History Creator / LookingGlassStudios

To see some rare videos showing early concepts of their famous games, go to their [[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLookingGlassVault official rememberance channel]].

* GenreBusting: A very creative and innovative studio for their time, often leaving professional game critics and theorists outright ''stumped'' by some of their latest titles. This trope got to the point that [[GenreLaunch they were at the founding of at least two different game genres]] that still exist today: The first-person 3D RPG and ''especially'' the stealth game.

* Creator/IonStorm Austin. A large number of staffs were relocated here from LGS, making Ion Storm's Austin branch perhaps the closest thing to an "official" LGS successor. Best known for creating ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', which is no less influential than the LGS games of old. They also have the honor of creating a [[VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows sequel]] to ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]'', making Ion Storm the first successor to produce a sequel to an old LGS game.

* Creator/ArkaneStudios. While not founded by any LGS veteran, many developers have past ties with LGS and other successor studios games (Harvey Smith was the lead QA for ''System Shock'' as well as a lead developer of ''Deus Ex''). The studio shares many design philosophies with LGS, especially in the field of ImmersiveSim. Most notably, ''VideoGame/{{Dishonored}}'' is widely regarded as the best successor to ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'', to the extent that critics and fans alike have claimed ''Dishonored'' to be a far superior ''Thief'' game than the official reboot ''VideoGame/Thief2014'' itself, while ''VideoGame/Prey2017'' is generally agreed to be a far closer to ''System Shock'' than ''[=BioShock=]'' ever was.

Former staff members include major game design personalities like [[VideoGame/BioShock Ken Levine]], [[VideoGame/DeusEx Warren]] [[VideoGame/EpicMickey Spector]], [[VideoGame/Fallout3 Emil]] [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Pagliarulo]], and others. Many of the former devs found a home at Creator/IrrationalGames, formerly an affiliate developer studio of LGS. Others later worked for Creator/IonStorm, Creator/{{Bethesda}} and other notable developers, or focused on the indie dev side of the industry.

* Creator/IonStorm Austin. A large number of staffs were relocated here from LGS, making Ion Storm's Austin branch perhaps the closest thing to an "official" LGS successor. Best known for creating ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', which is no less influential than the LGS games of old. They also have the honor of creating a [[VideoGame/ThiefDeadlyShadows sequel]] to ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]'', making Ion Storm the only one of the successors to produce a sequel to an old LGS game.

* ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' (1998) - The first installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series. A groundbreaking FantasticNoir action adventure which introduced the world to master thief Garrett and the {{steampunk}} metropolis called The City. Highly praised, frequently appearing in various "Best Game" ladders to this day. Along with ''Franchise/MetalGear'', '''the''' TropeMaker[=/=]TropeCodifier for all modern [[StealthBasedGame stealth games]]. Runs on the the Dark Engine, later used in ''Thief II'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' as well. [[/index]]

* [=OtherSide=] Entertainment. Founded in 2013 by Paul Neurath specifically to produce ''VideoGame/UnderworldAscendant'', a spiritual successor to the original ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld'', with Warren Spector joining in 2016 to work on ''System Shock 3''.

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fh1tPVG-j0 Looking Glass Studios Retrospective]] by 90sgamer92

For a comprehensive documentary on the history and games created by Looking Glass Studios, take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fh1tPVG-j0 this]] detailed video. For an even more in-depth history of Looking Glass, [[http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/audio/looking_glass_studios_podcast/ visit this excellent podcast]], which features detailed interviews with the former developers. To see some rare videos showing early concepts of their famous games, go to their [[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLookingGlassVault official rememberance channel]]. Archived versions of the LGS website can be seen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20000301062711/http://www.lglass.com/ here]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/19980209132406/http://www.lglass.com/ here]].

Former staff members include major game design personalities like Ken Levine, Warren Spector, Emil Pagliarulo and others. Many of the former devs found a home at {{Creator/Irrational Games}}, formerly an affiliate developer studio of LGS. Others later worked for Ion Storm, Bethesda and other notable developers, or focused on the indie dev side of the industry.

For a detailed history of Looking Glass Studios, [[http://gambit.mit.edu/updates/audio/looking_glass_studios_podcast/ visit this excellent podcast]], which features detailed interviews with the former developers. To see some rare videos showing early concepts of their famous games, go to their [[https://www.youtube.com/user/TheLookingGlassVault official rememberance channel]]. Archived versions of the LGS website can be seen [[https://web.archive.org/web/20000301062711/http://www.lglass.com/ here]] and [[https://web.archive.org/web/19980209132406/http://www.lglass.com/ here]].

For a comprehensive documentary on the history and games created by Looking Glass Studios, take a look at [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fh1tPVG-j0 this]] detailed video.

* Creator/IonStorm Austin. A large number of staffs were relocated here from LGS, making Ion Storm's Austin branch perhaps the closest thing to an "official" LGS successor. Best known for creating ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', which is no less influential than the LGS games of old. They also have the honor of creating a [[sequel]] to ''[[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief II]]'', making Ion Storm the only one of the successors to produce a sequel to an old LGS game.

!!Some of the most popular Looking Glass successors:

* Creator/IonStorm. A large number of staffs were relocated here from LGS, making Ion Storm perhaps the closest thing to an "official" LGS successor. Best known for creating ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', which is no less influential than the LGS games of old. They also have the honor to make the sequel to [[VideoGame/ThiefIITheMetalAge Thief 2]], making Ion Storm the only one of the successors to make a sequel to an old LGS game.
* Creator/IrrationalGames. Founded by 3 former LGS developers: Ken Levine, Jonathan Chey, and Robert Fermier. While the Irrational was founded before LGS's bankruptcy, it was essentially LGS's sister company and became one of the closest things to it after the later went under. In a stunning display of luck, while they were working on a SurvivalHorror game unrelated to System Shock, EA (who owned the System Shock's IP) picked up the game and allowed the company to retool it into a sequel for System Shock. Years later, they would go on to make a SpiritualSuccessor to System Shock, you probably know it as VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}.
* Creator/ArkaneStudios. While not founded by any LGS veteran, many developers have past ties with LGS and other successor studios games (Harvey Smith was the lead QA for System Shock as well as a lead developer of Deus Ex). The studio shares many design philosophies with LGS, especially in the field of ImmersiveSim. Most notably, VideoGame/{{Dishonored}} is widely regarded as the best successor to VideoGame/{{Thief}}, to the extent that critics and fans alike have claimed Dishonored to be a far superior Thief game than the official reboot VideoGame/Thief2014 itself. In addition, VideoGame/Prey2017 is generally agreed to be a far closer to System Shock than VideoGame/{{Bioshock}}. With its impressive portfolio, many have considered Arkane to be the best of all LGS successors

* AcclaimedFlop: Sadly, something of a curse that dogged LGS games, in no small part because they were often ahead of their time when it came to game design ideas, and also didn't always have the best luck when it came to publishers and advertising.
** The first ''System Shock'' was a subversion. It received some excellent and praise-filled reviews, developed something of an early fanbase, and only sold some 170 000 copies, a ''moderate'' commercial success at the time. Rather infamously, ''System Shock 2'' did ''worse'' upon its release (some 58 671 copies sold between August 1999 and April 2000), despite being even better received than the first game. Many blamed EA for providing the game with basically no marketing. Among the accolades, the first game won about a dozen awards after release, and via word of mouth and greater sales is nowadays generally seen as VindicatedByHistory.
** ''Terra Nova : Strike Force Centauri'' played this trope rather straight.
** The ''Thief'' series has been, surprisingly, more of an ''aversion''. It was not only highly acclaimed by critics and gamers, but also earned a hefty amount of money compared with most other LGS projects. Some LGS devs were even quite serious when they mentioned that the first game probably helped save the studio from premature bankruptcy (after a period in the mid 1990s, when a cancelled ''Star Trek'' game development deal cost them a lot of lost time and money they invested into it).

* DoingItForTheArt: They genuinely focused on making fresh, innovative and fun games, even at the (all too reoccuring) expense of not making loads of money off them (to their regret).

* WhatCouldHaveBeen: Many of their games action-adventure or roleplaying game concepts were ditched in favour of different ones as engine testing and development went on over the years.
** The predecessors of ''Thief'' alone went from [[AffectionateParody a comedic tongue-in-cheek]] [[ItMakesSenseInContext action game about communist zombies]] to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BIMzs5O3QWo an action roleplaying game]] set within a DarkerAndEdgier version of the [[Myth/KingArthur Arthurian Mythos]] to what would eventually become [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x9ZNmMqTbZ8 a prototype for the first game]] in the series.
** ''System Shock II'' wasn't even originally planned as a sequel, at all. It was supposed to be an unrelated survival horror RPG aboard a starship at first, until the devs changed their opinion and worked on tying the earlier game and this sequel together into the same universe.
** Also, one of the many ambitious GameplayRoulette sections originally planned for ''System Shock II'', but ultimately scrapped, was a section involving a zero-G walk through the interiors, or a spacewalk through an area exposed to vacuum. Newer games like ''VideoGame/DeadSpace'' or ''VideoGame/AlienIsolation'' arguably pay homage to this abandoned idea, both being space survival horrors with spacewalk sections. A bit of a remnant of the concept for ''Shock II'' is a part of the game where you reverse the artificial gravity aboard and walk on what was once the ceiling of several rooms.

* ''VideoGame/ThiefTheDarkProject'' (1998) - The first installment of the ''VideoGame/{{Thief}}'' series. A groundbreaking FantasticNoir action adventure which introduced the world to master thief Garrett and the {{steampunk}} metropolis called The City. Highly praised, frequently appearing in various "Best Game" ladders to this day. Along with ''Franchise/MetalGear'', '''the''' TropeMaker[=/=]TropeCodifier for all modern [[StealthBasedGame stealth games]]. Runs on the the Dark Engine, later used in ''Thief II'' and ''VideoGame/SystemShock2'' as well.