Ultima Underworld would have been enough to create a permanent mark of Looking Glass Studios to the annals of gaming history. But no, the studio went ahead and created System Shock, a game some even now think of as the pinnacle of 1st-person sci-fi games. And then there is Thief, the game that so many others have tried to follow in terms of stealth gameplay, but never really managed to get to the same heights with the exploits of the master thief Garrett.
Garrett is, as stated, a thief. Not some goody two shoes Robin Hood kind of a thief, but a genuine, "I'll take all that's yours because I want it" kind of a deal. He lives in a city only known as The City, where he is willing to work for anyone paying him enough to put his particular set of skills at their disposal. In a city full of thieves, criminals, murderers and religious zealots, Garrett is the best at what he does, and to phrase a certain hairy Canuck, he is the best at what he does and what he does, is not nice.
There's a resemblance of a story in Thief, some of it revolves around Garrett and his own personal feud with other thieves and the local thieves guild, to which he doesn't want to join. Garrett is a free agent, who prefers it that way, but the guild heads see it differently, escalating things even as far as trying to kill him at one point, to which Garrett's answer is to rob them blind. A couple of missions are just about Garrett doing some thieving on order, but nothing prevents him from picking up extra stuff on the way. And then there's the more direct fantasy storyline, in which Garrett is hired to steal a specific magical artefact, which ends up with a god Trickster trying to take over the world and Garrett having to deal with him.
Thief is one hell of a way of introducing a new franchise, at least in technological terms. It has a very serious approach towards stealth gaming, which means you have to take your time if you want to stay undetected. From the get-go, you learn to use the shadows for your benefit. You learn, that walking on different surfaces makes all the differences in how silent you are. Running is louder than sneaking. It pays to take your time and use all the possible tools you have to your benefit. Garrett is not a fighter. While he can swing a sword if needed, it's far better to turn the unaware guards into arrow pincushions if there's no other alternative. The alternatives are either sneaking past or just clubbing them unconscious. It really helps a lot, that Thief controls are smooth as butter, putting some newer games to shame.
Generally speaking, the guards respond pretty well to what they see or hear. A small glance of Garrett makes them question if they saw something or not, a clank of footsteps on a metal floor gets them to turn around immediately. When they properly spot Garrett, they'll either attack or run to make an alarm. But, if they only see a glimpse of you, then they'll look around for a bit and return to their duties if they don't find you.
The reaction to noise can be used against the guards. This can be as simple as tossing an empty bottle or some other item to some corner. Or you can use a special arrow that makes noise, which attracts the patrolling guards. Either way, noise can be either an ally or an enemy. One specific tool can be used to dampen sound. Garrett has moss arrows, which spread soft padding on the surfaces to provide a silent surface.
Darkness is perhaps the most important feature for hiding. The City is filled with light sources, torches, fireplaces and electric lamps. While there's very little to be done to electric light, fire can be taken care of with water. That's why Garrett carries water arrows in his arsenal. The darker it is, the better, be it shadows cast by light or lack of light altogether. Electric lights can be turned off, but for that, you need to find the light switch first and that's not always doable.
Thief isn't a perfect game though. After a while, you learn how to play the mechanics to your benefit. How to hide in the middle of the torch-lit hallway in the shadows between the light sources, hiding in plain sight of the guards, who don't see you if the shadow counter tells you are hiding. At times it might be the simplest to knock out everyone one by one and pile the guards in one, big unconscious pile at the edge of the map. It is a game, after all, and certain things are limited, like how many guards the places have.
Not all enemies can be rendered unconscious. There are some undead beings wandering the locations Garrett find himself from. Skeletons, ghosts and zombies. Holy water is good against them, fire arrows as well. But they are tougher than the living creatures. Even the monstrous troops of the mental god Trickster can be knocked out or killed with a sword and arrows, the undead needs something extra. And frankly, I find the undead annoying as enemies. The levels revolving around them are my least favourite, but surprisingly enough not the worst.
Talking of levels, I do find the design as something of a hit and miss. There are a couple of very nice locations. My personal favourite is an infiltration mission, where Garrett has to enter a Hammerite temple disguised as a novice of the order. You can't be seen stealing nor can you get caught entering locations forbidden from novices. It's a fun mission, where you are hiding in plain sight, trying to figure out how to get to the main objective. My second favourite is Garrett's own mission, where he pilfers a thieves guild. The temple run is relatively straightforward and fun because it's so different from the rest of the missions, the thieves guild is a nice, multilayered setting, where you need to navigate between two different mansions owned by the head honchos.
My least favourite levels are the overly gimmicky house of Constantine, a building that has odd, almost Escher like architecture, and a couple of the final missions, where you have to first escape the Tricksters lair and then finally ascend to his hideout to take care of him for once and for all. These levels present the game in its most gimmicky form and which I just don't find fun to play.
Overall though, Thief does place quite a high bar, which was something the sequel quite painlessly passed. While Thief has its flaws, it did show what you could expect from the series and Thief 2 is generally thought of as a huge improvement over the 1st game. The sequel is more cohesive and better constructed, making it a better experience.
If you want to tackle Thief: Gold, it would be a smart thing to do so with some mods. TFix helps to get the game run better on modern Windows, even allowing higher resolutions. I could get the game running without it, but had issues with the cutscenes, which just didn't run without the fix. That's the mandatory mod, but there are also some other high-resolution mods, for upgrading the textures as well as ESRGAN scaled cinematics. While I didn't go for the HR textures, I did install the upscaled cinematics, which do look rather nice.
Anyhow, even without the mods, Thief has aged surprisingly well technically. I'm not a fan of some of the aspects of the game, especially the levels feel like an experiment gone wrong at times, but the gameplay it has is still solid. So that said, if you want it, you should go to GOG or Steam and give it a go, with or without mods.
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