Thief

It’s solid, it has its moments, but as a whole Thief is incoherent, seems to be stitched together from different visions of the game and falls short of the expectations aroused by the previous games of the series. [04/2014, p.50]

Overall, Thief is a quality game, particularly if you take the time to explore the side missions. If you go in expecting the game to be a solely stealth game or a remake of the original, you will probably be disappointed.

In fact, of all the games I’ve been in, this one is definitely the worst.

Oh well, this Garrett couldn’t steal my heart.

Had Square Montreal shifted its focus from the story chapters towards the more open-ended city, and granted players more sandbox-y freedom, this could have been quite a milestone for the genre. In merely aping the strengths and, unfortunately, the bad habits of its competitors, though, it becomes just another, if quite well polished, stealth game on the market.

To the player willing to take the game at a slower pace, with a focus on pure stealth and without the artifice of in game assistance Thief will deliver the goods. For everyone else the reward may not be worth the effort.

I'll be blunt: if you loved the original Thief series, you won't enjoy this game.

As a Thief, it is a huge disappointment. The extraordinary map design of the series is gone, the story is forgettable and the reboot of Garrett and The City really misjudged. While entertaining as a stealth game, its sins are bigger than its virtues.

It can’t hide the repetitiveness of its template but in the simple act of silently snooping and investigating every corner of the world, while circumventing every enemy, there’s a brilliantly tense, gratifying experience that Eidos Montreal sadly struggles to sustain over the eight hours of gameplay – resorting to cheap enemy types and crushing linearity.

Thief is far from the disaster that many feared it would be, and fans who take the time to customise their settings ahead of their first playthrough will find a rewarding world here to pick clean. Nevertheless, it’s still difficult to shake the feeling that, for all his dexterity, Garrett has stumbled in his attempt to gain access to a new generation.

When Thief remembers to be a stealth game, to focus on the kleptomanic joy of cleaning a place out unseen, it's great. Unfortunately, Thief tries to do too many other things and does them badly, preventing a good game from being a great one.

The new Thief is the weakest installment in the series - a game that loses much of the unique narrative and protagonist creation. There are too many inaccuracies, errors and bad gameplay solutions as well. But on the other hand, there were moments that made me forget about all that and truly believed in this world. All in all the new Thief shows that grey is the new black. The game has good mechanics that were wasted - as a fan I'm really disappointed.

The problem with Thief is that the studio spent so much time trying to make a game for all kinds of people that it forgot to execute any single part of the experience perfectly.

Between the hit-or-miss missions is an extremely annoying city hub map and a weak story full of bland characters, and Garrett himself isn’t as sure-footed as a master thief ought to be. Ignoring the story and cherrypicking the best side missions is the best way to approach it.