...yes, I know this has been out since February. But, really, when have my reviews ever been on time?
Thief is the tale of Garrett, a thief (obviously), living in the land of Fantavictoripunk. Taking a job from one Basso, Garrett is teamed with a former apprentice, Erin in raiding a mansion. When they arrive, though, it appears the Cult of Cthulhu is up to some trickery and a bunch of bright, flashy lights has Garrett waking up after a year. Now, the city is gripped by some plague known as the "Gloom" and the Baron has it under lockdown for just that reason. However, Garrett has a mystery to solve and he won't be dissuaded by the efforts of the Man.
Thus he begins to seek out what happened to Erin, what exactly the ritual had to do with anything, and goes about one of the best things a thief can do - stealing from the Man and screwing Him over, which Garrett can do in earnest many a time over the course of the story (seriously, there's a lot of collectibles out there), all the while. And you'll pardon me if I have to point out Corvo Attano sneaking the other way as Garrett's out and about on thieving missions.
I'm not sure if it's intentional or if it's simply having it on my brain again, but the game does have a very Dishonored feel to it, even if it's more of a Middle Ages or Renaissance feel as opposed to a Steampunk Victorian era feel (though there are shades of that, as well). And this translates into the gameplay as well, (what with begin stuck in first-person the entire time save for cutscenes) though thievery and assassinations are not two things entirely divorced from one another so far as things go. However, Garrett makes it clear in the beginning that he is not a killer, just a thief.
Not that this keeps him from using flaming arrows to immolate guards with trails of oil, or using broadheaded arrows to straight up murder folks with headshots, but shh!!!
Also, like Corvo, Garrett can take down opponents through sneak attacks. Rather than killing them, however, he simply knocks them out with a cudgel delivering a nice blow to the head, after which they can be disposed over with a nice toss down some stairs or from a height that certainly won't, again, break their neck and kill them.
But, again, really, not an assassin.
In a sense of fairness, I'd put this in the same odd canonical vortex as Far Cry 3, with the actions of the player killing various enemies not translating to the actual events going on around. Though Garrett seems to stick to his morals, rather than have Jason Brody's whole island power slide into Winter Soldier-esque insanity, because the disconnect between storyline and gaemplay seems to be the only thing that makes that make any sort of sense.
Nevertheless, I will praise the game being one of the most fun I've played in the stealth genre. Garrett is a master thief and it shows. Provided you don't go running out into plain sight, stick to the shadows, and use the environment to your advantage (i.e. suspiciously well played crates, nooks and cranies, cabinets to hide in, etc.), you avoid being cut up to pieces by the Baron's men. Really, unlike many stealth games, stealth is literally your only option. Again, Garrett is not a killer (sort of), and only really has his cudgel and climbing claw to speak of, meaning that melee combat is very much a non-option.
However, in aid of his adventures, Garrett has a collapsible bow that gets a tasty variety of arrows. Fire arrows to set trails of oil and bales of hay alight as both distraction and as a weapon, water arrows to douse torches and other light sources, choke arrows that dispense gas into an area to stifle opponents, rope arrows to aid in the game's parkouring against the landscape, and blunted arrows to hit switches and levers, along with the aforementioned broadhead arrows for Garrett's contingency plans when dealing with guards. The lockpicking system is similar to several of them I've seen in the last few years. Twist the left stick until the controller beings to vibrate and then press "A" on the Xbox control, easy as you please. Of course, this requires going through multiple tumblers on each device, three at a minimum and so on with increasing difficulty. Not the best mechanic, but it gets the job done.
Though the mechanics are pretty good, Garrett swooping through the streets of Fantavictoripunk like he's Batman, where the game really falls flat for me is the story. Honestly, I have set there and tried, but it's really just not engaging at all. Honestly, I try to keep up and I just...feel no connection to any of these characters. Not even Garrett, who occasionally makes a snarky remark or observation that I find amusing, manages to have that much of an impact upon me. I'm not sure, but it may be partially due to the voice acting. It's not Ride to Hell bad, but not that great.
Now, I've never been a fan of the original Thief games, simply because I haven't played them at the time of this writing. But I'm aware that the main voice actor for Garrett has been changed up and, no offense to him, but I can see why some fans might be offended. He just doesn't project a character like I would imagine the snarky master thief Garrett would be. No offense to the voice actor, I'm not familiar with his other work so I have no way of comparison, but I'm just not a fan of his Garrett. Who knows? Maybe I'll get a hold of the older Thief games and decide who's better, but for here...not fond of Garrett. Though that may just be poor direction for the voices, which there's a bit of here all around, not just for him.
If I had to throw another criticism up, it'd be the mercantile mechanic. Not so much the thing itself, where you get money based on items you steal, the problem comes from the location. There's only one place that I've found where you can stock up on items such as arrows, health and focus upgrades, and stat boosts, and it's in a far off section of the overworld, which means a bit of maneuvering around to get to it. Why just the one? Why not have one in each section? Not to mention the difficulties set the number of available resources anyway in the range from plentiful to rare, which does increase the difficulty a bit, but it remains the same problem with location.
Summing up, Thief isn't a bad game. When it shines, it shines brightly, like a flawless gem waiting to be snatched from a display case. But when it doesn't, it doesn't sting quite like the stabbing of so many angry city guards catching you out of the shadows.
Thief is now available from Eidos Montreal and Square Enix for Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
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