Thief

 PC
User Score
6.0

Mixed or average reviews- based on 1665 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 696 out of 1665
  2. Mixed: 447 out of 1665
  3. Negative: 522 out of 1665
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  1. mortuus
    Feb 28, 2014
    3
    Feels more like garbage man than thief, rummaging through drawers stealing ink bottles.
    No cool factions, no hammerites, no pagans, burricks and lobstermen replaced with dogs and birds. It's not cool with kids if modern game doesn't have doge.
    Freeform climbing and rope arrow usage replaced by scripted dev-approved location movement only. Combat blows, press X to not take damage from    Feels more like garbage man than thief, rummaging through drawers stealing ink bottles.
    No cool factions, no hammerites, no pagans, burricks and lobstermen replaced with dogs and birds. It's not cool with kids if modern game doesn't have doge.
    Freeform climbing and rope arrow usage replaced by scripted dev-approved location movement only. Combat blows, press X to not take damage from guards slow telegraph attack, no sword. Bopping guard on head from behind with blackjack replaced with scripted takedowns, doing it yourself too hard for consoles.
    Technically weak, linear small levels, loading every 2 minutes. Level design very meh. Mandatory 4-5 per level advancing forward in cutscene, cutting off previous part of level, because having level accessible fully and non-linear would be too hard for consoles.
    Prologue cutscene - zomg, you killed him, how could you, thieves don't do that!!!one. Chapter 1 - bonus objective, score 4 headshots on guards for extra money, because nothing spells thief quite like bow headshots. If you shoot guard from far enough, arrow flying will play out in slo-mo so cool kids can put 360 noscope thief videos with wubwub music on youtube.
    All in all, disappointment on the same level as Deus Ex HR, but I guess Squeenix ran out of money to pay off journalists this time, dxhr PC metacritic: 90, IGN: 90. Thief PC metacritic: 69, IGN: 68.
    Uninstalled after chapter 2, searching drawers in small dark rooms repeatedly is more boring than my real life work that I get paid for, no thanks.    … Expand
  2. Avadon
    Feb 25, 2014
    5
    The smaller scale of the levels is not my main problem with the game, Deadly Shadows also had smaller levels compared to the previous games, but they oozed personality and atmosphere, from the pitch black forge with the immortal golems to the zombie ship at the harbor to Shalebridge Cradle. This, however, does not. There are not many locations in Thief that are memorable, it all feelsThe smaller scale of the levels is not my main problem with the game, Deadly Shadows also had smaller levels compared to the previous games, but they oozed personality and atmosphere, from the pitch black forge with the immortal golems to the zombie ship at the harbor to Shalebridge Cradle. This, however, does not. There are not many locations in Thief that are memorable, it all feels pretty generic. They also seem to have largely ignored the heavy Steampunk art design of the previous games, which makes things worse. The story is also uninteresting. As for the graphics, they are a mixed bag. The lighting and fog are great, while texture quality is rather poor. The game also looks like it lacks the high contrast black of the previous games, it looks washed out and grey as if the developers were afraid of the shadows, ironically enough. "Batman vision" also looks out of place in a Thief game. Good things? The PC version runs well and the difficulty is highly customizable, if you turn everything apart from the vision indicator off you can have an experience close to the older Thief games, although unfortunately a more boring one. Overall, I don't think this is worth full price, but perhaps it's worth playing through when it goes 50% off. At around 8 hours to completion, it is also about half as long as one would expect from such a game. Even Last of Us took about 15 hours to finish, this game is definitely way too short. What a shame.… Expand
  3. Long_Tom_Jhon
    Feb 25, 2014
    5
    I am going to say right off the bad that this review is entirely based on Thief being viewed as a standalone game. That being said, it still is very lackluster and can hardly overcome its weaknesses to be a good game. In short, it is an average game, it isn't terrible like Ride to Hell but it hard to recommend unless you are desperate to play a stealth game and have already played Mark ofI am going to say right off the bad that this review is entirely based on Thief being viewed as a standalone game. That being said, it still is very lackluster and can hardly overcome its weaknesses to be a good game. In short, it is an average game, it isn't terrible like Ride to Hell but it hard to recommend unless you are desperate to play a stealth game and have already played Mark of the Ninja, The original Thief trilogy, The Deus Ex series with stealth runs and Dishonored.

    Level design:
    Levels, excluding the hub/city, are highly linear and the optimal route of the player is apparent. The best analogy for these linear sections is to equate them to hallways with cubbyholes on the sides with loot. Sure, you can go into the cubbyholes but they rarely help the player progression because many of them are dead ends and the player has to go back onto the path made by the developers. The question one should ask when playing Thief 4 is, "how did the devs want me to play this level." Not, "how should I beat this level."

    Player movement:
    The player cannot jump unless promoted too by the game, further limiting their actions to traverse a level and avoid traps that are in the game. As much as the developers want to believe, jumping is not a "contextual action". However, you can "swoop", an ability that is simply a dash that makes you hard to detect in lighted areas and can be chained in succession. Does it make up for the lack of an ability to jump without being prompted?

    Audio:
    After playing the game for a few hours, it will become apparent that the dialog and audio in the game repeats allot. The dialog itself in the game and cut scenes are uninspired. The audio transitions of being undetected and being engaged are poorly executed. Finally, the sound track for this game is hardly memorable, a shame from a triple A game.

    Graphics:
    This is one of the few strong points of the game, it isn't ugly, and in fact it is atmospheric. The textures are decent and the particle effects bring this world to life. There is a good contrast between the light and dark areas of the game but the washed out grey shadows makes you feel like the enemies should see you because you are not immersed in total darkness.

    AI:
    The AI is highly unaware of the world around it unless you put out light sources or throw a bottle to draw its attention. It can still detect you if you are not careful but it is easy to outsmart the AI.

    Combat:
    I do realize that this is a stealth game but it is poorly done when you are forced to do it. You can only attack with your blackjack, you cannot parry, but you can dodge. This close combat is highly repetitive especially in later levels where it takes 10-15 hits to kill an enemy. Finally, Garrett only has one audio file that plays whenever you attack which is, "EH", which is very annoying when repeated. It is quite clear that combat was not a focus of the game but it is neither enjoyable nor satisfying when you are forced to fight.

    Story (no spoiler mode):
    There isn't very special here, it is boring and does not help the player engage with the context of this world.

    In conclusion, Thief 4 on its own isn’t terrible but it isn’t a good game either. It falls flat of the triple A standard and can hardly match other giants in the stealth genre.    … Expand
  4. mthilliard
    Feb 27, 2014
    5
    I came into this game thinking that it would be great. I'm really into stealth games that have a great degree of difficulty, because I think the difficulty is what makes it immersive. I'm gonna start off by saying that that graphics, for the most part, are very well done. The map of the city is useless. Most doors are unable to be opened, which is terribly disappointing for a stealth game,I came into this game thinking that it would be great. I'm really into stealth games that have a great degree of difficulty, because I think the difficulty is what makes it immersive. I'm gonna start off by saying that that graphics, for the most part, are very well done. The map of the city is useless. Most doors are unable to be opened, which is terribly disappointing for a stealth game, and makes the game seem very linear. AI is abhorrent and provides no level of immersion whatsoever. You can look a guard dead in the eyes 5 feet away in the dark and he'll have no idea you're there. It's weird that the animal AI is made to be better than human AI. I like the fact that birds and dogs will be alerted at sudden movement or noise. I feel as though the human AI should act differently from one another, so one person would be more alert than another to movement in darkness or the slightest sound. That's what creates immersion for me. Moving on, the dialogue between guards and monologue of guards is pretty terrible. Walking around an area, you can hear the exact same dialogue multiple times. The voice acting is cheap and a weak attempt at creating a natural environment. The volume of said dialogues physically don't make any sense, and HUGELY break immersion. The fact that you can be facing a man standing 15 feet away from you and you hear his voice in surround sound defies the physics of sound. Another very important point, as this is the first of the franchise that I have played, I feel absolutely no emotions towards any of the characters (playing through about 4 hours), and I don't even know why I'm a thief. I have no set purpose in this game, and that's why this game bores me.… Expand
  5. bboydp
    Feb 26, 2014
    5
    Score: 5
    This game is mediocre.
    Example: The game is like a quickly thrown together movie title game, they are basic, nothing really new or exciting, simply the same game we have all played before, but now with different colors. Conclusion: Save your money for when it drops to $10 or $15, because that is about all its worth. More and more of these big time companies are just    Score: 5
    This game is mediocre.

    Example:
    The game is like a quickly thrown together movie title game, they are basic, nothing really new or exciting, simply the same game we have all played before, but now with different colors.

    Conclusion:
    Save your money for when it drops to $10 or $15, because that is about all its worth. More and more of these big time companies are just trying to make a dime, instead they should try to make a game, then they would make more money. I have come to a point, that I will now wait for scores as to whether or not to buy a game, instead of buying a game and watching my hard earned cash go to waste, oh well, live and learn.    … Expand
  6. Princess_Frosty
    Feb 26, 2014
    2
    Thief takes all the proven mechanics of the previous games and deliberately breaks them in order to make the game appeal to a wider audience, it's a disgrace to the already established and much loved Thief series, Eidos Montreal should be ashamed of ruining a legendary franchise.

    The only benefit this game manages to leverage over its predecessors is better graphics, literally every    Thief takes all the proven mechanics of the previous games and deliberately breaks them in order to make the game appeal to a wider audience, it's a disgrace to the already established and much loved Thief series, Eidos Montreal should be ashamed of ruining a legendary franchise.

    The only benefit this game manages to leverage over its predecessors is better graphics, literally every other aspect is worse by a significant degree, most importantly the actual gameplay, but it's also plagued with incredibly small and linear maps, fundamentally broken AI, bad art direction, a completely unbelievable world, bad voice acting and lip syncing, utterly dislikeable characters, long load times a bland and uninteresting story, and crammed to the brim with performance issues, bugs and glitches.

    It's a first person shooter where you cannot even jump, you're literally stuck into a first person rollercoaster Thief ride which takes you on a first person animated ride of a Thief theme park ride.

    Absolute disgrace, 2/10 - that's the best I can do.    … Expand
  7. RedRevReyn
    Feb 25, 2014
    3
    After watching all of the trailers, reading the developer interviews, learning about the features they wanted to implement, seeing the community managers interact with the community, I had one thought; "This is going to be a **** sandwich," and Eidos Montreal, you did not disappoint!

    This abortion is brought to us by the same studio who made Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but sadly they    After watching all of the trailers, reading the developer interviews, learning about the features they wanted to implement, seeing the community managers interact with the community, I had one thought; "This is going to be a **** sandwich," and Eidos Montreal, you did not disappoint!

    This abortion is brought to us by the same studio who made Deus Ex: Human Revolution, but sadly they used the D squad and it shows. The contextual movement, which is "totally not even a big deal" according to every community manager, is horrible. It could have potentially worked, if EM was really that good at level design, but they aren't. Instead, they've effectively made a series of long corridors that that you may take one of two paths to finish, but you end up at the exact same place anyway. If that seems like a daunting number of choices, don't worry:

    Garrett will pipe in periodically to tell you where to go! Speaking of Garrett's new voice and his dialogue, pass. I didn't realize that the City was part of Boston! Because the only exit isn't obvious enough, even with Focus and waypoints and a minimap. Speaking of annoying sounds, the music does not fit at all and get's highly repetitive. Which reminds me, did you guys think of maybe not giving NPC's one line to just loop over and over again? To further continue about sound, a key component in the original games was being aware of what surfaces you walked on. Tile, metal, stone could all be quite loud. Now, as long as you're not jumping in puddles and stomping on broken glass, each surface is treated the same: as quiet as walking on plush carpet made of baby seals.

    And Steven Gallagher, you are a hack! While the storyline of the originals would never win a Pulitzer, the amount of clichés you threw at this piece of garbage answers why you're a video-game narrative writer, and not an author of any note. Also, please fire all of your writers, because they are terrible.

    Do not buy this trash.    … Expand
  8. Samtheman53
    Feb 26, 2014
    0
    A prime example of the disgraceful simplification of video games today, thanks mainly to devs pandering to majority which is casual console gamers. This game is an insult to the original series, everything from the simplistic, linear gameplay, to the terrible script and voice acting.

    Pathetic
  9. Necron99
    Mar 30, 2014
    0
    This new release is an absolute insult to the Thief series, Where do these 7-10 scores come from? they either getting paid to review or know nothing about video gaming and like spending there money on rubbish!
  10. YXXXXNN
    Feb 25, 2014
    2
    Now, to start off with, get rid of the notion that games should not be judged on their predecessors; that's just an idiotic concept. Although if you were to judge it as its own game, you'd be equally unimpressed. The AI is somehow worse than that of a game made in 1998; I've had it where I've been in the light and in a guard's line of sight for about 3 seconds before they even went into aNow, to start off with, get rid of the notion that games should not be judged on their predecessors; that's just an idiotic concept. Although if you were to judge it as its own game, you'd be equally unimpressed. The AI is somehow worse than that of a game made in 1998; I've had it where I've been in the light and in a guard's line of sight for about 3 seconds before they even went into a searching phase. The rest of the gameplay is lackluster too. The combat is broken and all around terrible, and not the intentional kind of terrible seen in the first 2 games, and The Dark Mod. It's closer to the Deadly Shadows type of terrible. The stealing and hand movements, while impressive from a technical standpoint, actually do the opposite of what they intended to do, and actually break immersion. On the topic of stealing, nowhere is there a requirement to steal anything not related to the story. That's right, YOU DON'T NEED TO STEAL AT ALL IN A THIEF GAME. The levels somehow manage to be split into smaller chunks than Deadly Shadows, and the levels themselves are more linear than ever; gone are the days where you can rope arrow wherever you want, or even JUMP wherever you want. The graphics, while all new and shiny, are rather lackluster. The City is your generic steampunk Victorian setting with no colours except for teal, brown, and grey. The story and writing is absolutely abysmal. Without getting into too many spoilers, the game features 'brilliant' lines such as "I'VE ALWAYS BEEN A GHOST'," "I'M NOT A FAN OF DOORS," and, of course, "COCKRINGS." The story is about as predictable as this game being a disaster is.
    And that's just judging it on its own merits. While it's disastrous as a game in and of itself, it's the absolute worst possible Thief game.
    Take my advice; buy Thief 1 and 2, and play The Dark Mod. Already have them? Play them again, and keep your mind off of this. I couldn't recommend it to even people who enjoy playing bad games.    … Expand
  11. Rukumouru
    Feb 25, 2014
    4
    Extremely linear, the color scheme is reduced to desaturated blacks and browns, the cast is extremely bland, Garrett himself barely wisecracks and never really feels like a Master Thief... But this game's greatest mistake is that it is, quite simply, not fun to play. Doing anything in the game is boring as sin, and the low-FoV tunnel vision makes it not only boring, but also nauseating to play.
  12. aGUYtoREMEMBER
    Feb 25, 2014
    5
    Not a overall bad game, but it is short and not really developed as much as they hyped it up to be. The depth of the game is something that really bugged me because they really was not as much depth as I was expecting. Overall scores:
    -Gameplay: 6/10
    -smoothness: 7/10
    -Story: 6/10
    -depth: 5/10
    -controls: 5/10
    -appearance: 7/10
    -over all: 5.5/10
  13. lamppu
    Feb 25, 2014
    5
    This game was bad enough for me to create a profile and submit a review just to warn fellow gamers to stay away from this stinker. Linear levels, mantling only on few pre-set points and constant handholding make this unworthy of the Thief name. Go play The Dark Mod or Dishonored, both games that are much more closer to the original classics.
  14. TNMK
    Feb 27, 2014
    0
    The worst Thief game ever made. The story is laughable, the AI is stupid, the game is horribly linear, the protagonist sucks. Nope, it's not Thief, it's CoD with stealth. The "reboot everything" trend is gotta be stopped someday and I hope they won't make a sequel for this garbage.
  15. zipstacrack
    Feb 26, 2014
    10
    I preordered quite a while ago as I have been following this game since it was revealed as Thi4f (Thief 4) many years ago. Myself like others were quite skeptical of this game following the game play videos released. After playing the first mission, I am pleasantly surprised - especially after seeing some of the recent reviews on Metacritic/IGN and the likes – the thing is, I really don’tI preordered quite a while ago as I have been following this game since it was revealed as Thi4f (Thief 4) many years ago. Myself like others were quite skeptical of this game following the game play videos released. After playing the first mission, I am pleasantly surprised - especially after seeing some of the recent reviews on Metacritic/IGN and the likes – the thing is, I really don’t think they have been playing it correctly.

    Now, there are a few things to do if you want to enjoy this game. First - turn off focus. Play on master difficulty or custom difficulty, and turn off pretty much everything you think will break your immersion. The light crystal isn't necessary as you can tell when you are in the light or not - I mean seriously..

    Same goes for guard alerts. When they see you - do you REALLY need lightning spiking around their heads? No, if they see you, you'll know - we aren't stupid. Jeeze these modern gaming trends do get on my nerves. The point of this game is to be as immersed in it as possible.

    With these things set you are guaranteed to have an enjoyable experience. This is a first-person only Thief title unlike the previous installment (Thief Deadly Shadows) - which had the option for either or.

    So this is a reboot - Garret doesn't have his mechanical eye (at least not yet - maybe that happens eventually) and the city is well ... kind of like it was in previous games. Guards are still overly violent and rude. There is some kind of disease they keep talking about called the gloom – which really reminds me of Dishonored.

    As for the gameplay – with everything set like I said above (thank god they put these options in). This can be one of the most heart beating experiences in gaming you can have.
    Lurking in the shadows trying to frantically pick a lock in time before the guard does his sweep near you.
    You WILL get caught, you CAN get away. And you can retry.
    The feeling you get when you successfully strip a house clean of all its valuables without anyone even realizing (even though you are right there) is just an experience that you will not find in any other games except … well, the previous Thief games. And maybe Dishonored. But all HUDS and crap really got in my way. With stealth games – you want it to be as minimalist as possible. All you want is Garret.

    As for what I’ve seen, it is quite linear, this is a narrow corridor city you will be making your way through. Yet, I still felt like I had options. I could still go off and explore, take the rooftops, sneak past guards and pick the lock of the front door before anyone noticed. This is where Thief shines.
    Now for some negatives. I am going to ignore focus mode and everything of the likes as I have already stated my opinions on it.

    The loading. For a 2014 game, it isn’t very impressive when every section of the city is barred off with a load screen. This is how it was in Deadly Shadows as well. But well... I guess I expected more. Thankfully these aren’t very long.
    And the thing that really irks me; is the quick time events. Spamming ‘E’ to open a frekin window. NO THANKS. THAT’S NOT A GOOD IDEA. Just open the Window for us, spamming ‘E’ really doesn’t make anything better. This is something I really think should be removed in a later patch.

    The cinematics are OK. But gosh darn it the ones that aren’t rendered in game are very chopping and often the sound falls out of sync. Again, this will be fixed in a patch.
    I am very early in the game, but based on my first impression. I am happy with my purchase. I will update this review as I progress..    … Expand
  16. plushfloody
    Feb 27, 2014
    10
    I played (and loved) Thief 1&2 as well as Thief: Deadly Shadows… which people seemed to have more legitimate complaints about than this one and still managed to rank a solid 85 on Metacritic if you care to look. (Once all the reviews were in.) This one is better than that one was. Full stop. IGN's review was bordering on slanderous. (Maybe they didn't pay IGN enough this time?) Don't getI played (and loved) Thief 1&2 as well as Thief: Deadly Shadows… which people seemed to have more legitimate complaints about than this one and still managed to rank a solid 85 on Metacritic if you care to look. (Once all the reviews were in.) This one is better than that one was. Full stop. IGN's review was bordering on slanderous. (Maybe they didn't pay IGN enough this time?) Don't get me wrong, the game isn't perfect… but I get the impression that a great number of the pro reviewers are simply too young to know what Thief is even supposed to be like. (Anyone who calls this story "confusing" needs to go back and play the earlier Thief games. Thief has always had a "nebulous and highly interpretable" narrative.) To the reviewer at IGN complaining of "flat, drab" characters… I can only assume they mean the color palette of the clothes worn by the peasants and the dark grittiness of the city. They can't mean the spoken dialog. (It's not as good as the old voice actor… but those are tough shoes to fill.) Is it "good enough?" I think so. However… in some places the lip sync is annoyingly off. (But since you are usually in dark environments you hardly ever notice.)… Expand
  17. gcd872000
    Feb 25, 2014
    3
    Well I preordered this game on steam because of all the hype and the trailer made the game look so diverse and interesting...little did I know how linear and clunky this game is...u cant even create your own path to an objective...you choose between maybe 2 sometimes only 1 path to your objective... u can only climb objects that marked as climbable.. theres no exploration whatsoever inWell I preordered this game on steam because of all the hype and the trailer made the game look so diverse and interesting...little did I know how linear and clunky this game is...u cant even create your own path to an objective...you choose between maybe 2 sometimes only 1 path to your objective... u can only climb objects that marked as climbable.. theres no exploration whatsoever in this game. I couldn't even get into the story at all...the ai sucks....and theres like a cutscene every 5 mins its like this game tries more to be a movie than a game....the combat controls are horrid not that it really matters though because the ai isn't smart enough to attack effectively. total waste of my 45 dollars.… Expand
  18. Zenzukai
    Feb 26, 2014
    1
    I was hoping for a stealth game. I got a linear theme park that has some sneaking in it. Its not what I hoped/wanted/expected, I was hoping for freedom, I got clumsy mechanics, poor gameplay. Where this game tries to get ahead is character and story....which is sad, I have had more immersion from smartphone games that were free. Wait till this game is on the very cheap 5+ years from now,I was hoping for a stealth game. I got a linear theme park that has some sneaking in it. Its not what I hoped/wanted/expected, I was hoping for freedom, I got clumsy mechanics, poor gameplay. Where this game tries to get ahead is character and story....which is sad, I have had more immersion from smartphone games that were free. Wait till this game is on the very cheap 5+ years from now, just in case you lose interest after 10 minutes.

    Looks like Eidos is paying people to set 10's on this game, so many generic "Best game evar" - 11/10 Comments.

    This game should lose money, no one should take something good, make it bad and still profit.    … Expand
  19. Ramiro1992
    Feb 26, 2014
    4
    Another garbage, another boring and repetitive game, what is this? another rip off of the old game? I don't recommend this trash, please don't waste your money on this piece of trash.
  20. fakk3
    Feb 25, 2014
    0
    Eidos Montreal killed Thief franchise by this game. Deadly Shadows wasn't perfect game but far better than Thief 2014. For me it is simple preying on the brand created by Looking Glass, and nothing more. Small levels which lead player for hand, trivial storyline written on knee, poor artificial intelligence opponents, Garrett without soul and voice of the original character and finallyEidos Montreal killed Thief franchise by this game. Deadly Shadows wasn't perfect game but far better than Thief 2014. For me it is simple preying on the brand created by Looking Glass, and nothing more. Small levels which lead player for hand, trivial storyline written on knee, poor artificial intelligence opponents, Garrett without soul and voice of the original character and finally uninspiring world without the magic of the trilogy. I'm very disappointed.… Expand
  21. Nark
    Feb 26, 2014
    0
    Please, for the love of god. Support good video games in the industry by NOT BUYING THIS!!! This is such a mess I don't even know where to begin.

    Okay, so they ripped almost the entire sound element of Thief out the window, the only things on the floor that make any more noise than complete silence are shards of glass and water. Every NPC's voice volume is at the same level to the point    Please, for the love of god. Support good video games in the industry by NOT BUYING THIS!!! This is such a mess I don't even know where to begin.

    Okay, so they ripped almost the entire sound element of Thief out the window, the only things on the floor that make any more noise than complete silence are shards of glass and water. Every NPC's voice volume is at the same level to the point where you can't tell if someone is right beside you or two rooms away. It's a fascinatingly large **** in the sound department, to say the least.

    Now on to the marketed "amazing immersive AI" that was in the Steam Store Page feature list, a FLAT OUT LIE. This game has some of the worst AI I've seen in a modern video game, you can get seen by guards and hide in a **** cupboard and they will forget you are there and go back to their business. You can do this six times in a row and they'd be as surprised to see you as they were the first time, and as entirely clueless at knowing where you are hiding as every consecutive time you had hidden in the same place.

    The loot aspect is entirely downplayed, Garrett is no longer a master thief, but a petty hoarder. He grabs absolutely everything, from metal cups and cutlery to scissors and magnifying glasses worth 1-5 gold each. This is the stuff that Garrett would quickly gloss over while looking for precious golden candlesticks and expensive wines in the old games.

    Not only this but loot doesn't even factor into the objectives of the damn game, and why would it, since the Garrett character has been so butchered and he's been put to live in an abandoned clock tower. He has no need for loot to pay the rent just to stay alive like our previous Garrett.

    On top of all this, and the rest about Garrett's character being butchered, which is far too much for me to fit into this 5000 word maximum review, the levels are linear as all-hell. Everything is a straight corridor, every place you have to break in to has one way that the developers planned for you to use, gone are the days of open-ended Thief levels, now it plays like a mix between Call of Duty and Uncharted as far as level design goes.

    Rope arrows have also been butchered, if you thought their removal from Deadly Shadows was bad, you're going to wish you had the Climbing Gloves. The Rope Arrows in this new Thief game can only attach to very specific roped wooden beam spots, not any wooden surface, they may as well not be a rope arrow at this point.

    The dialogue is atrocious, even if you don't count the two main characters acting like they're in a emo teen angst movie. The guards are constantly mumbling about extremely stupid **** like "cock-rings".

    Please, save your money and help the industry by not buying this excrement. If you really can't stand the old Thief games because you feel they're dated and want to try a game like old Thief then the closest you're going to find is Dishonored. Buy and play that instead.    … Expand
  22. bbnj
    Feb 25, 2014
    2
    Disappointed.

    It is called Thief yet you are magically transformed into a whiny dull hero. He must be Garrett's cousin, because this new Garrett is the lamest we've had so far. Nowhere to be found is the shine of the original writing. It must have been left behind with the idea of the protagonist being a master thief, instead of a boring hero of a cliche story. There's no free play,    Disappointed.

    It is called Thief yet you are magically transformed into a whiny dull hero. He must be Garrett's cousin, because this new Garrett is the lamest we've had so far. Nowhere to be found is the shine of the original writing. It must have been left behind with the idea of the protagonist being a master thief, instead of a boring hero of a cliche story. There's no free play, just a couple of rails here and there. There's no creative player solutions.The open world to explore is an utter joke (or an outright lie).

    A game with no soul and a distasteful generic flavor with steampunk art and a "but you can steal stuff too!" does not make it Thief. Judging by the end result, their idea of appealing to new audiences is to treat everyone as retards. Decent eye candy tho. Shame.    … Expand
  23. dmcimo
    Feb 25, 2014
    2
    Game play is 4.yrs ago handling at best, its such a try to be like Dishonored with even less effort. This game is played and they play that other game and your like.. *uninstall* its to bad, Thief has a great story following and this company single handily put it to the grave.

    I was really shocked when I got this game, There is not much to say but that this game is one of the few I    Game play is 4.yrs ago handling at best, its such a try to be like Dishonored with even less effort. This game is played and they play that other game and your like.. *uninstall* its to bad, Thief has a great story following and this company single handily put it to the grave.

    I was really shocked when I got this game, There is not much to say but that this game is one of the few I will be getting a refund back with. I am happy at the very least many places that sell these badly made games will in-fact give you refunds and then in turn go back after the game developers with charge backs and sending back the unused and returned copies.

    When will game makes start making games truly worth while, I have seen such a huge decline lately and its sad. :( well good luck who ever keep this game I for one will not.    … Expand
  24. Nichtswisser
    Feb 28, 2014
    3
    I want to report a crime, a case of murder to be more precise. They really killed him! They murdered Garett! And it's the worst kind of murder, not for reasons of self defense or out of a state of mental confusion, but planned and executed in cold blood and for purely financial reasons! It's true that Garett wasn't an innocent by any means, he was a thief after all. Yet this he did notI want to report a crime, a case of murder to be more precise. They really killed him! They murdered Garett! And it's the worst kind of murder, not for reasons of self defense or out of a state of mental confusion, but planned and executed in cold blood and for purely financial reasons! It's true that Garett wasn't an innocent by any means, he was a thief after all. Yet this he did not deserve! Shame on you Squenix and Eidos!… Expand
  25. Uhol889
    Feb 26, 2014
    3
    This is the "Godfather 3" of the Thief series. In case you don't get the reference, it means that the game is a huge disappointment. I have played the game for about 2 hours now, and it is buggy as hell. For instance, you climb on a rope and then can't jump off. Or you will go to an edge of a roof, and not be able to jump off. The graphics are great, but you feel like you can'tThis is the "Godfather 3" of the Thief series. In case you don't get the reference, it means that the game is a huge disappointment. I have played the game for about 2 hours now, and it is buggy as hell. For instance, you climb on a rope and then can't jump off. Or you will go to an edge of a roof, and not be able to jump off. The graphics are great, but you feel like you can't inhabit the world- instead, you are essentially led were to go. It really harmed the game to have a different voice actor play Garett.… Expand
  26. AleksandarGamer
    Feb 25, 2014
    4
    The game is good for the beginners, but NOT for the old Thief fans. AI is really a piece of s**t, and the game is just too linear. Technical problems make the game even worse.
  27. KyleFinlayson
    Feb 25, 2014
    4
    This is a heavily scripted game with heavy emphasis on hand holding and baby sitting. I remember when the Thief games were immersive because you had to be immersed to win. You had to look at the ground and watch every flicker of a torch light, and when you knocked out a guard, it didn't play a cut scene.

    This new Thief game has detective vision, you know, like in Batman: Arkham Asylum.    This is a heavily scripted game with heavy emphasis on hand holding and baby sitting. I remember when the Thief games were immersive because you had to be immersed to win. You had to look at the ground and watch every flicker of a torch light, and when you knocked out a guard, it didn't play a cut scene.

    This new Thief game has detective vision, you know, like in Batman: Arkham Asylum. This technique has been copied and pasted numerous times and it completely detracts from the Thief experience. To the game's credit, this can be disabled, but only at the start of every new game, it cannot be changed on the fly. This game has been made far too easy, enemy guards can easily be dispatched, meaning players have no reason to avoid and or fear them.

    In the end, this game has been far too modernized for a Call of Duty audience, who all expect a scripted adventure where the puzzles are solved for them. As the game progresses, the levels do become more open and sanboxy, but the game already faltered from the beginning, by pissing on the Thief legacy.    … Expand
  28. trytoblockmenow
    Feb 25, 2014
    0
    Thief 1 & 2 are classics, forever changing what we thought video games were capable of. This ugly reboot gets Thief about as wrong as it is possible to get wrong. I kid you not, there is a sequence where you are chased rooftop to rooftop by dogs and if you screw up or slow down you are killed. This game is a total mess, watered down, linear, consolized and casualized for the ignorantThief 1 & 2 are classics, forever changing what we thought video games were capable of. This ugly reboot gets Thief about as wrong as it is possible to get wrong. I kid you not, there is a sequence where you are chased rooftop to rooftop by dogs and if you screw up or slow down you are killed. This game is a total mess, watered down, linear, consolized and casualized for the ignorant masses. There is such incredible content still being made for Thief on PC, The HD Mods, The Dark Mod with new levels being released constantly, there is absolutely no reason to pay for this garbage.… Expand
  29. Brosious
    Feb 25, 2014
    0
    By far the worst Thief game ever made. It is not even Thief at this point. Skip this entirely and play the older ones if you need a good thievery game.
  30. Stillenacht
    Feb 26, 2014
    9
    Ok, so it’s quite clear to me that the trolls are jumping all over this in force. The first reviews that have come out from bigger companies like IGN have really give this title a good kicking. The trolls have come along and joined in, just because I suppose they find it funny.

    Personally silly troll review of something stopped being funny got me about 4 years ago, but kids today eh    Ok, so it’s quite clear to me that the trolls are jumping all over this in force. The first reviews that have come out from bigger companies like IGN have really give this title a good kicking. The trolls have come along and joined in, just because I suppose they find it funny.

    Personally silly troll review of something stopped being funny got me about 4 years ago, but kids today eh what ya gunna do.

    So when we get past the usual crap from kids who probably don’t own the game, and never will, what are we left with.

    Well the recent reviews, that came after the likes of IGN, have been certainly more positive. I think this can only be due to quite an unpolished copy perhaps that the first reviewers were given.

    The recent reviews match my experience a lot better which seems to be the more polished retail product.

    So when you read the negative reviews, the AI, voice sync, and voice volume or repeating issues I can confirm have already been fixed. I experienced non of those. So you can forget about all that.

    The games Atmosphere is great, I didn’t mind the voice work at all, and the game play as a sneak em up is great.

    It is different to dishonoured as it’s a slower pace, and more thought is needed. I’ll also mention it’s look and atmosphere also leave dishonoured behind, but then this is somewhat unfair as this is a new release.

    Anyway I enjoy playing Thief, it doesn’t give you the freedom of older games no, but what it’s taken away it replaces with content and some slick game play.

    You always feel like a stealth master and the hands in front of you while searching and leaning add such a nice touch it adds to the emersion incredibly. They aren’t just hovering there they are truly interacting with the scenery!

    I think without me writing a small book here, or trying to convince you to avoid the negative reviews, which I know now are just for the sake of it or rage from fans of the original instalments, I will heartily say, like many have before me, just go out and play this game for yourself.

    I can honestly say I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised. Just give it a chance.

    Thanks for reading.    … Expand
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Awards & Rankings

20
#20 Most Discussed PC Game of 2014
39
#39 Most Shared PC Game of 2014

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
70

Mixed or average reviews - based on 37 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 37
  2. Mixed: 16 out of 37
  3. Negative: 2 out of 37
  1. Pelit (Finland)
    May 11, 2014
    81
    Not the best brand relaunch ever, but forgetting the great predecessors, it's a decent game of its own. [March 2014]
  2. Hyper Magazine
    Apr 9, 2014
    80
    It may not be a traditional Thief game and the story may be awful but there's still some great stealth to be had. [May 2014, p.66]
  3. LEVEL (Czech Republic)
    Apr 7, 2014
    60
    This new Thief does a lot things right but can still be rather clumsy at times. Definitely worth trying, though. [Issue #240]
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