And Now Finally, Thief 4 Revealed

Today we were able to get our first real look at the next Thief game currently in development at Eidos Montreal. I say 'revealed' because the game was actually announced back in 2009 -in fact you could see a picture of the Thief 4 team on the Eidos Montreal website for years now- but has not seen the light of day until now.

Game Informer (as is custom) secured the exclusive reveal, but screenshots (below) have been leaked via a Russian website because Russians don't give a fuck.

It looks as though Garrett will be returning to the usual gothic/steampunk/medieval setting of games past, looking to pick and plunder his way throughout the usually well fortified structures within. The City (the name given to Garrett's usual thieving territory) will be embroiled in political machinations and tension this time around but for those worried that Thief may become more of an action title, it looks as if you can be rest assured; an attaching video to the GI coverage claim's the studio will be eschewing the contemporary focus on action with a simple "There are a lot, a lot, a lot of action titles. I think people now really enjoy to just take their time. This is Thief - you are a master thief,"

This is all good news for those who grew up on the original series and I can see how those who might just be getting introduced to the franchise might make the comparison to Dishonored. To break up that confusion once and for all let's make one thing clear. Dishonored is like Thief. Thief will be like Thief. And though it's quite reasonable to think that Dishonored has been the best recent Thief game, up until now, but there are also important distinctions between both titles.

For one, Garrett is not an assassin. If you're killing people in a Thief game then you are failing at your objective. To enforce this, Garrett is also an extremely weak character when it comes to hand-to-hand combat, and much less able to defend himself face-to-face than Corvo was. It's an important mechanic because it forces the player to approach the game at a much slower and tactical pace. There is no room for error.

Because of this, Garrett also has a much wider assortment of tools at his disposal. Much is made of the classic Water Arrow for taking out torches but there was also a Moss Arrow (for quieting floors), a Gas Arrow (for knocking out enemies), and a Rope Arrow (for accessing high areas). And this is conjunction with other tools Garrett acquires throughout the games as well. In essence, Thief plays like a medieval Metal Gear Solid.

I also can't tell you how happy I am that we'll be seeing Thief 4 on next-generation consoles. The atmosphere, physics and AI needed to make an 'ultimate Thief game' all reside in next generation hardware. And non of this “we'll release it for this gen and port it for next-gen later” nonsense. We're already seeing too much of that lunacy already.

Considering the work Eidos Montreal did on Deus Ex: Human Revolution, I don't think the Thief series could be in any better hands. Well...maybe Arkane Studios. wink