Thief: Deadly Shadows

Dishonored 1 & 2 are way better. Deadly Shadows only edges out Dark Project by a bit, but this game is definitely better than Metal Age AND especially the reboot.

Back in late Summer of 2015 I decided to play the Thief games for the first time as I was a fan of System Shock 2 and played it a few months prior and I heard it was one of the best stealth games plus by the same makers. I beat the first 2 Thief games and they easily became some of my favorite games, the way the games were designed, the stealth the non linearity. It was incredibly well done, and then upon starting the 3rd game I noticed it was different. I mean to start things off this game has a hub and you can free roam and then you sort of enter different levels through the hub but in the hub there are enemies that can hurt you too and you can visit vendors and stuff. The problem with Thief 3 is that it didn't have enough time to develop, a new studio had to take over the development because Looking Glass went under, and of course they had to dumb the game down due to needing to make it able to run on Xbox. The game is way more linear than the previous Thief games, it has loading screens within levels, the graphics look a bit weird, theres an awkward option to enter 3rd person mode, the game doesn't rely on having to find unique ways to do things really anymore either like having to use rope arrows or water arrows to help you sneak. Thief 3 is basically if you got the first 2 Thief games and slightly dumbed and watered them down. This isn't a horrible thing because this game still is good in a sense, you still play as Garrett, it still feels and controls like a Thief game, and it has a few decent levels, and it still relies on stealth at its core where going full attack will mess you up pretty bad.

But on the main reason I can praise this is for the Cradle. The Cradle is just an awesome level that comes out of nowhere, you are in an asylum and you must sneak around a dark and creepy asylum while weird creatures that look like they are out of Silent Hill walk around the asylum and stalk you. This doesn't really feel like something that would be in a Thief game but it just does such a good job with its atmosphere and design and is easily one of the most tense segments in a stealth game. Outside the cradle their aren't too many other good levels, most levels are just in generic buildings or labyrinths, they play pretty straightforward and linear plus have annoying loads halfway through. The story isn't anything great either, and the main villain in this is forgettable. But yeah its a mixed bag but mostly good, the hub World is done okay, the gameplay and core elements that made the original Thiefs are present for the most part, its just the design and story that aren't too good in this, the level design and lack of openness in the levels really hurts this one. Plus they took out Haunts which were some of the coolest enemies in the first 2 Thief games. But its way better than that horrible reboot that came out a few years ago, but now that fans are able to create their own levels through the Dark Mod, this game really has lost some relevance, and only really worth playing if you are a fan of the original franchise or for the Cradle level.

It wouldn't be a Thief game without a hellish development cycle, but Deadly Shadows' production was so problematic that it barely got made. After the formative debut and masterful sequel, there was nowhere for a third-entry to go but up. That is until the developer Looking Glass Studios went under. Luckily, fellow Texas studio Ion Storm picked-up the pieces alongside many of the key staff members. Nevertheless, it's hard to know how much better the game could have been without the changing of hands. And if there is anything the game left me with at the end, it's the thought of this could have been better.

Despite cries of "consolization" on release due to compromises made for an Xbox port, Deadly Shadows is faithful to the series. There is an optional 3rd person camera for Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell fans and the levels are paced with console hardware in mind, but otherwise it's the same Thief you know and love. You sneak in the shadows, blackjack enemies from behind, steal items and set-up clever traps.

In many ways, Deadly Shadows is a less forgiving entry than Thief 2 which makes it less than ideal as a first entry to the series. Thief has always been about avoiding combat but this entry takes it to an extreme by giving you a dinky dagger with no block, ensuring you are dead meat at any combat encounter. Instead, you are encouraged to throw a flash bomb and run back into the shadows while your opponent is blind. While this makes sense with the lore, it makes clunky game design that often produces unintended comedic results. It's not all bad though: we also see a return to unreliable maps with no live update of Garrett's position or anything. While I appreciated Thief 2 making the maps more player-friendly, I also enjoy the challenge these unreliable maps bring -- sometimes you even have no map at all!

The main addition to Deadly Shadows is the city hub, divided into several districts that you can freely visit (though with little incentive). Instead of a pre-mission loadout screen where you can buy items, you now have to physically travel to shops to sell and restock. I like this in theory, as it gives new purpose to your loot-gathering, but it's a pain due to its execution. For whatever reason, every shop has one specific item you can only get there. Given how crucial water arrows are to the series, I found myself constantly making a lengthy trek to get them. As the game went on, this became more and more aggravating.

For previous Thief games, I wrote a review for every mission but I don't feel inspired to here due to the mediocre quality of the levels. While there were no maps that made me pull my hair out like in Thief Gold, there are also no maps like "Life of the Party" (Thief 2) that made me want to gush about their design. These maps lack a gimmick, interesting locations and great flow. They are just all alright. The only one that stood out for me was one that found Garrett descending a clock tower ("Killing Time"). There have been levels before that focused on vertical exploration but never to this extent. "Robbing the Cradle" is a fan favorite due to its haunting atmosphere, but I found it rather long-winded and annoying as it delved into the fetch quests I hated about Thief Gold.

Deadly Shadows' biggest flaws come from the jump to the Unreal 2 engine. While the new graphic fidelity improves sneaking as shadows and light are rendered clearer than ever, the controls feel awful. Garrett's jump is one of the clunkiest I've ever seen, strafing causes an awkward sidestep animation and you can only blackjack enemies when you are nearly touching them from directly behind -- it's so bad the developer added a new animation where Garrett raises the blackjack to tell the player a knockout is possible. Even when Thief 1 & 2's levels felt like a slog, it was still a joy to control and play. Not the case here. You can grin and bear it, but there is a reason why the majority of fan missions are made for the first two games.

As far as second game sequels go, I guess you could say Thief 3 is typical. It has a massively improved engine with tighter control, better graphics, etc. There's even a third person option! I only used it for tricky jumps, but hey, it's there. On the other hand, the game feels a little washed-out in terms of challenge and originality. Of course, since I absolutely loved the first two Thief games, that just means Thief 3 is pretty rad: it's certainly the worst game of the three, but it also beats most other stealth titles I've played.

Thief 3's story is one of its biggest selling points, and it may very well be the best of the three games'. The writing has improved, characters speak and interact more with one another, and most importantly, the narrative is neatly tied such that you always feel like you're pushing the plot along. That was a pitfall the first two games fell in, and I'm happy to see that the developers of Thief 3 evolved their storytelling a bit. While I enjoyed the focus on the villain in Thief 2, I think spending more time with the various factions in The City helped flesh out Thief's universe and especially the Keepers, the shadowy organization that originally trained Garrett. The Hammerites and Pagans that were central to the last game are just used to populate the world in this game, and instead we learn how the Keepers work, what they're capable of, and of course, some of their glaring flaws.

Really, the only major things that hold Thief 3 back are the lack of challenge and this stupid 'hover' bug where Garret can get stuck in the jumping position. I must have gotten the bug twenty times, and those saves take a long time to load. Challenge-wise, I suppose the biggest flaw is that it's all more of the same. Very few new mechanics are introduced (wall climbing is one) but they don't add too much to the formula. Generally, the same tactics you used in the last games work on enemies here, and when new enemy types appear, they don't pop up enough to provide many unique challenges. As such, I would still have to recommend playing the first two games before this one.

Special mention needs to go to Thief 3's endgame. The final two missions are some of the best in the series. First is "Robbing the Cradle," hands-down the creepiest experience I have been through in a video game. I would hate to spoil what happens here at all, but let's be honest, when your setting is a haunted orphanage that was rebuilt in to an insane asylum and the dead are walking around in the basement... you get the picture. Like in the previous games, Thief 3's sound design is top-notch, and the horrifying ambiance of this place, decorated by insane weeping and quiet screams, made it take me two days to finish the mission because I had to keep taking panic breaks. The stage also teases you by seeming like it's going to be over a couple of times and then getting even more terrifying. Needless to say, "The Cradle" is something else, and worthy of the praise and horror stories I've seen about it on message boards. The final mission of the game is a nice break from the last: robbing an art museum. It's awesome, but more in the 'having fun' sense, and a nice sort-of throwback to robbing the bank in Thief 2.

Overall, Thief 3 is a very worthy sequel to Thief 2. It sadly does not feel as distinct as it should, which is a pity given how nicely the first two games stood compared to one another, but the improved graphics and magnificent sound design keep me from caring too much. There are some free-roam segments that seem superfluous, but I did like how learning The City's layout was important when taking on the final boss, so I can look the other way on that. I would recommend the game to anyone who enjoys the series and is on the fence about the new engine: more has stayed the same than changed.