Thief: Deadly Shadows. What you think about it after all these years?

Note: Be sure to tell us whether you've played Thief 1 and 2 or not.

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As we all know, first two games in the series were well received both financially and critically. Fans were also fond of them. But when Thief: Deadly Shadows came out, a lot of people were disappointed. Fanbase even till this day feels divided.

As someone who've played all three games, even recently, I think it's a worthy sequel to the second game. It's a great game that everyone should play. I also think that it's weakest in the series as many agree but that doesn't make it bad at all. And it's weakest because of totally different reasons than one might think.

The game's own ambition became its biggest enemy. After taking a good look at entire game, it's not hard to see that Ion Storm gave this game everything they could. They were loosing a lot of devs left and right during the production of this game.

It's hardly a surprise that some of the features of the game are half baked because they clearly didn't get enough time to finish them. They took Thief franchise seriously and wanted to make the most ambitious game in the series. Unfortunately their financial problems affected the game negatively.

Here is what I think

Strengths:

• Still has a great storyline like first two games.
• Graphics are really good, even today.
• Atmosphere is dark and immersive like first two games.
• A lot of gadgets.
• Great art direction.
• Kept the tradition of top of the line sound technology alive.
• Gameplay is awesome.
• New ideas.
• Great soundtracks and ambient sound effects.
• Still contains 2D style cutscenes, like the originals.
• New enemies.
• Still a Stealth game.
• Connects the dots. Explains few unexplained moments from cutscenes of first two games, that hint at the story of the third game, even though most people didn't even notice them.
• A perfect end to a trilogy,

Weaknesses:

• Third Person View was waste of resources and also affected the movement in First Person in a negative way because Garrett's entire body was pain in the as* to control sometimes.
• The game lacks overall polish and contains glitches and clipping issues.
• Ragdoll physics feels a bit messed up sometimes (the way bodies fall when you blackjack them).
• Some of the features are half baked. I didn't like faction system in the third game. Felt tacked on and gamey TBH.
• Lack of Rope Arrow. Wall Climb ability is glitchy and it's hard as balls to look down and observe the situation while hanging.
• UI is pretty big and covers a large area of the screen, as if it was made for TVs primarily. It makes it look a bit gamey instead of being realistic.
• Levels are divided in small parts. You have to go through loading screens. In originals, you could complete the entire mission without a single loading screen and levels were bigger too.
• 3D cutscenes really hurt game's atmosphere and make it look goofy.
• Traveling all the way up to the shop to buy tools, gadgets and weapons over and over again, while avoiding guards, fights between two factions and sometimes glitchy AI.
• No mission briefing videos.

Overall:

A solid game... 8/10. With a little bit of more polish, finished features and bigger levels, this could've been the best game in the franchise but no doubt that Ion Storm took this game seriously and did everything they could with limited resources. RIP Ion Storm (Thief: Deadly Shadows) and Looking Glass (Thief 1 and 2).

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Share your thoughts.

It was great for me. I enjoyed it more than the first one. There was too much back tracking though and the game suffered from a console release.

Its fan base whines too much. Even The recently released Thief has some redeeming qualities even though the game suffered more from modern game design than anything else.

Haven't really played it much since 2006.

I enjoyed it then.

I never played it myself, was totally turned off by the 3rd person view, lack of rope arrow, and the general impression it was confused about whether it was a console or PC game. I've always mulled over giving it a try. Replaying Thief 2 right now - a true gem that

It and the reboot are the only 2 I didn't play, generally because I remember the consensus being "meh".

Thief 2 is a fucking classic, The Dark Project is really good, and by that time I was way more into playing Splinter Cell getting my secret agent on.

I have yet to play Thief: Dead Shadows. I remember playing the original back in the day but not for overly long, maybe an hour or so. Thankfully once I get my pc built I will be going HAM on Thief: Gold edition.

I still play The Dark Project and The Metal Age from time to time. Both of them are absolutely brilliant. 10/10.

That ending is what made the game memorable for me and the cradle level was fantastic. But this game lacks serious polish and the levels lack the verticality and open-endedness of the first games.

Tried playing the original thief games a few years ago but they look and play like complete garbage now. I skipped them and played the xbox one on pc and enjoyed it a bit even though I never finished it. I didn't mind the new one but didn't finish that either

Played thief 1 when it released, made a larger impression on me than halflife. That sneaking and draggin the bodies away, priceless.

Still when I played hitman later on I kinda forgot about thief and so I skipped on thief II.

I had my eye on deadly shadows but since reviews said it wasn't as good as the first two, I forgot about the whole thief series and moved on. The sneaking mechanics in oblivion did remind me of thief again and somehow I do kind of still miss those water arrows lol.

Ah dat ending was so good. It's similar to first scene in The Dark Project. One of the best endings I've ever seen.

You should definitely play Thief 2. It's phenomenal. And Deadly Shadows is great too.

I absolutely loved the game, as good as the Splinter Cell games. How good are the first two games today, I've heard they have aged a lot as there are a lot of large empty corridors that slow down the gameplay.

They've aged very well. They are a lot better than Deadly Shadows, even today.

I absolutely loved Thief: Deadly Shadows. The atmosphere was amazing. A solid 8/10 for me. Some levels were a tad annoying, hence not 9/10.

I'm sad to say I've not played Thief 1 or 2. Will play 2 sometime..

You should definitely play both of these games. They are better than Deadly Shadows.

Deadly Shadows was a controversial release that divided fanbase. If you liked Deadly Shadows, which is worst in the original series (but still great) then imagine, how good first two games must be.

Just get them from GOG.com (Get Gold Edition for the first game). Apply TFix on Thief 1 (you can easily google it). Thief 2 comes with official patch. Run both games as administrator.

You'll be able to play both of these games at 32 bit colors and 1080p after these updates and running them as admin.

This guy is a Bethesda fan/has awful taste

@bussinrounds: Yeah,,, I don't think anyone can find good gameplay mechanics if he thinks Thief 1/2 (especially 2) has bad gameplay mechanics, despite being as fluid and responsive as they can get. Close to being perfect. May be some people are used to playing shoot shoot shoot cutscene and repeat games.

Noice. Will definitely play Thief 2. Maybe 1. I've seen quite a few Thief sales on Steam as well..

Start with 1. It's a trilogy. The story begins with the first game and the first game has the best story in the trilogy. Thief 2's story is not as good as first one but mechanics are more refined. At the end of the day both are equally good if we judge overall product.

Thief 1: Dark storyline with a lot of twists and turns, Indiana Jones style missions where you go to lost cities and steal old artifacts, avoid traps, read journals that help you reach your goal or solve a puzzle or survive, creepy atmosphere, fantastic ending, the most immersive world I've ever seen, a lot of OMG moments, few objectives move a bit away from stealth gameplay, supernatural elements, main enemy is nature.

Thief 2: More refined control, not even a single mission is outside of its stealth genre, story is more grounded, the game is about stealing items from rich people in the city (no more Indiana Jones style missions), level design is more practical but levels are still big with a lot of detail, less creepy atmosphere, some new gadgets, secrets, ending is too short, voice acting is even better than the first one, next to no supernatural elements, main enemy is science.

I was pretty disappointed with it when it came out but as the years went by it grew on me,to the point where I actually enjoy playing it a bit more than TDP these days. I mostly agree with your pros/cons,especially the third person view wich was a gigantic waste of time,but I did like travelling the city between missions,the loadings were annoying but not anywhere near the level of the reboot.
The lack of rope arrows was a damn shame but tbh,if you´re gonna make them contextual like in the reboot I´ll take the wall climbing anyday lol.