One thing you neglected to mention that just adds to the games awesomeness: it’s TERRIFYING. Edited when on an actual PC, not squinting at a phone: Here is my favorite memory from dealing with Haunts in Thief. A Haunts patrols in front of Garrett, whispering at you to join them, invisible chains slinking with each step as you cower in the corner with Garrett's sword sheathed because it reflects light and makes you more visible. You can feel Garrett’s heart racing because your heart is doing the same. Then, you realize that you’re not in a perfect shadow. The haunt sees you and charges wildly at you cackling an evil laugh that echoes around the room. You don’t stand a chance in a straight up fight with a Haunt, so you spin around and leg it. But Haunts are actually as fast as Garrett, so it’s keeping up with you, rattling chains and evil laughter echoing behind you, nipping at Garrett's heels. You sprint through a door that you have a key for, spin around and begin fumbling through your inventory. THERE IT IS. You mash the Enter key to put it in Garrett’s hands, mash it again and Garrett raises the key to the door and... the haunt opens the door. Before you can even draw Garrett’s sword the Haunt cuts you to pieces, and calmly walks away, chains slinking. *** That’s my Haunt story. 20 years ago and it’s seared into my memory as one of my greatest gaming experiences ever.
I was 12 and **** scared of these spiders. When they would jump at you, OMG. There was a part in Thief2 where, when you push a button, 2 spiders spawn out of nowhere. I got a panic attack and couldn't touch the game for a month after that.
ahh, you never know 🤷🏻♂️ maybe one day we’ll have a triple A dev come along and blow everything else out the water,, just seen this comment was from 2 years ago, my bad
I actually finished Thief Gold recently and despite its shortcomings, I loved it. I did play the game years ago when i was younger however my dumbarse self messed around in the tutorial level and the first level not knowing what to do. Did make it down the well but chickened out. Glad I never got to the haunted Catheral levels, the Hammer Haunts would have scarred me for life. The Sword is easily one of the best levels in the game.
Thief, System Shock 2 and Subnautica are the games that made me feel a fear beyond anything I would think possible out of a video game. Thief had some "tomb raider" levels that were much more terrifying than the usual stuff, like the underground lava & lost ruins. I remember pausing for tens of seconds at a time to calm myself down between moments.Unforgettable stuff.
People forget Thief had spatial audio support. Absolutely ahead of it's time. And a reminder of why older gamers are so unimpressed with modern day games.
I was 9 when this came out, and I remember watching over my Dad's shoulder as he went through the entire game. He came to this from Tomb Raider, like I suspect many others did, and thought it was much better. Dad grew up in a bad place and time, where almost everyone outside his family either ignored him or was bigger and stronger and very willing to hurt him for any reason. Through his whole childhood, the only way to get ahead was to stay low, stay out of sight and advance his own ends quietly when it was safe to do so. He always said this and the sequel were the only games he ever found that truly captured that feel, and even more than 20 years later I think they're still his all-time favorites. I almost forgot about Thief after that, until in 2019 I bought it on a whim from Good Old Games or somewhere, loaded it up- and went right back down the rabbit hole for six weeks or so. For someone who has never really played or liked first-person shooters, and who naturally prefers to hide and survive in games rather than fight, this is still as genuinely wonderful and terrifying as the day it was released.
I loved mission 3 Down in the Bonehoard. Its verticality seemed endless as you keep descending deeper underground throughout the mission. Back in the day I have never experienced anything quite like that in a game. And its puzzles were good also.
Remember a LGS dev saying they wanted to make fighting as realistic and unglamorous as possible in the dark engine and limitations of the time. Make the guards yell and gurgle make it messy and loud compared to what the game should all be about. Being almost ghost. Yeah the story and setting makes the game ooze atmosphere. Its the anti modern triple A game. I love the original textures but using some replacements like necroage make for a nice updated visuals. Also Gold missions are not really that necessary, they kinda ruin the lost city.
Thief 1 is one of my earliest childhood memories (together with Tomb Raider 2). I remember my brother playing the Cragscleft Prison and I was terrified by the zombies. So yeah, Thief has been a part of my life since I was a little child. When I got my first Pc for my twelfth birthday, my brother gave me his old copy of Thief 1. Besides Minecraft, Thief was my go-to game back then and I used to build my own Thief missions in Minecraft :D Although I prefer Thief 2 by now, the first game still has a profound effect on me.
I'm from Colombia, and when I was like 15, I finished the game undertanding almost nothig of dialogues and texts because I didn't speak the language, and still the game amazed me like you can't imagine.
alot of people dont like the tomb raider maps and i can understand- i however like that ' horror ' element they added- lets be honest nobody was confident going to the haunted cathedral or bonehoard, and i like how you mention each level is an experiment- that is true its a very unique experience
Good video…you taffer! Me and my older brother played this game on my first computer, and we loved it. We kind kind of creeped out by some of the enemies, the haunts in particular.
Good video, can't recommend Thief highly enough. Tbh, it didn't matter what was in the game for me, it was an incredible new world that I discovered on my Dad's desktop out in his messy art studio in the backyard. I was blown away, and while some things were frustrating (i.e. Thieves Guild and zombies), I still appreciate them as just part of the experience and Garrett's large world. I'll play a Thief over pretty much any stealth game these days, and yes, love for Dark Mod and hype for Gloomwood
@@KIRKCOLLECTS until Square stops sitting on the IP, since they didn't do so hot with it, we'll be lucky to see anything any time soon. But who knows? At best, I'm hoping they get together with NightDive for a remaster/rerelease sooner than later
Bought the game with no experience or nostolgia a month or two ago, and at the beginning when you ask does it hold up? It's my favorite game I ever played
Yeah the Thief Reboot isn't great. Its well made but compared to the original its pretty limited and lacks any sort of experimentation in the gameplay.
good video man. The reason why the voice acting is so bad is because many of the voice actors are members of the development team. Nate wells does the voice of keeper artemis. He painted all the cutscenes that you see in game. Got a playthrough of thief gold going on my channel check it out ! cheers.
Ha! That's awesome. It makes a lot of sense too, I think they were pretty strapped for cash towards the end of development. Glad you liked the video, I'll definitely peek your play through 👍
@@miguelbranquinho7235 I like it too and sometimes amateurs aid the performances (the guards are a good example) but they clearly aren't professional actors so I understand why someone would review them in a negative light compared to more professionial voice acting
@@miguelbranquinho7235 why are you defending thief to me lmao ? My channel is named after thief and I have three thief playthroughs on my channel. I like the game and the voice acting especially from dan thron. People have different opinions and that's ok. There is no wrong opinions. Just agree to disagree and move on
I thought that the supernatural and undead missions added more flair than Thief II whereas I thought Thief II was a bit too samey not to mention you can stealth all the missions in Thief but that first mission in Thief II makes it impossible.
13:32 I'm not sure that's an easy thing to do. There's a reason Thief 1 and 2 are regarded as some of the best games in the genre. They are hard to surpass.
Yeah, saying "easily" might not have been the correct choice of words. But I am optimistic it could happen, given enough talent and a very good understanding of what made those games special in the first place.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS That may be true. But there is another problem: The Thief games didn't sell very well. I didn't find accurate data, but the fact that Looking Glass went out of business when the money should have been coming in says it all, I think.
Thief Gold Recommended Set-Up Guide Installation: -Install Thief Gold via Steam or GoG -Install the TFix Community Patch: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733 -Install the Thief Gold HD Texture Mod: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135188 -Install the Thief Gold Sound Effects Enhancement Mod: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119405 Mod Set-Up: -Thief Gold HD Texture mod settings: How to change LOD settings for details and foliage (recommended where relevant): To do that go to HDMOD folder and open up the file called 'gamesys.dml' with Notepad and search for 'Grass LOD Distance': These two values are important: "LOD 0->1 Dist" 30.00 "LOD 1->2 Dist" 45.00 The value for 'LOD 0->1 Dist' should always be lower than for 'LOD 1->2 Dist'. You can try this for example: "LOD 0->1 Dist" 85.00 "LOD 1->2 Dist" 95.00 -Do not use any new vegetation in the HD mod, stick to original vegetation to avoid LOD issues (can be set up but takes a while so best avoid). -In the mod config tool use water mod preset 3 -Manually delete the subtitles files from the game install folder to remove them. (Make sure you read the readme files for the mods and then ask me for assistance if needed) Game Settings: -Lower gamma until very dark in shadows -Turn off bow zoom -Turn off auto equip -Turn off auto search bodies -Set preferred keybinds for lean forward and zoom (Careful not to conflict with other keys) -Set keybind for creep as 'Ctrl' -Check other keybinds and set as preferred -(if needed) Turn Fog Off in Video Settings if you experience issues where night missions have daytime skyboxes in error -In audio options use Open GL and have EAX on -In audio options select as many audio channels as possible -The game has no music so leave audio levels as default
At no point in time is combat ever encouraged in Thief 🤣. The whole point is stealth, you shouldn't be killing anyone. Knock outs and avoiding detection is key 🤣🤣
Your biggest mistake was playing Thief Gold. The original Dark Project didn't have the clunky back-and-forth of stealth and Tomb Raider type missions you describe. It featured extremely linear storytelling that gradually got eerier, darker and phased you into the Tomb Raider type missions as it progressed into the Trickster's story arch. I actually really pity anyone whose first encounter with Thief was Gold because Gold ruined the original IMHO. Thumbs up if you agree
One thing you neglected to mention that just adds to the games awesomeness: it’s TERRIFYING.
Edited when on an actual PC, not squinting at a phone:
Here is my favorite memory from dealing with Haunts in Thief.
A Haunts patrols in front of Garrett, whispering at you to join them, invisible chains slinking with each step as you cower in the corner with Garrett's sword sheathed because it reflects light and makes you more visible. You can feel Garrett’s heart racing because your heart is doing the same. Then, you realize that you’re not in a perfect shadow. The haunt sees you and charges wildly at you cackling an evil laugh that echoes around the room.
You don’t stand a chance in a straight up fight with a Haunt, so you spin around and leg it. But Haunts are actually as fast as Garrett, so it’s keeping up with you, rattling chains and evil laughter echoing behind you, nipping at Garrett's heels. You sprint through a door that you have a key for, spin around and begin fumbling through your inventory. THERE IT IS. You mash the Enter key to put it in Garrett’s hands, mash it again and Garrett raises the key to the door and... the haunt opens the door.
Before you can even draw Garrett’s sword the Haunt cuts you to pieces, and calmly walks away, chains slinking.
***
That’s my Haunt story. 20 years ago and it’s seared into my memory as one of my greatest gaming experiences ever.
Oh man you're totally right! It's definitely a creepy ass game. My nine year old self would have been shitting himself.
The big ass spiders are what creeped me out... Actually, they still creep me out. There are parts of Thief which are truly terrifying.
The Fire Shadow in THIEF GOLD scares the shit out of me, I hate AI with super speeds
@@ethancroft2560 They way they chitter and run at you... oh, no.
I was 12 and **** scared of these spiders. When they would jump at you, OMG. There was a part in Thief2 where, when you push a button, 2 spiders spawn out of nowhere. I got a panic attack and couldn't touch the game for a month after that.
the industry will never make a game like this ever again
ahh, you never know 🤷🏻♂️ maybe one day we’ll have a triple A dev come along and blow everything else out the water,, just seen this comment was from 2 years ago, my bad
Gloomwood is shaping up
I actually finished Thief Gold recently and despite its shortcomings, I loved it. I did play the game years ago when i was younger however my dumbarse self messed around in the tutorial level and the first level not knowing what to do. Did make it down the well but chickened out. Glad I never got to the haunted Catheral levels, the Hammer Haunts would have scarred me for life.
The Sword is easily one of the best levels in the game.
Me too... I played and finished the game after 20 years lol... It was like time traveling...
I picked up Thief a few months ago, never played a stealth game before. I absolutely loved it, especially the exploring.
Love playing the FMs, the Thief community is still developing to this day! Long live the Thief franchise!
keep the thief discussion alive!
🙌🙌
Thief, System Shock 2 and Subnautica are the games that made me feel a fear beyond anything I would think possible out of a video game.
Thief had some "tomb raider" levels that were much more terrifying than the usual stuff, like the underground lava & lost ruins. I remember pausing for tens of seconds at a time to calm myself down between moments.Unforgettable stuff.
I had the same experience
People forget Thief had spatial audio support. Absolutely ahead of it's time. And a reminder of why older gamers are so unimpressed with modern day games.
Yes. Developers these days completely ignore what made Thief so immersive, which was the sound propagation.
my all time favorite series
Real good video, I was shocked when it ended and I saw it only had
I was 9 when this came out, and I remember watching over my Dad's shoulder as he went through the entire game. He came to this from Tomb Raider, like I suspect many others did, and thought it was much better. Dad grew up in a bad place and time, where almost everyone outside his family either ignored him or was bigger and stronger and very willing to hurt him for any reason. Through his whole childhood, the only way to get ahead was to stay low, stay out of sight and advance his own ends quietly when it was safe to do so. He always said this and the sequel were the only games he ever found that truly captured that feel, and even more than 20 years later I think they're still his all-time favorites.
I almost forgot about Thief after that, until in 2019 I bought it on a whim from Good Old Games or somewhere, loaded it up- and went right back down the rabbit hole for six weeks or so. For someone who has never really played or liked first-person shooters, and who naturally prefers to hide and survive in games rather than fight, this is still as genuinely wonderful and terrifying as the day it was released.
Also two words: Stephen Russell
Stephen Russell is the man, if they ever make another Thief (and do it right) I hope they bring him back.
Man I remember this game it was so cool when it came out remember playing it for hours
This was my first time playing through it for this video and I was kind of shocked how much it pulled me in. Looking Glass really nailed it with this.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS yes they did i loved this game when it came out.
I loved mission 3 Down in the Bonehoard. Its verticality seemed endless as you keep descending deeper underground throughout the mission. Back in the day I have never experienced anything quite like that in a game. And its puzzles were good also.
Remember a LGS dev saying they wanted to make fighting as realistic and unglamorous as possible in the dark engine and limitations of the time. Make the guards yell and gurgle make it messy and loud compared to what the game should all be about. Being almost ghost. Yeah the story and setting makes the game ooze atmosphere. Its the anti modern triple A game. I love the original textures but using some replacements like necroage make for a nice updated visuals. Also Gold missions are not really that necessary, they kinda ruin the lost city.
Loved Lost City in The Dark Project... exactly my feelings.
Song of the Caverns alone makes Gold worth it.
Thief 1 is one of my earliest childhood memories (together with Tomb Raider 2). I remember my brother playing the Cragscleft Prison and I was terrified by the zombies. So yeah, Thief has been a part of my life since I was a little child. When I got my first Pc for my twelfth birthday, my brother gave me his old copy of Thief 1.
Besides Minecraft, Thief was my go-to game back then and I used to build my own Thief missions in Minecraft :D
Although I prefer Thief 2 by now, the first game still has a profound effect on me.
I'm from Colombia, and when I was like 15, I finished the game undertanding almost nothig of dialogues and texts because I didn't speak the language, and still the game amazed me like you can't imagine.
04:51 With all due respect, you forgot to discuss Noisemaker Arrows as part of Garrett's menagerie of arrows.
alot of people dont like the tomb raider maps and i can understand- i however like that ' horror ' element they added- lets be honest nobody was confident going to the haunted cathedral or bonehoard, and i like how you mention each level is an experiment- that is true its a very unique experience
You had me at "Thief".
Excellent video!
Thanks man! I'm glad you enjoyed it!
Good video…you taffer! Me and my older brother played this game on my first computer, and we loved it. We kind kind of creeped out by some of the enemies, the haunts in particular.
Taffin’ thanks!
Good video, can't recommend Thief highly enough. Tbh, it didn't matter what was in the game for me, it was an incredible new world that I discovered on my Dad's desktop out in his messy art studio in the backyard. I was blown away, and while some things were frustrating (i.e. Thieves Guild and zombies), I still appreciate them as just part of the experience and Garrett's large world. I'll play a Thief over pretty much any stealth game these days, and yes, love for Dark Mod and hype for Gloomwood
Not many stealth games have come close to the atmosphere and personality of Thief. I really hope another studio does it justice some day.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS until Square stops sitting on the IP, since they didn't do so hot with it, we'll be lucky to see anything any time soon. But who knows? At best, I'm hoping they get together with NightDive for a remaster/rerelease sooner than later
22 years after release... I feel old.
Yep, games will do that to you.
Bought the game with no experience or nostolgia a month or two ago, and at the beginning when you ask does it hold up? It's my favorite game I ever played
It really is something, isn't it?
Thief deserves a decent remake/reboot
Nice review, Kirk! Your so easy to listen to. Great video overall. Keep it up!
Thank you bite size!
Drives me nuts to see these reviewers walking around in game with bow or sword out. Put that shit away, makes you more visible.
"Killing is for amateurs" - Garrett
The pair of D-cups is the most important part of Tomb Raider
i played the most recent one but didnt really like it. Seems like there was a bit more substance here
Yeah the Thief Reboot isn't great. Its well made but compared to the original its pretty limited and lacks any sort of experimentation in the gameplay.
_Thief 2 The Metal Age_ is the pinnacle of the series. And even without the new graphics mods its still worth playing today!
good video man. The reason why the voice acting is so bad is because many of the voice actors are members of the development team. Nate wells does the voice of keeper artemis. He painted all the cutscenes that you see in game. Got a playthrough of thief gold going on my channel check it out ! cheers.
Ha! That's awesome. It makes a lot of sense too, I think they were pretty strapped for cash towards the end of development. Glad you liked the video, I'll definitely peek your play through 👍
The voice acting is bad? It's one of the highlights of a wonderful game, every guard has so much personality and charm.
@@miguelbranquinho7235 I like it too and sometimes amateurs aid the performances (the guards are a good example) but they clearly aren't professional actors so I understand why someone would review them in a negative light compared to more professionial voice acting
@@jamesjakegood4736 I don't. it's a very silly argument that just because they're amateur they are worse. We're not talking about audio quality here
@@miguelbranquinho7235 why are you defending thief to me lmao ? My channel is named after thief and I have three thief playthroughs on my channel. I like the game and the voice acting especially from dan thron. People have different opinions and that's ok. There is no wrong opinions. Just agree to disagree and move on
You didn't mention the Haunted Cathedral level.
Such an excellent review. :-) Thanks. :-)
I thought that the supernatural and undead missions added more flair than Thief II whereas I thought Thief II was a bit too samey not to mention you can stealth all the missions in Thief but that first mission in Thief II makes it impossible.
13:32 I'm not sure that's an easy thing to do. There's a reason Thief 1 and 2 are regarded as some of the best games in the genre. They are hard to surpass.
Yeah, saying "easily" might not have been the correct choice of words. But I am optimistic it could happen, given enough talent and a very good understanding of what made those games special in the first place.
@@KIRKCOLLECTS That may be true. But there is another problem: The Thief games didn't sell very well. I didn't find accurate data, but the fact that Looking Glass went out of business when the money should have been coming in says it all, I think.
Speaking of the thief reboot, can you talk about that for one of your videos? Seems like a good topic :)
Best game ever, that is T1 and T2.
Thief Gold Recommended Set-Up Guide
Installation:
-Install Thief Gold via Steam or GoG
-Install the TFix Community Patch: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=134733
-Install the Thief Gold HD Texture Mod: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=135188
-Install the Thief Gold Sound Effects Enhancement Mod: www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=119405
Mod Set-Up:
-Thief Gold HD Texture mod settings: How to change LOD settings for details and foliage (recommended where relevant):
To do that go to HDMOD folder and open up the file called 'gamesys.dml' with Notepad and search for 'Grass LOD Distance':
These two values are important:
"LOD 0->1 Dist" 30.00
"LOD 1->2 Dist" 45.00
The value for 'LOD 0->1 Dist' should always be lower than for 'LOD 1->2 Dist'.
You can try this for example:
"LOD 0->1 Dist" 85.00
"LOD 1->2 Dist" 95.00
-Do not use any new vegetation in the HD mod, stick to original vegetation to avoid LOD issues (can be set up but takes a while so best avoid).
-In the mod config tool use water mod preset 3
-Manually delete the subtitles files from the game install folder to remove them.
(Make sure you read the readme files for the mods and then ask me for assistance if needed)
Game Settings:
-Lower gamma until very dark in shadows
-Turn off bow zoom
-Turn off auto equip
-Turn off auto search bodies
-Set preferred keybinds for lean forward and zoom (Careful not to conflict with other keys)
-Set keybind for creep as 'Ctrl'
-Check other keybinds and set as preferred
-(if needed) Turn Fog Off in Video Settings if you experience issues where night missions have daytime skyboxes in error
-In audio options use Open GL and have EAX on
-In audio options select as many audio channels as possible
-The game has no music so leave audio levels as default
The Styx devs could make a Thief game or a new Tenchu for that matter.
You should've watched MandaloreGaming's opinion on the third level.
Good video
you can move slow enough on tile to not make sound but it's like really really slow LOL
Where can you get the Dark Mod?
What's so despicable about hammerites, whom Garrett also targets? Or poor guards, who simply do their job? I'm not even gonna mention grave robbing.
666 Views u gonna grow big
Even in Cyberpunk2077, stealth is a major skill tree, yet you can't shoot out lights (!)
This Game and his follower wipes the floor with modern games. They are no match regarding gameplay, immersion, sound and leveldesign.
At no point in time is combat ever encouraged in Thief 🤣. The whole point is stealth, you shouldn't be killing anyone. Knock outs and avoiding detection is key 🤣🤣
Your biggest mistake was playing Thief Gold. The original Dark Project didn't have the clunky back-and-forth of stealth and Tomb Raider type missions you describe. It featured extremely linear storytelling that gradually got eerier, darker and phased you into the Tomb Raider type missions as it progressed into the Trickster's story arch. I actually really pity anyone whose first encounter with Thief was Gold because Gold ruined the original IMHO. Thumbs up if you agree
I really don't get why so many think Thief 2 is the better one.
although my favorite game, it is only a legend due to the shtfest that has been going on ever since the turn of the millennia.