Thief

Thief is a stealth video game developed by the Canadian video game developer Eidos Montreal, and published by Square Enix. It is a revival of thecult classic Thief series of stealth games, of which it is the fourth game. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One platforms on February 25, 2014 in North America,^[6] on February 27, 2014 in Australia^[7] and February 28, 2014 in Europe.^[6]

Gameplay

Players control Garrett, a master thief, as he goes about a series of missions, most of which are focused around stealing from the rich. As with the previous games in the series, players must use stealth in order to overcome challenges, while violence is left as a minimally effective last resort.

There is a variety of routes through each level and players are able to utilize a variety of playing styles to traverse them.^[8] The game contains a variety of ways to distract or kill guards, such as barrels of oil which can be set alight. Levels also contain money and valuable objects which Garrett can steal; these are immediately converted into money which can be spent on equipment and upgrades. Garrett is also able to pickpocket guards and other characters.^[9] The player may evade guards by hiding in shadows or around corners and is able to peak around edges and through keyholes in order to track the movements of enemies. Once Garrett has been spotted, guards and other non-player characters will attempt to hunt him down. The developers have stated that the game's artificial intelligence is aware of the level design, and as such guards will know in advance of potential hiding spots that the player may be utilizing.^[9][10]

Players may enter a "Focus" mode, which provides several advantages.^[9][10] It enhances Garrett's vision, highlighting pipes that can be climbed, or candles that can be put out to make the area darker. Focus can also slow down time, so that Garrett is able to steal more effectively while pickpocketing. Garrett can also use Focus to push enemies or perform debilitating attacks. It can be further upgraded over the course of the game.

Garrett carries a blackjack, used to knock guards unconscious; a collapsible,^[11] compound bow, which can be used for both combat and non-lethal purposes such as distracting guards; and a claw, which can be used to grapple onto higher ledges.

An EXP system for the in-game growth of the character was meant to be used in the final game, but was later scrapped after negative feedback from fans, and to reflect the fact that the character was already a master thief.^[12]

Setup

Setting

Thief is set in a dark fantasy world inspired by Victorian, gothic, and steampunk aesthetics. Garrett, a master thief who has been away from his hometown for a long time, returns to it, a place known only as The City, and finds it ruled with an iron grip by a tyrant called The Baron. While The City is ravaged by a plague, the rich continue to live in isolation and good fortune while the poor are forming numerous mobs against the authorities, Garrett intends to use the volatile situation to his favor.^[9][13]

The story is set several hundreds of years after the events of the original series in the same universe (clues to the backstory are hidden among documents, letters and plaques). The original master thief Garrett's (known as the legendary Sneak Thief) iconic mechanical eye is one of the hidden unique loots in the game that can be found inside of a prison complex.^[14] Other references to the original series include the Keepers, Hammerites and the Old Gods, with ruins relating to them being visitable locations throughout The City and beneath.^[15]

Plot

The story begins when Garrett is paired with his former apprentice, Erin, who both ended up accepting the same job from their contact Basso. On their way there, Garrett steals Erin's claw without her noticing, because she usually uses it to kill guards when not necessary. They arrive at their job's location, Baron Northcrest's manor, and find a ritual taking place. Garrett gets a bad feeling and calls off the job, but Erin disagrees and she ends up falling into the center of the ritual, which was nearing its completion. Erin stops and floats in mid-air as she is surrounded by the ritual's energy. Garrett, while looking down at the light, has part of the stone that was used for the ritual which then begins to glow and collapses.

After being unconscious for a year, Garrett awakens and learns that the city is being plagued by a disease of unknown origin known as "The Gloom" and the Baron had put the city in lockdown because of it. Back to his hideout, Garrett is hired by Basso to steal a ring from a man named Cornelius who died recently, and sneaks into a foundry where the victims of the Gloom are being disposed. Just when Garrett grabs the ring, he is found by the Baron's right-hand man, the Thief-Taker General, and flees. After completing the job, Garrett is introduced to Orion, a man who leads the resistance against the Baron's tyranny and hires him to infiltrate the "House of Blossoms" brothel in search for an ancient book. Before sneaking into the brothel, Garrett pays a visit to Erin's hideout where he has some visions of her mentioning the Moira Asylum. At the House of Blossoms, Garrett finds the entrance to an ancient library where he retrieves the book, and confronts the General and his men on his way back to the surface. Upon learning that Basso was arrested and imprisoned inside the Baron's Keep, Garrett infiltrates the keep and rescues Basso, but he decides to take advantage of the confusion to steal the Baron's most secret vault where the General ambushes him. The thief escapes nonetheless, taking a piece from the Primal, the same mysterious stone he saw in the ritual one year before. The stone gives him another vision of Erin, revealing that she is still alive and under influence from its power.

Garrett explores the Moira Asylum searching for clues about Erin where he finds the second piece of the stone but no signs of her whereabouts, and decides to confront the Baron at his manor, amid a revolution led by Orion to overthrow him. The Baron reveals that he intended to harness the power of the stone to use it into a new energy source, but when the ritual was interrupted, it unleashed the Gloom into the city, and Orion, who is revealed to be the Baron's illegitimate brother Aldous, took advantage of the chaos that ensued to arrange his downfall. After realizing that the final piece of the stone is embedded in Garrett's eye, the Baron drives him away, and the thief is informed by one of his informants, the Queen of Beggars that the Primal Stone must be reassembled and its power contained, not only for Erin's sake, but to save the city from the Gloom. Garrett then breaks into the old Cathedral where Orion is using Erin to heal the Gloom from the citizens, unaware that it will eventually transform them into monsters. Once Garrett reaches Orion, the General appears and he has a final confrontation with him while Orion escapes with Erin. Garrett then follows Orion to his hideout, the ship known as the "Dawn's Light" where he attempts to dissuade him with no success, when Erin unleashes the power of the stone, killing Orion and attacking Garrett with it. In the end, Garrett succeeds to calm down Erin and reassemble the stone, returning her to normal. However, Erin is about to fall into the sea when Garrett throws her the claw and collapses. When Garrett awakens again, he finds the claw next to him, implying that Erin used it to climb back, but she is nowhere to be found.

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