Broadly speaking, it's fine for something to exist as a niche. Whatever form of media a thing might be, to fulfil a niche is to meet the expectations of at least a handful of people with a particular taste that many others don't, and I think that's a delightful thing to do. In vi
Broadly speaking, it's fine for something to exist as a niche. Whatever form of media a thing might be, to fulfil a niche is to meet the expectations of at least a handful of people with a particular taste that many others don't, and I think that's a delightful thing to do. In video games, immersive sims might not be the most niche genre in the world, but they've historically not done gangbusters sales wise, meaning that triple-A takes don't quite make their money back. If you ask Randy Smith Evergreen, a designer on Thief: The Dark Project, perhaps avoiding the world of triple-A is the way to go for immersive sims.
Randy Smith Evergreen knows his immersive sims. As a designer on Thief: The Dark Project, he was there in the early days of the genre, and his credits include System Shock 2 and Dark Messiah: Might and Magic, as well as Thief 2 and Thief: Deadly Shadows. And he's pretty sure the
Randy Smith Evergreen knows his immersive sims. As a designer on Thief: The Dark Project, he was there in the early days of the genre, and his credits include System Shock 2 and Dark Messiah: Might and Magic, as well as Thief 2 and Thief: Deadly Shadows. And he's pretty sure the genre is a bad fit for the AAA arms race... Read more.
A new heist awaits. Thief: Pulse of Promise is an all-new officially licensed graphic novel set between the events of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age, coming soon to BackerKit for crowdfunding. Created by Bit Bot in collaboration with Eidos-Montréal, the crowd
A new heist awaits. Thief: Pulse of Promise is an all-new officially licensed graphic novel set between the events of Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age, coming soon to BackerKit for crowdfunding.
Created by Bit Bot in collaboration with Eidos-Montréal, the crowdfunding campaign will also include a statue, replicas, apparel, plush, and an original soundtrack by Celldweller featuring a new performance by Stephen Russell, the voice of Garrett.
Sign-up now on the BackerKit pre-launch page to follow updates!
Nightdive Studios, Eidos-Montréal and Atari today announced Thief: The Dark Project Remastered, a modern revival of the groundbreaking 1998 classic from Looking Glass Studios that helped define the stealth genre. View game page Remastered with Nightdive’s KEX Engine, the release
Nightdive Studios, Eidos-Montréal and Atari today announced Thief: The Dark Project Remastered, a modern revival of the groundbreaking 1998 classic from Looking Glass Studios that helped define the stealth genre.
View game pageRemastered with Nightdive’s KEX Engine, the release includes Thief: The Dark Project and the additional missions, content and updates from the 1999 Thief Gold re-release.
Thief: The Dark Project Remastered is coming this Winter! Wishlist the game:
Dishonored co-directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith seem like good mates. In a newly published YouTube let's play of their creation, they sit side by side, both dressed in black t-shirts like a married couple who've gone to great pains to coordinate their threads. Would t
Dishonored co-directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith seem like good mates. In a newly published YouTube let's play of their creation, they sit side by side, both dressed in black t-shirts like a married couple who've gone to great pains to coordinate their threads. Would that still be the case if their efforts to make Thief 4 and a Blade Runner game respectively hadn't ended up being mashed together to form 2012's sneaky holiday to Dunwall? Perhaps not, given Smith said it felt as though the pair needed couples therapy by the time they wrapped up a game which wasn't based on a single established work one director would have loved more than the other.
The Steam Winter sale is on! We've launched a bundle that includes Thief (2014) and Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow at a discounted price. If you already own Thief, you still get 15% off Thief VR through the bundle! Grab both games or complete your collection now: View game page
The Steam Winter sale is on! We've launched a bundle that includes Thief (2014) and Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow at a discounted price.
If you already own Thief, you still get 15% off Thief VR through the bundle! Grab both games or complete your collection now:
Classic stealth meets VR immersion. Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is out now! View game page You play as Magpie, a cunning thief shaped by the streets, who steals as the only means to survive until uncovering something greater: a legendary mechanical eye. Trapped inside it is none o
Classic stealth meets VR immersion. Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is out now!
View game pageYou play as Magpie, a cunning thief shaped by the streets, who steals as the only means to survive until uncovering something greater: a legendary mechanical eye. Trapped inside it is none other that Garrett, the master thief, who'll become Magpie's (reluctant) mentor.
Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is coming December 4, 2025 to PC VR! Pre-orders are available starting today, with a 10% discount. The game has been a labor of love from experts in VR games: developed by Maze Theory and brought to you by Vertigo Games (Arizona Sunshine, Metro Awakenin
Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow is coming December 4, 2025 to PC VR! Pre-orders are available starting today, with a 10% discount.
The game has been a labor of love from experts in VR games: developed by Maze Theory and brought to you by Vertigo Games (Arizona Sunshine, Metro Awakening), in collaboration with Eidos-Montréal.
View game pageThat's not all: check out some brand new gameplay showing the cunning, newcomer thief Magpie in action, guided by the master thief himself - Garrett.
Get an exclusive look at the immersive gameplay of Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow in this brand-new trailer. See Magpie in action as you sneak past guards, take down enemies with your blackjack, pickpocket and lockpick with precision, use a variety of specialized arrows, and uncover
Get an exclusive look at the immersive gameplay of Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow in this brand-new trailer. See Magpie in action as you sneak past guards, take down enemies with your blackjack, pickpocket and lockpick with precision, use a variety of specialized arrows, and uncover hidden secrets with glyph vision, all in immersive VR.
Brought to you by Vertigo Games, the award-winning creators of Metro Awakening and Arizona Sunshine, and Maze Theory, in close collaboration with Eidos-Montréal, Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow marks the long-awaited return of the legendary Thief franchise.
View game pageThief VR: Legacy of Shadow is coming later this year - wishlist now!
One thing I've learned in journalism is that the stupidest questions can lead to the most fascinating answers, if only because nobody else would be such a colossal dumbass to consider asking them. This proved true recently as I sought an answer to an extremely silly question: How
One thing I've learned in journalism is that the stupidest questions can lead to the most fascinating answers, if only because nobody else would be such a colossal dumbass to consider asking them. This proved true recently as I sought an answer to an extremely silly question: How tall is Garrett, the protagonist of the Thief series of stealth games?.. Read more.
Oh, no. I'm feeling a little game journalist's remorse on this one. What was so important, a decade ago, that I couldn't get behind a flawed but fundamentally faithful Thief game? What might have happened if I'd dedicated all my energies to pumping the bellows in the direction of
Oh, no. I'm feeling a little game journalist's remorse on this one. What was so important, a decade ago, that I couldn't get behind a flawed but fundamentally faithful Thief game? What might have happened if I'd dedicated all my energies to pumping the bellows in the direction of its lukewarm response at launch, persuading peers and punters to give Eidos Montreal's stealth sequel a fair shake? Maybe we wouldn't have waited til now for the whiff of a follow-up, in the form of VR spin-off Legacy of Shadow... Read more.
We’re thrilled to reveal today Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow, an all-new stealth game reimagining the legendary Thief franchise, for the very first time, in VR. Developed by Maze Theory and brought to you by Vertigo Games (Arizona Sunshine, Metro Awakening) in collaboration with Eid
We’re thrilled to reveal today Thief VR: Legacy of Shadow, an all-new stealth game reimagining the legendary Thief franchise, for the very first time, in VR.
Developed by Maze Theory and brought to you by Vertigo Games (Arizona Sunshine, Metro Awakening) in collaboration with Eidos-Montréal, the game will be releasing on Steam VR, PS VR2 and Meta Quest later this year.
You play as Magpie, a cunning thief shaped by the streets of The City, who steals as the only means to survive. That is until you uncover something greater: a legendary artifact holding a legacy from the past.
Use immersive VR mechanics to steal, evade, and outsmart the forces controlling The City as you unravel its darkest secrets and expose a sinister conspiracy that looms over its very foundation.
It's hard to overstate the influence of Thief , Looking Glass and Ion Storm's definitive stealth series, and one of the greatest games in PC history. Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Dishonored, and myriad other immersive sim RPGs and hybrid FPS games owe a debt of inspiration to The Dar
It's hard to overstate the influence of Thief, Looking Glass and Ion Storm's definitive stealth series, and one of the greatest games in PC history. Deus Ex, System Shock 2, Dishonored, and myriad other immersive sim RPGs and hybrid FPS games owe a debt of inspiration to The Dark Project, The Metal Age, and Deadly Shadows, but even in the age of remasters and remakes, Thief is yet to make a comeback - barring of course Square Enix's attempt back in 2014. On the contrary, a totally free, unofficial sequel is still going strong. Whether you've already played it or it's your first time, this is a notice to try the freshly updated Dark Mod.
The Epic Games Store has carved out an impressive niche for itself: it somehow always manages to be offering a game you've always thought about playing, completely for free. This week, those games include the Thief reboot and The Outer Worlds . Read the rest of the story... RELAT
The Epic Games Store has carved out an impressive niche for itself: it somehow always manages to be offering a game you've always thought about playing, completely for free. This week, those games include the Thief reboot and The Outer Worlds.
I have to admit that I was surprised to see the hooded figure of Garrett, Master Thief, reaching covetously for me from the free game section of the Epic Games Store , not least because Epic's giveaways tend to focus on relatively recent games (barring bona fide classics), but al
I have to admit that I was surprised to see the hooded figure of Garrett, Master Thief, reaching covetously for me from the free game section of the Epic Games Store, not least because Epic's giveaways tend to focus on relatively recent games (barring bona fide classics), but also generally well-liked ones. And scouring through the online discourse in the years since its release, people really don't seem to like the 2014 reboot of Thief... Read more.
ghost wanders the flooded wine cellar of the abandoned Hammerite cathedral, speaking backwards and spitting skulls. Haunts patrol the altar above, rattling their chains. When they give chase, they do so at breakneck speed, as if played back at double-speed on a VHS. Strange laugh
ghost wanders the flooded wine cellar of the abandoned Hammerite cathedral, speaking backwards and spitting skulls. Haunts patrol the altar above, rattling their chains. When they give chase, they do so at breakneck speed, as if played back at double-speed on a VHS. Strange laughter seeps between their bleached teeth as they swing their swords, two or three times a second... Read more.
Hi everyone, We’ve updated the way our Master Thief Edition owners receive their OST. Instead of a code you redeem on the Sumthing website, you’ll now automatically download the files directly to your PC. We hope this is a quicker and simpler way to receive your files. Please let
Hi everyone,
We’ve updated the way our Master Thief Edition owners receive their OST. Instead of a code you redeem on the Sumthing website, you’ll now automatically download the files directly to your PC.
We hope this is a quicker and simpler way to receive your files. Please let us know if you run into any difficulty and thanks for playing!
In 2007, I was in a bar in Soho. I was waiting to order a drink. Two guys in their early twenties were standing next to me. They were gamers. One was talking loudly about an old guy he had befriended. He bought a Commodore 64 the day it came out he said, with clear wonder and del
In 2007, I was in a bar in Soho. I was waiting to order a drink. Two guys in their early twenties were standing next to me. They were gamers. One was talking loudly about an old guy he had befriended. He bought a Commodore 64 the day it came out he said, with clear wonder and delight, I have a friend from back in time.
Hi. I m Kieron Gillen. Today, I will be your friend from back in time.
Image via thief-thecircle.com. Footsteps in the dark. Mutterings under breath. The sound of a bowstring, pulled taut and released. To think of Thief is to think of its sound design, from the simplest combat effect to the gravelly narration of Stephen Russell’s Garrett as he hides
Image via thief-thecircle.com.
Footsteps in the dark. Mutterings under breath. The sound of a bowstring, pulled taut and released. To think of Thief is to think of its sound design, from the simplest combat effect to the gravelly narration of Stephen Russell’s Garrett as he hides in the dark, observing a city so corrupt that a man like him can be its unsung hero. It’s to remember that city, nameless and broken, where the cold steel and hot fires of the Metal Age sit atop the weeds and lost secrets of ancient pagan culture and zombie boneyards. The quiet moments. The frenzies as a plan goes wrong and shouts of “Taffer!” fill the night sky. The perfect getaways and the desperate escapes.
There had been stealth games before, but little that took things to this degree to make the shadows your armour and patience your best friend.
Despite all this, if there’s one thing that defines Thief, it’s in the title. Many games, including successors like Deus Ex and Dishonored, are fundamentally built on playing things your way. You get the tools to sneak around if you want, but you also get a sack of guns and explosives, super-powers to break the rules of the world, and levels and enemies built to allow you to explore them. Thief instead strikes a deal. It gives you the tools and experience of a master criminal, but only so long as you’re willing to play the role.
Garrett may be godlike in the shadows, but he’s a mediocre swordsman. A blackjack to the back of a guard’s head is a guaranteed takedown, but alert, they’ll call in backup and easily take you down. On higher difficulty levels, you even face Garrett’s pride as a bonus challenge—he won’t kill, not out of squeamishness, but professionalism. He is, after all, a thief rather than a murderer, and good enough at it never to need such a crutch.
Stepping into his boots back in 1998 was a whole new experience. There had been stealth games before, but little that took things to this degree—to make the shadows your armour and patience your best friend. Your tools, ranging from water arrows to extinguish torches to rope arrows for climbing, were tools in the truest sense, with each mission taking place in an open plan location designed to let you pick your own path and decide your own tactics.
Even the very first encounter, Lord Bafford’s Manor, is a multi-levelled building with multiple approaches, floors and secrets, with your only guide being a hand-scribbled map of what Garrett thinks is inside. The second, Cragscleft Prison, features a whole mine complex you barely even need to enter.
If Thief has a problem, it’s that occasionally it loses confidence in itself, with fantasy elements like the undead and giant spiders sitting awkwardly next to the more steampunk city up top, and with a plot involving magic and paganism that quickly veers away from the pure satisfaction of breaking and entering. Thief II: The Metal Age didn’t remove the fantasy elements entirely, but it did wisely double-down on the other side, with Garrett now facing the steam-powered horrors of a genocidal Mechanist and generally sticking to the civilised parts of the city—raiding a party, robbing a bank, kidnapping and eavesdropping, and sabotaging the villain at every turn.
The sequel's maps took the series to a whole new level, with new tools like a clockwork eye that could be used to scout terrain, and maps designed around concepts rather than story first (the story then largely written around them, not that it mattered). Those maps were were built to be even more non-linear and open than the first game's. Now we really got to experience the City firsthand, with guards and other overheard characters now regularly piping up with their stories, and the original game’s approach to difficulty—not just additional enemies, but challenges like stealing a certain amount of treasure and the previously mentioned no killing rule—making for incredibly replayable missions.
Thief Gold
Looking Glass could make even a basic guard feel like part of the world, rather than just another enemy.
Again though, so much of this rested on Thief developer Looking Glass Studios being able to focus on specifics. Garrett’s trusty bow for instance was unlike any other weapon at the time—its feel, its sounds, the thunk of its arrows all carefully and lovingly made to feel both satisfying to use, and a worthy weapon of choice for a master thief. The blackjack as a tactical weapon. The sword, designed to be good enough to let you handle the occasional screw-up, but not go in swinging. Every tool had its purpose and its limits, with success coming from mastering them all and escaping.
By being able to focus their AI on handling a stealthy character, rather than a jack-of-all-trades, Looking Glass could make even a basic guard feel like part of the world, rather than just another enemy. Their banter as you hid in the shadows gave them a sense of history that we now take for granted in games like Dishonored (did that guy ever get his own squad after what happened last night?). In 1998, it was a huge step forward.
Even basic footsteps contributed to the feel, with different materials underfoot echoing with different sounds. Admittedly, it did make Garrett sound a bit like he’d gone thieving in metal clogs, and his ‘moss arrows’ should probably have been replaced with a nice pair of slippers or something, but that’s easily forgotten when you’re fleeing from guards, shooting a rope arrow out of a crypt, clambering up and belting for the exit before they can get back upstairs.
It’s that kind of moment, emergent yet natural, that really defines Thief as an experience more than simply a series of missions in an FPS. While the original occasionally suffers from a lack of confidence, Thief II strides into the night with an absolute cocksure certainty that what it’s doing is right. It’s tough not to get swept away by that. Even now it remains the master of the shadows, and the Thief that stole and kept our sneaky black hearts.
Is Thief: The Dark Project the best game ever? If Thief II isn’t, then it definitely is. With its twentieth birthday arriving today, I’ve been replaying the original sneak ’em up to see if it still holds up ( of course it does ), and whether my memory of it stands up to reality (
Is Thief: The Dark Project the best game ever? If Thief II isn’t, then it definitely is. With its twentieth birthday arriving today, I’ve been replaying the original sneak ’em up to see if it still holds up (of course it does), and whether my memory of it stands up to reality (it’s way better than I remembered).
