Thief: Stealing Our Time in February 2014

Another title is soon to be added to the Thief series! For some of you who don’t know of the Thief series, the first title, Thief: The Dark Project, was released in 1998.

Thief was announced in 2009 under the title of Thief 4. In March 2013, the game was officially announced in Game Informer and is under development by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix, the team that worked on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

You play as Garrett, a master thief in a dark world influenced by the Victorian Era.

Garrett comes home to ‘The City’ after being away, only to find it ridden with plague and being ruled by The Baron. The rich still live wonderfully, yet the poor suffer immensely. Garrett decides to use this to his advantage, and begins to steal from the rich.

As seen in the earlier Thief series, stealth is a very big part of the game. Violence is a last resort. Gameplay is very much dependable on the players’ actions; the player makes a choice and the game responds to the choice made, resulting in a storyline that’s a little different for each player. If guards and other NPCs are aware of Garrett, they will have different approaches to finding him. Due to the artificial intelligence in-game, NPCs will be aware of the level surroundings and will be able to find hiding spots.

Weapons and ‘Focus’.

Garrett has an arsenal of a few different weapons. There is a blackjack, which is used to render guards unconscious; a collapsible bow, arrows which can be used to kill or distract guards; and a claw, which can be used as a grapple. Players can buy supplies with money at the end of missions.

Once the player has entered Focus mode, Garrett’s senses will become enhanced. It can enhance his sight, which makes certain items glow, such as drain pipes that Garrett can climbed. It can also be used to slow down time to make pickpocketing more efficient. Focus can also be used to push enemies back. Focus can be upgraded through the course of the game.

An EXP system was scrapped from the final game.

Originally, the developers announced there would be an EXP system in the final game. This was later scrapped as Garrett was already meant to be a master thief, and the developers had received negative feedback on this idea.

If you like games which give you the opportunity to climb up buildings with a grapple, shoot enemies with a bow and arrow, or generally using stealth to steal and kill, this is definitely not one to miss.

Thief will be hitting the shelves in the U.S.A on February 25th, Australia on the 27th, and Europe on the 28th. Good luck, pickpockets!