) called the Keepers. Our protagonist, Garrett, is asked to 'retrieve' two artifacts for them, which kicks off the proceedings. The Keepers reveal the existence of a prophecy which tells the coming of a Dark Age. Naturally, Garrett strikes out to investigate the prophecy and what it entails. Within the context of the setting, the plot is actually quite good, and delivers a few surprises along the way.

Something you should know about this game is that it is slow. Because of its focus on stealth, you'll spend a lot of time sneaking around places at a slow pace. When enemies are in view, you'll spend time hiding in dark places and waiting for them to pass by. Levels are large and complex, while the maps are limited (useful, though). In most cases, you'll need to sneak around the entire level yourself so as to build up a mental map of what goes where. This will take a fair bit of patience. Expect to spend roughly an hour for each of the main missions. This pacing extends to the plot as well, because it acts as a connection from one mission to the next.

My main complaint regarding the game is a technical one. I encountered a game-breaking bug early on, which went like this: you can press Space to jump, but you can also hold Space to vault over something like a low wall. The problem was that if I jumped with an object immediately in front of me, Garrett would go into a frozen model state. All of Garrett's animations would break at that point, leaving me unable to run, crouch or sneak. Fortunately, I found a solution to this problem online. While stuck in this state, I could string my bow with an arrow and then cancel it. The bow's animations apparently cancel out the problem, returning me back to normal. I also faced some minor bugs here and there, such as character models disappearing and then re-spawning in front of me.

So that was my experience with Thief: Deadly Shadows. I liked its unique identity, and I think it is a great game, even with its shortcomings. I'm not sure if I'll go back to the first and second games, because they were released a lot earlier. I'll probably take a look at the 2014 reboot, though.

P.S: Special mention to the penultimate level of the game, 'Robbing The Cradle'. Wikipedia even has its own page for it. The level is set in an asylum and is an exercise in psychological horror. It stands out by deviating from the other missions in several ways. For example, most missions have Garrett going in with a decent idea of what he's after and what kind of obstacles he can expect. 'Robbing The Cradle' starts with a vague objective and absolutely no indication of what he'll find inside the asylum. Going on further would spoil the level, so I'll just stop here.

Intro

This is a first-person stealth game in which you sneak around areas trying to steal stuff while knocking out guards. You also have a variety of arrows to put out torches make noise, et cetera.

Review

I really wanted to like the original Thief games. I also expected to like Thief 3 especially, because Ion Storm made the best game of all time; Deus Ex. On top of that i'm one of the seemingly few people who also loved its sequel; Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Sadly, i just don't care for it. I expected the gameplay to be more like Deus Ex, Hitman, Dishonored or other games with stealth elements. But the original Thief games are (fairly) pure stealth games. They're more like Amnesia, requiring you to hide from enemies most of the time.

I just don't like this type of game in which you are almost powerless compared to enemies. And aside from a few silly things (health potions, rope arrows) this game is fairly "realistic" too. No dashing like in Dishonored, no cloaking like in Deus Ex, no seeing through walls like Hitman. It's also kinda dull and slow.

Thief: Deadly Shadows isn't bad, it's just not for me.

A perfect Thief for XXI century.

This is my favorite stealth-action and, probably, one of my favorite games ever. But not everything was right with this game in the first place.
Strangely enough, I completed the plot only once. A little history for myself: this game was officially released in Russia in late 2007-early 2008 for some reason. I loved the artwork (our issue is the green one, it's better than blue imo) and wanted to get this thing ASAP. Just to have it, though I hadn't forget about the game itself. I like the concept of stealth as a genre but the thing is, it always bores me after a few hours. Thief wasn't an exception, though the missions were absolutely awesome. As you may know, it's one of those rare games where the whole article can be devoted to one level. Here it's the Shalebridge Cradle, though I can't forget Clock Tower, House of Widow, Museum and Kurschok Citadel too. The seeming simplicity of the arsenal is impressive - you can do everything with 2 weapons and a bow. You'll like it. Especially when you'll found that every arrow has not mentioned, but working (was it intentionally? I never played previous games so I don't know) function, which is useful and awesome. And yes, equipment is helpful and balanced too.

It wasn't accidental that I mentioned my relationship with the genre. Stealth is tiresome for me (though very interesting) and intermissions in this game were, uh, disappointing. Nothing really bad technically - there's almost a freeplay, The City has a very good plan (I guess technical limits of the Xbox made it so nuanced - you just have to add more paths, ladders and natural covers to relatively small maps - and less becomes more), interactions with citizen are well made, and so are side quests. Yes, there are some side quests, which are not related to the story. They're just added for the watchful and thoughtful player. So, where's the problem, you may ask. Intermissons become dull really quick. Even when Keeper Enforcers appear, things aren't getting better. Just a little more random and that's all. The second half of intermissions actually turns out to be a mini-missions in itself (Gamall's Lair, seriously?). And moving in The City is not fun either. I wanted to go full stealth there, but usually it went out to ragequit or just running. Seriously, running and using flashes is simplier and healthier for everyone. Especially for tired player. At these moment game really turns into farce for a few minutes. Other than that, everything is cool. I know, this is nitpicking, but these things seriously almost kill the vibe of the game. After you examined well the new part of The City, you'll better just run. Honestly, I dropped the game twice because of that problem.

To go on the bright side again: there's an impressive amount of voice acting. This is a very rare example of a game where common phrases (like "Who's there?") are not repeating and circulating. A huge work was done. I'll even repeat (cause they don't): they have many unique lines. Just think about it. The graphic part is great too. Physics could be better, but hey, it's 2004. Ragdoll is laughable.
There's also a second flaw, which wasn't that frustrating for me, but still needs a mention. Controls are a bit clunky. Even if you don't use third person view, you still will drop a few useless things accidentally (and alarm the guards) and climb up a wall only with third try.

Overall these flaws could make a bigger problem out of themselves, but when the game gives you a good stealth experience (and it's in every mission and even in a few intermissions), it gives it to you in an almost perfect form. And that means something.

__________

4.5-5 stars.
"I finally managed to escape from that... place."