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Filcher         The use of film-noir derived themes seems to come up more than once in this thread, and it can be easy to see why. The idea of a forlorn gumshoe or sneakthief moving through smoky unlit environments away from prying eyes seems like it would be a natural fit for the stealth genre. Such is the case with Filcher, which nails the Thief style to a T and brings it into a more modern setting - one with gin joints, mobsters, gats, and meddlesome cameras. The one-man development team largely succeeds at this; although there's no voice acting, the story is relayed via Frank Miller-esque black & white panels and the level designs are straight out of Looking Glass' drafting table. One thing I need to bring up is the developer's "interesting" design philosophy when it comes to savegames: there are none (except at the beginning of the level). I know that I've ranted about this before and I'm not going to go over all of that again, but I think it's probably relevant to at least a few goons' purchasing decisions. Some of the levels can be 20 - 30 minutes of skulking about, and you can fail at the 29-minute mark, only to have to start over at the beginning again. You have been warned! Ok, savegame warning aside, what are the shadowy merits/demerits of Filcher? As mentioned, anyone with a passing familiarity with Thief is going to feel very at home here - even the sound effects and level flow ape its predecessor. The visuals are straight out of 1998, and even the settings (a warehouse, a dock, a rich guy's party haven) will seem very familiar. Of course, your character isn't going to lug around a bow and arrow when the guards have guns, so there's no way to extinguish lights. You do have some other useful tools, however, like flashbang grenades and moss spores that will soften the impact of your footsteps on hard surfaces. Yes, different floor types will vary in degree of loudness and you will encounter more than your fair share of marble and metal grating. You have a noisemaker that can distract guards, but they will do a very thorough search if you don't knock them out or skedaddle from the vicinity. The variety in guards is fairly minimal: you have fedora-clad mobsters in navy blue suits for the majority of the game. These are dim-witted mooks with little in the way of peripheral vision, but they don't have to spot you for very long before they start giving you a bad case of lead poisoning. There is also the occasional rottweiler, but they don't seem to sniff you out or anything...they just seem to be guards that bite. Finally, you have the even more rare cop, who is like a mobster but wears a helmet and can't be felled by your mighty blackjack. However, the game can make up for this in the imaginative ways that it provides challenges using lighting effects. For example, there is a dock level that is initially draped in shadows, but these are disrupted by a lighthouse off in the distance. This forces the player to come up with ways to keep themselves in darkness while a giant flashlight keeps swinging around at regular intervals. Another map uses a large smelting furnace to provide further sneaking challenges. This use of the environment for stealth problem-solving can be ingenious and is a highlight of the game when encountered. One thing that differentiates it from Thief and not, I think, in a good way, is that you cannot use your ill-gotten goods to score more equipment for the next level. I get that maybe the dev just wants to create bite-sized Thief levels and this approach isn't worth it. Maybe, but I disagree. There doesn't really seem to be an incentive to grab all the loot you can if it doesn't cash out in some sort of tangible effect. Sure, some people will do it just for the challenge but I found that one of fun things about filling Garrett's pockets was being able to stock up on water arrows and other assorted goodies at the beginning of the next level. The story is not bad - a typical noir story of betrayal, cynicism, and questionable headwear. There's a lot to recommend in Filcher and is definitely worth it at its current price-point - if you can get past the lack of saves.
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Nov 15, 2023 22:38
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drat, that games seems badass. a lot of people outing themselves as save scummers in the steam reviews
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Nov 16, 2023 00:56
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The maps are really well done, yeah, I was impressed. You get a fair amount of game for your money too. I'm starting to think that him and Antonio Freyre should do a game together...two indie stealth developers who make short games that are reminiscent of previous titles.
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Nov 16, 2023 02:10
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Serial Cleaners         What goes around, comes around - or so they say. This is certainly true of Serial Cleaners'
How Serial Cleaners fares as a stealth offering is a different question. There are no shadows to skulk around in, so everything relies on line of sight. You can be rendered practically invisible while crouching, yet this is a slow way to move and it seems like there's always another cop around the corner so the risk of being spotted is always a credible threat. When spotted, you have the option of making a run for it, but your stamina is limited and you have to be able to break line of sight for a while until things cool down. There are ways to keep things from escalating, however - there are distraction items littered around the environment that you can use to divert their attention. As well, there are hiding spots that you can use to remain incognito as long as the guards aren't in full-on chase mode. There's a very drama-intensive story that would probably have been more suited to a game where you're not vacuuming up blood for the mafia. Overall, Serial Cleaners brings something different to the genre, and that's worth appreciating. Having said that, it's not so good that I can wholeheartedly praise it but it's not so bad that I can warn people away. It's thoroughly mid. My suggestion is that if it's on sale and you're looking for something different, then give it a try.
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Nov 28, 2023 22:15
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I never thought of Serial Cleaners as a stealth game, interesting Also, thanks a ton to you and the other posters for a really excellent thread with some great takes on games
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Nov 28, 2023 22:37
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Yeah it's tagged as stealth but it's definitely not the kind where you're lurking in the shadows or manipulating light to get by. Being familiar with guard patrol patterns really helps, though.
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Nov 28, 2023 23:05
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Seventh Arrow posted:Yeah it's tagged as stealth but it's definitely not the kind where you're lurking in the shadows or manipulating light to get by. Being familiar with guard patrol patterns really helps, though. Yeah, agreed. It's more about moving around to avoid guards, rather than sneaking/hiding from them. I guess in that sense it's possibly closer to a game like Pacman, than a 'traditional' stealth game!  (Either way though, it's got a great theme - I need to properly dive into Serial Cleaners, now that you mention it)
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Nov 29, 2023 01:58
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I’m assuming it’s an ambitious sequel to the similarly named Serial Cleaner? I enjoyed that one a bit.
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Nov 29, 2023 02:02
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Major Isoor posted:Yeah, agreed. It's more about moving around to avoid guards, rather than sneaking/hiding from them. I guess in that sense it's possibly closer to a game like Pacman, than a 'traditional' stealth game!  WHOA Pacman is a stealth game, MIND BLOWN But yeah I think you'd like it but it seems like it's better to take in small doses rather than trying to clear everything in one go. American McGay posted:I’m assuming it’s an ambitious sequel to the similarly named Serial Cleaner? I enjoyed that one a bit. I mean...I linked to my review of the original and everything
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Nov 29, 2023 02:34
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Seventh Arrow posted:I mean...I linked to my review of the original and everything lol
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Nov 29, 2023 03:19
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Seventh Arrow posted:I mean...I linked to my review of the original and everything kick his rear end!
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Nov 29, 2023 03:21
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Thief Gold just had a huge unofficial expansion release https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0gGqkbZQc0 https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152429 - 10 huge, open-ended and meticulously crafted missions with varied themes packed with content. - A brand new protagonist thrown into a dark, intricately woven story of crime and conspiracies. - 4 new tools happily supplied by the undermarket, at a price. - Many tweaks to the AI to make the game a bit more challenging but still fair. - A brand new "banter" system where AIs greet each other during their rounds and nightly life. - 28 voiced characters totaling roughly 1,800 new lines of dialogue. - 30 minutes of gorgeous hand-drawn briefings and cutscenes. - Brand new AI motions making the denizens of The City look more alive. - Full English subtitles.
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Dec 1, 2023 04:29
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Some of their tweaks to the classic formula actually sound pretty cool: - Hume is not a Keeper and thus never received Garrett’s training: AIs will now notice you if they bump into you or vice versa, sometimes even in a perfect shadow. Be careful! - Hume can move banners aside instead of having to slash them. - Hume has additional footstep sounds for chains and pipes; these are metal sounds that aren’t as noisy as regular metal (about as noisy as stone/wood). - Water arrows can now be used to expand moss patches. - Servants will re-light extinguished torches on higher difficulty levels. - Servants may clean moss on the floor if they notice it on higher difficulty levels. - Zombies now smash wooden doors open instead of simply opening them. - Electric lanterns carried by guards can be turned off. - A few guards in the campaign are outfitted with heavy armor and helms so they cannot be knocked out using the Blackjack. - Hume can pick up small creature corpses such as spiders or sweels.
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Dec 1, 2023 16:05
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Vadun posted:- A brand new protagonist thrown into a dark, intricately woven story of crime and conspiracies. 
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Dec 9, 2023 23:51
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oh more thief? bye.
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Dec 10, 2023 00:00
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Styx: Master of Shadows         I'm sure that the tourist pamphlets for Akenash don't say anything about traversing dingy prisons or sneaking through dimly-lit corridors guarded by massive orcs, but this is a big part of the life of Styx: the fleet-footed, ill-tempered protagonist of Master of Shadows. As we wind our way through the tutorials, we become familiar with the dark fantasy setting in Akanash - a great tower built around a massive world tree situated on a floating island. This is the only such tree on human territory and this causes no small amount of consternation between the humans and the elves. Styx has his own agenda, though - which we will gradually uncover as he makes his way from the celestial heights of the tower, to its darkest depths and back again. The story is pretty decent, actually: Styx has no pretentions of nobility or benevolence. He is short, brutish, obnoxious and selfish, but yet also very clever and very good at what he does. Mind you, 'what he does' is stabbing guards and causing mayhem, specialization is such a rare thing these days. It's a lot of standard dark fantasy fare, but the characters are compelling if a bit underdeveloped. The worldbuilding and story beats are just enough to keep you interested throughout - and for your hard-earned dollars you get not one, but two "I am your father"-style whammies: not only are you a clone of the original Styx, but Styx himself used to be an orc! The game is a prequel of sorts to Cyanide Studios' previous outing, Of Orcs and Men, and helps fill in some of the backstory leading up to that game. The gameplay is classic stealth, implementing and improving on concepts that we've seen in titles like Thief, Splinter Cell, and Metal Gear Solid. We start off with a minimalist but capable tutorial that gradually introduces us to Styx's capabilities and typical challenges. You start to learn more about the mysterious amber and its ability to mutate organic beings. Speaking of which, Styx has an amber tattoo on his shoulder that glows when you are adequately cloaked in the shadows and darkness. I thought this was a brilliant touch, as the character is always going to be at the center of the screen, where the action is. It doesn't require you to take your eyes off your surroundings and glance at a light meter at the bottom of the display or such. As well, Styx is very agile and strong, able to make great leaps and fall from considerable heights. There are some light RPG elements as well, allowing you to collect skill points throughout a level and spend them on skills that enhance your abilities - such as being able to see through walls, give you more invisibility time, silence your special attacks, and so on. These skill points can be obtained by completing primary and secondary objectives, but also for special feats like collecting all of the tokens in a level or not killing anyone. One new and innovative feature that S:MoS brings to the table is the ability to create clones. These will do your bidding and have some of the same abilities as you: they can make distracting sounds, interact with objects, and even turn invisible (if you upgrade for it). This leads to some truly interesting tag-team events: for example, you can get your clone to lure a bunch of guards directly underneath a chandelier, where you can then lower the boom and eliminate them with the mighty power of gravity. You can also use the clone to distract them just long enough to blow up in a smoke bomb, allowing you to quickly dispatch them without being seen. The map design is really excellent and almost every area of a level has multiple ways that you can approach it. Exploration is richly rewarded, not only in finding alternate ways to get around/dispatch your enemies, but also for finding out of the way goodies. However, one big criticism of the game is that these maps are all recycled in the second half, with the only gimmick being that you enter where you had previously exited. I didn't mind it too much because they were still excellent maps but it can get a bit tedious after a while. The game starts off quite easy, as the developers give you a lot of control over your environment, but the challenges eventually steepen quite dramatically. They start adding more complex adversaries: Roabies - cockroaches mutated by amber to be blind but with enhanced hearing; Knights - cannot be backstabbed and can kill Styx in one hit; Elves - also cannot be backstabbed but can detect the amber in Styx's veins and must be avoided. S: MoS has a reputation for some amount of jankiness, although this might have been overstated somewhat. Sure, it's amusing to see guards blocking each other while trying to complete their patrols, but most of it does not really interfere with gameplay all that much. The only time it really bothered me is that sometimes when you do a quiet kill, the animation might make it so the guard's head will hit the ground with a loud THUMP, prompting a predictable response of "Wot? Thought I heard something. OY, IT'S A MONSTER BOYS, LET'S GET 'IM!" Flaws aside, there is an absolutely fantastic amount of stealthing to be had in Styx: Master of Shadows, and many of its shortcomings have been addressed in the sequel (which is up next on the review plate). Sure, it's gone on sale many times since 2014 and most of you probably have it. However, if you're new to stealth or have been on the fence, then it's well worth checking out, sale or no sale.
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Dec 12, 2023 16:48
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wow I really thought you had reviewed that one already but it turns out i just bought it on a sale because you recommended it in a post
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Dec 13, 2023 02:13
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trying to jack off posted:wow I really thought you had reviewed that one already but it turns out i just bought it on a sale because you recommended it in a post Yeah same - I could've sworn he had too, but nope! I really do need to play it, though...
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Dec 13, 2023 02:35
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Yeah I'm sure I recommended them several times. Those games are pure stealth comfort food - aside from being in third person, they're very Thief-a-like. Almost addicting, if you're a stealth fan. Another thing I forgot to mention in my review is that both games have what I call an "infinite dropoff": a bottomless chasm where you can safely dispose bodies, never to be seen again. This guarantees that guards will never see them, even if they respawn in unlikely places! Seventh Arrow fucked around with this message at 02:57 on Dec 13, 2023 |
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Dec 13, 2023 02:55
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This game had a bunch of moments where I was like, "ok I know I needed to get to bed a half hour ago, but if I just poison this one guard and distract the other with a clone..."
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Dec 13, 2023 03:17
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Seventh Arrow posted:However, one big criticism of the game is that these maps are all recycled in the second half, with the only gimmick being that you enter where you had previously exited. I didn't mind it too much because they were still excellent maps but it can get a bit tedious after a while. this is what actually stuck with me most after playing so long ago. i totally forgot about the clones even. in hindsight it was great because you're breaking into a jail and have to actually get back out. you realize the game is going to make you do this pretty quickly and it can be exhausting at times but in the end i thought it was really cool and immersive gutpunch. the only other time a game has made me feel that way that i can think of off the top of my head was tlou2 where you feel like you were actually making progress but were only halfway through when it switches perspectives also goblins rule
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Dec 14, 2023 21:07
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Yeah the whole thing takes place in a tower on a floating island, so there's only so many places you can go. I liked how when you start at the top it's very celestial and heavenly but as you descend to the bottom it gets more grimy and hellish.
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Dec 15, 2023 15:03
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Dec 20, 2023 05:01
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I'm replaying Thief Gold for the first time in at least 20 years and goddamn it's aged so well. I had pretty clear memories of Bafford's mansion and the Bonehoard but was hazy on the rest except Constantine. This has some of the best worldbuilding even now because it's such a light touch where you're expected to put a lot together on your own through stuff you hear or read during a mission. The level design is still as strong as any bigger-budget modern immersive sim. I think the biggest surprise coming back to Thief is how it mixes up the mission design a lot. You've got your standard B&E at big mansions but also lots of dungeon crawling, a prison break, etc. No one mission type ever has time to get redundant or stale, and there are lots of little curveballs mid-mission that change up your objectives. Probably the only quibble is the loot requirements on Expert are a bit too strict. I was 5 gold short on the Opera House and spent almost an hour scraping around until I finally found some loot in an odd spot where it didn't really make sense to be there.
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Dec 29, 2023 02:54
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its amazing how the ultra low poly look of thief that everyone made fun of at the time has caused it to age better than other games from the same period. the angular look and shadows feel almost timeless. i used to prefer the robots in thief 2 to the undead in 1, as an adult i now realise how wrong i was
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Dec 29, 2023 03:55
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The environments especially are in that sweet spot where you can clearly see what's being depicted but your imagination embellishes a lot of the finer details. The sound design also does a lot to bolster the visuals for me when you've got leaky pipes, prominent room tone, etc. Just makes it easier to get immersed and visualize everything.
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Dec 29, 2023 04:23
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This is one of the many things that Thi4f managed to ruin imo. They seemed to think that since Thief relies on dark/light mechanics, everything has to be monochrome. But when you look at 1 & 2, there's a lot more color than you would expect. They manage to use a wide range of colors while still making The City look dark, it was a really good approach to level design.
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Dec 29, 2023 05:16
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i completely forgot that they made a 4th thief. hell, i only just remembered 3
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Dec 29, 2023 05:42
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You would've been better off forgetting it, I think.
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Dec 29, 2023 05:51
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Oh yeah, same actually - I think I got Thief 4 for a couple of dollars long ago. Still not sure if I should actually play through it or not, though! In other news, Styx is pretty good! The movement and combat very much reminds me of Shadwen, except without the cool (and often hilarious) grapple. Does seem very cool though! Once I've finished off the games I'm currently cleaning up, I'm definitely gonna smash though both Styx games, I reckon. Solid stealth action, even if I feel incredibly rusty at that flavour of stealth!
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Dec 29, 2023 13:41
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Seventh Arrow posted:You would've been better off forgetting it, I think. to say the least lol, its horrible
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Dec 29, 2023 16:09
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Nutmeg posted:to say the least lol, its horrible It's unfortunate because there are places where you could see that if they had just focused on, you know, stealth - it could've been a decent game. In other news, Isoor and I did some Styx co-op. It was very fun and we died a lot due to being very unstealthy in places but I forgot to record it  I will see if we can try again after the new year!
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Dec 29, 2023 17:10
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Styx: Shards of Darkness         Styx: Shards of Darkness is everything good about Styx: Master of Shadows, except more and better. Even Styx's personality this go-around is less abrasive and obnoxious and more humorous. Mind you, this can lead to some pretty cringey 2017 gags, like Styx yelling "TO INFINITY AND BEYOND!" when sliding down a rope. On the other hand, there are times when he mercilessly makes fun of the Assassin's Creed series, so I'm willing to be forgiving. The plot is...not bad. It's typical dark fantasy fare but the intrigue and character development are competent enough. After the events of S: MoS, goblin clones have become ubiquitous and are being stamped out like rats. Styx manages to strike a deal with the human leader of a goblin extermination squad, allowing her to infiltrate a secret meeting that the dark elves have arranged for the leaders of the other races. This will give Styx a number of interesting and imaginative maps to sneak through - my favorite being high in the sky aboard three connected airships. You start off in a human shantytown in the middle of a swamp, but there are also treacherous roabie caves, a dwarven hunting town, and dark elf ceremonial strongholds. This is a nice change from the single 'floating tree' location of the previous title and this time around, there are only a few maps that are recycled - which I understand was a major complaint about MoS. Crafting is introduced here and, although it's not a fantastic system, I think it gives a bit more freedom than before - in that, if you have enough resources, you can craft an acid trap or crossbow bolt or whatever. You no longer have to scour the level in the desperate hope that you'll maybe find a bolt lying around. Iron ore seems to be both scarce and necessary for crafting the good stuff, so whether this is good (enforcing decision-making) or bad (unfun), will depend somewhat on what you're like as a player. Fortunately, crafting tables are everywhere, so that's one less thing to worry about. Armored enemies make a return and they become pervasive by the later missions. If you're the kind of person that likes to ghost your way through missions, leaving enemies untouched, you probably won't be bothered by this (except that they can kill you in one hit, so that adds a good amount of suspense). For everyone else, however, they cannot be killed by conventional means so you have to use either acid traps or environmental kills (poisoning, pushing them off of high ledges, falling chandeliers, etc). In a new twist, you can also booby-trap the alarms, which consist of a wooden stand supporting a giant bell. Anyone who attempts to pull the lever on one of these babies will get neutralized by a cast iron monstrosity crashing down on their noggin. These kind of traps can lend a level of slapstick that you usually don't see in dark fantasy fare, and I for one wholeheartedly support it. There's also a neat gameplay twist in the levels where dwarves appear - they have an enhanced sense of smell that makes it impossible for a goblin like Styx to get too close to them. And once they catch wind of you, they can be pretty ruthless about tracking you down. Roabies make a return and are often found accompanying armored elves, so it can make navigating these maps particularly tricky. Finally, cave trolls make an appearance and cannot be harmed in any way (except for one that can be dispensed with an elaborate trap) so they must be avoided. There are two boss fights in the game, but I was quite impressed how they are not combat-based but instead require the player to use all of the stealth skills learned up to that point. Two-player co-op is available and what I've played so far is a very fun kind of deranged lunacy. The bottom line is that if you enjoyed Styx: Master of Shadows, then there's no reason not to pick up Shards of Darkness. You get a lot of stealthing for your money and the gameplay is every bit as absorbing as the original.
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Jan 1, 2024 16:37
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Thief: The Dark Project         "They don't make bears like they used to!" - Guard, overheard outside of Lord Bafford's Manor I'm sure that just about every taffer in this thread has played this game multiple times, and yet here I am reviewing it! How about that? Thing is, there could be some people out there who have never touched it, or maybe they mucked around with the demo one day 25 years ago and never got back to it. Certainly, my first Thief game was Deadly Shadows, then 2, then a long time later I played the first game in the series. And you are casting your gaze on one of the big granddaddies of stealth - sure, MGS 1 came out a little bit earlier, but Thief: The Dark Project was the first stealth FPS and its approach to audio, systems, and world-building was utterly unique. Yes, it looks blocky and pixelated today but in 1998, Thief: TDP was packed with innovations previously unseen in the industry. A year later, they released Thief Gold, which added some much needed patching, updated some of the levels, and added three new ones: The Thieves Guild, The Mage Towers, and Song of the Caverns. You take on the leathery boots of Garrett, a young yet jaded cutpurse who has been trained in the stealthy arts by a mysterious organization known as the Keepers. However, Garrett didn't favor the monastic lifestyle and so, instead of spending a life with his nose buried in crumbling scrolls, he ventured forth into a career of nocturnal thievery. Over the course of his adventures, Garrett encounters several factions that would prefer to send him scurrying: not only the Downwind Thieves Guild, but the zealous Order of the Hammerites, and the chaotic and whimsical Pagans. This last faction is led by the enigmatic Constantine, who has a thing or two to teach the young thief about the nature and consequences of greed. However, the game does not rush you into the proceedings: early on, you know nothing about Pagans or Constantines, you simply start off as a burglar trying to pay his rent. As MeatwadIsGod observed a few posts back, the world-building in TTDP is top shelf dark medieval fantasy. The story is unparalleled, to the degree that Mark Laidlaw (of Half-Life fame) considers it to be his favorite game. Although, as mentioned, the graphics are dated (as should be expected for a game from 1998), the level design is superb. Every map has intriguing twists and turns and some of them, like The Sword, include breathtaking elements of madness. There are times when you'll think that possibly the level is changing as you venture through it. The music is masterful and unnerving, much of it opting for unsettling textures instead of melodies. Even the "pretty" music is creepy ("A Woman Named Viktoria" is a favorite). Having said that, it needs to be understood that the Looking Glass pot was still congealing when the game came out, and they weren't 100% sure what they wanted Thief to be, and how much of the earlier "Dark Camelot" concept they wanted to keep. As such, the game has an uneasy admixture of straightforward "break into the mansion and pilfer loot" levels and "raid tombs and fight zombies and burricks" levels. There are those who have an undying love for the latter, and some for the former. That debate is not going to be settled today for sure, but just know going in that roughly 1/3 of the maps in the game will feature the "tomb raiding" kind of gameplay (although one of them, "Song of the Caverns" starts of this way but then pulls a switcheroo later on. Cragscleft Prison is kind of half and half). I won't provide a review of the maps, part of the fun is discovering them for yourself; although it must be noted that two of the TG maps (Thieves Guild and Mage Towers) seem to be extremely unpopular. Thieves Guild for its meandering and confusing connecting sewer system and Mages Tower for being a largely uninspired copy-and-paste affair. I myself quite enjoyed them, but I guess you can always Ctrl-Shift-Alt-End if you really feel like you need to skip it. The mechanics are brilliant, and even to this day, I don't think that we see stealth games with the kind of detailed approach to sound that TTDP had. Different surfaces will generate different levels of noise, to the degree that Garret can run on carpet and grass without being detected, but even light tip-toeing on marble or metal floors will cause you to hear a "Show yourself" from a mile away. Indeed, even seeing these tiled or "checkerboard" patterns might cause your anxiety level to escalate, turning maps like "The Sword" and "Song of the Caverns" into something of a checkerboard nightmare. Garrett is equipped with element arrows: water arrows, which will douse candles and torches; moss to soften your footfalls; rope to ascend to new heights; fire to generally blow stuff up or relight something you accidentally used a water arrow on. Of course, there is also your trusty blackjack to knock people out from behind and your sword, to get you killed if you think you're a skilled duelist. Seriously, you're going to get yourself killed if you try matching blades with more than one opponent, just stick to sneaking. One nice touch is that the more loot you acquire during a mission, the more you can afford to buy for the next. However, hoarding is not allowed: any cash that you don't spend does not carry over to subsequent missions. Can't have Garrett going to the Haunted Cathedral with 40 vials of holy water, now can we? Different difficulties will have at a minimum different objectives and loot, but sometimes they will also provide varieties in the level; for example, on Assassins hard and expert, the guards that you have to follow will take a more circuitous route to their destination. I tried both the Steam and GOG versions. GOG comes with TFix Lite, a fan patch that among other things, makes the game playable on modern systems. Steam comes with nothing, so you'll want to install TFix 1.27. The GOG version also seems to add clouds and a moon to the night sky which was a nice, atmospheric touch. It also comes with the concept art, manual, and other extras, so it's a pretty good deal! For whatever reason, the cutscenes didn't work with the Steam version, but worked with GOG. Since the cutscenes are a big part of the game's storytelling, this is something to keep in mind. Overall, if you haven't played Thief: The Dark Project yet, you really need to. Even if you're not crazy about combat with zombies and monkeymen, you need to go through it once to experience the intense atmosphere and bizarre world of Thief.
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Jan 8, 2024 22:40
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I wonder how Thief would control with a, well, controller. OLED Steam Deck plus OG Thief in bed seems like it could be a pretty immersive time.
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Jan 8, 2024 22:51
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That's a good question. In addition to the usual FPS controls, you would at a minimum need to be able to scroll through the weapons as well as the items, and also the various movement modes (run, walk, sneak). Oh also if you're playing on m + kb you will almost certainly need to rebind.
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Jan 8, 2024 22:56
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You should check out Black Parade OP.
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Jan 8, 2024 22:59
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American McGay posted:You should check out Black Parade OP. I agree wholeheartedly, in fact I will do a review of it once I review the other games in the series.
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Jan 8, 2024 23:02
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I recently updated muh Backlog over New years and been eyeing all the thief games I've owned. I've played one of them a couple times and was never into it - I think one of the later ones? I remember the tutorial level being tiny & dark & the lock picking mini game was broken. I need to start from 1. Is this the first entry?
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Jan 8, 2024 23:33
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I’ve never played a Thief game tbh.
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Jan 8, 2024 23:39
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