Thief 2014 is an average stealth game. While a decently fun game on its' own, it hardly measures up to the original series.
The good: It's definetely a stealth game. Not being detected is definetely possible on most levels, though the plot cutscenes sometimes make the main character put himself in plain sight instead of hidden, gameplay wise you can almost always avoid detection. The AI is certainly above the originals. Something that should be brought to attention is the absurdly high customizable HUD and difficulty. You can combine so many self imposed challenges that you can make the game virtually unwinnable, and hiding elements on de HUD will also help you make the game more to your liking. The game also gives you a wide array of tools to complete the missions, allowing you to complete the game on your favourite playstyle. Unique loot and collectibles make exploring worthwhile.
The ok: The way the world is presented is very lackluster. Everything is seen trough color filters, mostly gray and blue, sometimes other colours but rarely the colourful mansions that its' predecessors featured. There isn't true darkness in the game as well, you can tune brightness down but that brings a lot of problems since the game just isn't made to play that way. No mission gives the same open exploration that many of the old games' missions had. Every level is divided into small sections and only within them you have freedom to choose your approach. Because of the level of detail, most sections are rather tiny, even though the chapters themselves can be quite large by combining many sections. It's not so bad if only because most stealth games take this approach, but a step down compared to the old games.
The bad: Sound is often buggy, dialogue is rubbish, so is the main story. Very little creativity and very weak. The story expects you to sympathize with a character that has no redeemable qualities. All the characters are flat, including the protagonist. Unexplained frame rate issues on a lot of cutscenes, though that may change with patches and fixes.
Without relation to the rest of the series, it is an average but fun game. Worth buying on a discount. Certain features would be very welcome on the old games, but many design decisions cripple it and prevent it from being a better game.
So Ok it's Average
Thief 2014 is an average stealth game. While a decently fun game on its' own, it hardly measures up to the original series.
The good: It's definetely a stealth game. Not being detected is definetely possible on most levels, though the plot cutscenes sometimes make the main character put himself in plain sight instead of hidden, gameplay wise you can almost always avoid detection. The AI is certainly above the originals. Something that should be brought to attention is the absurdly high customizable HUD and difficulty. You can combine so many self imposed challenges that you can make the game virtually unwinnable, and hiding elements on de HUD will also help you make the game more to your liking. The game also gives you a wide array of tools to complete the missions, allowing you to complete the game on your favourite playstyle. Unique loot and collectibles make exploring worthwhile.
The ok: The way the world is presented is very lackluster. Everything is seen trough color filters, mostly gray and blue, sometimes other colours but rarely the colourful mansions that its' predecessors featured. There isn't true darkness in the game as well, you can tune brightness down but that brings a lot of problems since the game just isn't made to play that way. No mission gives the same open exploration that many of the old games' missions had. Every level is divided into small sections and only within them you have freedom to choose your approach. Because of the level of detail, most sections are rather tiny, even though the chapters themselves can be quite large by combining many sections. It's not so bad if only because most stealth games take this approach, but a step down compared to the old games.
The bad: Sound is often buggy, dialogue is rubbish, so is the main story. Very little creativity and very weak. The story expects you to sympathize with a character that has no redeemable qualities. All the characters are flat, including the protagonist. Unexplained frame rate issues on a lot of cutscenes, though that may change with patches and fixes.
Without relation to the rest of the series, it is an average but fun game. Worth buying on a discount. Certain features would be very welcome on the old games, but many design decisions cripple it and prevent it from being a better game.