Many action games put you in the role of a powerful hero who has to go out and fight all the bad guys. Not the Thief series, which was originally created by the now-defunct developer Looking Glass Studios. Though they look like first-person shooters, they aren't. Instead they're first-person stealth games in which your objective is to sneak past the guards and grab the loot while remaining undetected. In the Thief games, you play as Garrett, a cynical thief who wants nothing more than to pilfer his way to a cushy retirement. Somehow Garrett keeps getting swept up in much larger affairs. The huge metropolis in which he lives, known simply as "the City," remains under the control of powerful factions, such as the superstitious Pagans, the technology-focused Hammerites, and the mysterious Keepers. Garrett has had his dealings with the first two groups, and in the upcoming Thief: Deadly Shadows, he'll end up working for the Keepers. Despite his best efforts, he'll end up getting much more than he bargained for. It seems that this third faction consults prophecies for guidance, and the latest augury has stated that "the brethren and betrayer will bring on the end of words." Garrett must investigate this cryptic prophecy for his employers, though the paranoid Keepers later begin to suspect that Garrett himself is, in fact, the betrayer in question--which means he'll have to clear his name if he wants to survive.

Garrett was only two treasure troves away from retirement. And now this!

We were recently able to see the game in action for both the Xbox and PC. Deadly Shadows is now very far in development and is feature-complete. In fact, the game is now playable from start to finish, so the team is working on tuning and tweaking it. According to Ion Storm studio director Warren Spector, Thief's control scheme and interface translate well to both a PC and a gamepad. This is because of Thief's singular focus on stealth-based gameplay. Essentially, Garrett doesn't have a huge inventory of weapons and other items because he simply doesn't need them. He's there to get in, accomplish his mission, and get out. As such, the game has a streamlined control scheme that allows Garrett to quickly switch weapons and active items; he can also lean around corners to see any oncoming enemies. Ion Storm and publisher Eidos recently announced that the game will also have a fully functional third-person perspective. It's one that, according to Spector, will be "fully supported" and carefully tested.

The multiple perspectives should come in handy while you scout out your next objective in the City. Ion Storm is attempting to make Garrett's world seem like a living, breathing place rather than a simple set of levels that have been strung together. For instance, the game will not only task you with 12 main missions, but you'll also be able to revisit Garrett's apartment, which is a secluded room at an inn where he can practice his thieving and marksmanship skills. It's also a place where he'll occasionally pick up new missions and can even clean house. Like many of us, Garrett pays rent, but he can actually break into his landlord's apartment and raid the place, as long as he stays clear of the local guards. And rather than simply going from mission to mission, he can also explore "City sections," which are free-form areas with heavy-pursed civilians who wander to and from their locked houses and store their belongings in strong boxes.

Thief: Deadly Shadows lets you roam the streets of the City.

While it's entirely possible to complete the game without visiting a City section, Garrett can often use the extra loot he liberates from these areas to visit his local fence and pick up extra items, like explosive mines, smoke bombs, and flasks of oil that can trip up guards or set them ablaze. He can also pick up additional arrows for his quiver, including the damaging broadhead arrows. He can also purchase a variety of utility arrows, like gas arrows, which can knock enemies unconscious, or water arrows, which can either quench torches (creating shadows for Garrett to hide in) or clean up bloodstains from a fallen foe. Since Deadly Shadows has guards that actually carry torches while walking, advanced players (who enjoy messing around with the guards) will even be able to extinguish the torches that they carry by firing well-placed water arrows. This serves as only a quick diversion, but the confused reactions of the guards make this sort of trick worth the effort for some.