Video Game / Thief (2014)

"There are worse things in the shadows than you."

What's yours is mine.

Thief is a 2014 Continuity Reboot of the Thief series of action-adventure stealth games, developed by Eidos Montreal and published by Square Enix on February 25, 2014.

The game follows Garrett, a master thief who can steal anything from anyone, but lives by a specific set of rules. After running into an old acquaintance named Erin, Garrett discovers a ritualistic ceremony overseen by Baron Northcrest, the ruler of the decaying City. Although he decides he doesn't want to interfere, Erin's actions disrupt the ceremony, resulting in her death and Garrett being knocked unconscious.

When he awakens, Garrett discovers that he is back in the City, he has little memory of what happened, and things are much worse than before, forcing him to investigate the circumstances behind the event and what happened to Erin.

The game originally began development in 2009 under the name Thief 4, but changed to the singular Thief as it went from a sequel to a reboot. Contrary to many popular rumours, the game was developed by a mostly different team within Eidos Montreal than the one that worked on Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

The game features many classic elements, including stealth missions, collectibles, loot and various non-lethal implements like the standard blackjack, as well as new mechanics like the "Swoop" maneuver, increased mobility with the new Claw device and more.

The official website is here.

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Tropes seen in this game:

• Abandoned Area:
  • The library underneath the House of Blossoms, which has sat unused for centuries and is hinted to be a Keeper compound.
  • The Moira asylum, which was abandoned after the Baron's attempts to remove the Primal from Erin resulted in the patients turning into abominations, forcing everyone who wasn't changed to flee and bar the doors.
• Arc Welding: According to information gained about the Sneak Thief, the Primal was also the power source behind Glyph Magic.
• Air-Vent Passageway: Certain vents can be accessed if you have the necessary equipment (the wrench) to unscrew the bolts, and are just big enough for Garrett to crawl through.
• All Love Is Unrequited: The player can find drawings and pictures of Garrett's face scattered throughout Erin's hideout, suggesting that she had developed feelings for him.
• All There in the Manual: The events and backstory regarding the time period between the two installments and the events leading up to the game are covered in a Dark Horse Comics tie-in series.
• Always Night: Given an in-universe justification in the game, via the spread of the Gloom. It later turns to sunrise in the final scene of the game.
• Ambiguous Ending: The game's ending gives no indication as to whether Erin was purged of the primal.
• Ambiguous Gender: Madame Xiao Xiao, who runs the House of Blossoms, appears to be a trans woman. (That, or she's an extremely masculine woman who happens to have a male voice actor.)
• Amnesiac Hero: Garrett temporarily loses his memory near the start. Fortunately, he recovers it quickly.
• Anti-Hero: Garrett is a Type IV. He detests killing, and steals only from those who will not suffer greatly without deserving it from losing their treasures, but he is more than willing to avoid doing the right thing if it means he doesn't get in harm's way or the attention of the law.
• Arm Cannon: The Thief-Taker General has a custom-made arm-mounted crossbow as his primary weapon. Like Garrett, he can use an assortment of different arrows for it, including explosive arrows.
• Bank Robbery: The DLC mission "The Bank Heist", which sees Garrett infiltrating the Stonemarket First Bank in order to steal a piece of jewelery that belongs to a noblewoman.
• Bastard Bastard: Aldous, who is revealed to be the illegitimate brother of the Baron, sired by their father during a drunken one-night stand with a housekeeper.
• Big Bad: Aldous Northcrest-Hucks, a.k.a. Orion.
• Big Fancy House: The Baron's Manor.
• Black Market: The player can buy upgrades for Garrett and/or consumable supplies from dealers located throoughout the city hub.
• Continuity Nod: There are many references to past events, locations and characters found throughout the game and its tie-in media.
  • The Dark Horse Comics tie-in book references (if not outright states) that Erin is based on the young girl who Garrett caught at the end of Deadly Shadows.
  • When Garrett asks if Basso wants to get married, the latter replies "Never again", referencing the first mission in The Metal Age, "Running Interference".
  • Garrett's hideout (the clock tower) appears to have been built on the site of the original clock tower that was destroyed in Deadly Shadows, with newspapers suggesting that the authorities had trouble rebuilding it for many years, and also believing that it was cursed.
  • Moira Asylum is built on the same location where Moira Mansion once stood in Deadly Shadows, as the aforementioned game had the widow Edwina Moira talk about her plans to open an asylum in that location.
    • You can hear a voice in the woman's ward asking for wine for Edwina, referring to an optional objective for the mission taking place in the Moira Mansion in Deadly Shadows.
  • The Forgotten Ruins appear to be the Keeper Compound featured in Deadly Shadows, but decaying after centuries of abandonment. Garrett even says to himself that parts of the compound seems strangely familiar.
  • The image of Karras (the antagonist of The Metal Age) can be seen on a painting found during the game.
  • After stealing the knife from the witch, Garrett will frown on the new traditions and comment "What's wrong with leaving a coin on the Watchman's grave?"
  • The cathedral at the end of the game is heavily implied to be a former Hammerite building, and features stained glass windows with the Hammerite symbol.
  • When trying to open the big safe, Garrett will ask "What's inside, the Trickster's teeth?", referencing the villain from the original game.
  • The Keep appears to be in the same location (or may be the same building) as Angelwatch from The Metal Age, and during the mission where you assault the Keep, you start a short distance away from a belltower (the original starting point of "Life of the Party" from the latter game).
  • The Bank Heist DLC mission is one giant one for the "Stonemarket First Bank" mission from The Metal Age, complete with a safe protected by security cameras, a multi-floor structure and plenty of guards.
  • The combination to the Baron's Great Safe is written as '30.11.98'. This is the release date of Thief: The Dark Project, the game that started the series.
• Captain Obvious/Parrot Exposition: When told, "I want you to get the key", Garrett will think, "I need to get the key." Tellingly, Garrett's monologues can be turned off.
• The Chosen One: Garrett is told he is this, practically verbatim, by the Queen of Beggars during their first meeting.
• Climax Boss: The Thief-Taker General in Chapter 7, after multiple personalizing encounters. However, he's a Skippable Boss.
• Continuity Reboot: Although the game features numerous references to places, items, and people from the original trilogy, it doesn't use any of the characters from the original games — this version of Garrett is implied to be either a descendant or reincarnation of the original version (referred to as "Sneak Thief"). The game's timeline indicates that Thief takes place (if the scale is correct) approximately 400 years after the events of Deadly Shadows.
• Conveniently Timed Guard: You can walk around undetected for most of the levels and then, after reaching your primary goal, someone spots you to add some tension to the level.
  • The Thief-Taker General is really good at this. In the Prologue, you are spotted by the Thief-Taker General on the roof during the ceremony. In Chapter 2, as soon as you break the vault and get the ring you came for, the Thief-Taker General comes through the door. He will come after you both in the Keep's vault and when stealing the Primal Shard on the Baron's Mansion, though he shows signs of expecting you.
  • In Chapter 3, the guards discover that you used the secret passage in the House of Blossoms just after you get the book you came for.
  • In Chapter 4, the guard barges through the door the instant you get the Keep's blueprints.
• Collection Sidequest:
  • There are numerous collectibles and pieces of unique loot found throughout the missions and The City, including City Heritage Plaques, a set of rings and mementos from the dead.
  • There are 25 side missions the player can complete for Basso, which can be done early in the game and require obtaining certain pieces of loot for clients.
• Corrupt Cop: While most are just following the Baron's orders, there are some city guards who clearly enjoy abusing their position. And naturally, the Thief-Taker General is the worst of them all.
• Darker and Edgier: This game has a much more gritty and serious tone than the previous three Thief games, and people actually curse rather than say "taff".
• Dark and Troubled Past: Garrett learns that Erin was an orphan who worked in the House of Blossoms, then escaped after killing her first client and joined Garrett as his protege.
• Dead Sidekick: Erin doesn't last long in the game... until it's revealed later on that she survived falling into the Primal Stone energy.
• Driven to Suicide: Many of those who are afflicted by the Gloom, but there are two notable examples: the Baron's architect Eastwick, who hangs himself rather than be executed by the Baron and the poet Perelle Lancet, whose hanging corpse Garrett can find in the sewer.
• Downer Ending: Retroactively for the "original" Garrett (named in-universe as "The Sneak Thief"), who was incarcerated in the old prison benearth Moira Asylum — and whose mechanical eye the "new" Garrett can find — and whose fate is left unresolved, though ambiguous.
• Downloadable Content: The game features a selection of additional content, including in-game "booster packs" that provide Garrett with the fully-upgraded versions of lockpicking sensitivity/arrow storage, as well as more gold and consumable items. In addition, there is a DLC mission ("The Bank Heist", included in the Master Thief Edition) and a challenge map centered around the Moira Asylum.
• The Dragon: The Thief-Taker General, who pursues Garrett in several chapters.
• Dropped a Bridge on Him: Just about all of the factions from the previous trilogy are said to have been destroyed or buried in the interim between games, with the Hammerites and Pagans notably having their buildings destroyed by the Baron or built over as the city was progressed. Likewise, the Keepers appear to have been completely wiped out, and Garrett never mentions them in the game.
• Eldritch Location: The ground floor and entrance of Moira Asylum is simply an abandoned location, aside from the way you enter it. However, as you progress to the old prison and intensive treatment, things get... much more creepy and disturbing. At the end of the level, Garret comes to his senses, standing near the entrance door. Interestingly, the loot obtained on the level remains with him, and the resources spent are spent.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Garrett isn't evil, but he's still a thief and a law-breaker — and he takes great exception to Erin killing unnecessarily. (And, of course, the player can choose to go through the entire game without killing anyone.)
• Exact Eavesdropping: Almost all of the ambient conversations in the hub level either discuss the main plot (and its progression so far) or give a clue to a looting opportunity or a side mission.
• Face Death with Dignity: The Baron doesn't run or plead with Garrett when the latter (looking for information) confronts him in his manor. He merely tells the thief that if he's come to assassinate him, he should get it over and done with.
• Fate Worse than Death: The Freaks are people who have been poisoned by Erin's poisoned Primal powers.
• Final Boss: Erin.
• Flash Step: Garrett can perform a Swoop manuever that lets him move quickly between shadows.
• Gentleman Thief: Played for Laughs — during his escape from the Keep, Garrett crashes through a window and onto a table — where a group of guardsmen seem to be taking a break. He gives the shocked guards a curt "evening", and continues out the other side of the building.
• Giant Mook: Shieldsmen are huge, heavily armored guards armed with maces and, well, shields. In one cutscene a single Shieldsman is able to smash through a barricaded door that a number of regular guards were totally unable to break down.
• Gonna Need More Trope: Upon lowering the Baron's Great Safe, Garrett's only response is "I'm gonna need bigger lock picks."
• Hell Is That Noise: The shrieks of the Forsaken, and the thunderous footsteps of the Night Warden, should you happen to pick up the note that spawns him.
• Hub Level: The City, following up from Deadly Shadows, has multiple sections full of opportunities and locations for Garrett to steal from, and features shopkeepers and two inns.
• Hyperspace Arsenal:
  • Garrett can carry several types of arrows, his bow, flash bombs, and several tools (a wrench, razor, prybar, and wirecutter) on him at all times, yet this isn't reflected on his player model during cutscenes. It also makes the "storage" chest in Garrett's hideout in the clock tower practically useless, as there is little reason to bother storing anything in it.
  • He can also continue to sneak around while carrying several hundred wine glasses and enough cutlery to open a restaurant.
• I Am What I Am: Invoked by Garrett, who decides to raid the Baron's Great Safe after freeing Basso from the Keep.
  Basso: No one is paying you to do that.
  Garrett It's not about payment. (beat) It's who I am.
• I Let Gwen Stacy Die: Garrett clearly feels guilty for Erin's death, and spends several missions trying to come to terms with what happened in the course of working for Orion and the visions he's seeing. Then it's revealed that she's not dead at all, and has been psychically contacting Garrett to investigate so he can find her whereabouts.
• I Am a Humanitarian: One of Basso's side jobs involves recovering his grandma's pen from a hangman who eats the executed's body parts. He has at least three corpses in his home and a journal detailing what he harvested from each victim.
  Garrett: I hope this isn't where the cured meat's coming from.
• Immodest Orgasm: The bastard lord of the "Carnal Connoisseur" mission has several of these behind a closed door. It's not clear what he's doing in there, but given his tastes, that's probably for the best.
• Impaled Palm: Garrett gets his left hand impaled with an arrow, courtesy of the Thief-Taker General, while opening the Baron's Great Safe. For the rest of the game, his hand is bandaged, and pushing up boards in the way of sidling spaces is more difficult for him.
• Impossible Thief: Garrett, as in the original trilogy.
• Jump Scare: In "The Forsaken", entering the Asylum and peering into the first keyhole you see results in the standard view of the room inside before a vision of Erin pops up in front of the keyhole, loudly asking Garrett what he's looking for. Later, walking towards an open elevator shaft results in one of the Freaks jumping down and stopping in front of you for a moment before leaping down the empty shaft.
• Justified Tutorial: The prologue has the benefit of introducing the player to several mechanics, including (in order) the act of stealing in a controlled environment where the target is sleeping, the threat birds are to the player's visibility, free-running, the act of collecting as much loot as possible, stealth, water arrows, and the difference between outright violence and pacifism.
• Kill the Poor:
  • Much of the story centers on The City's evolution into the industrial era, and the wealthy authorities are completely uninterested in providing for the poor labor classes who now find themselves out of work, out of money, and out of medicine and food, enforcing Urban Segregation to keep them out of sight and out of mind as they die off.
  • Averted through player action on the highest difficulty level — whereas in the previous games, you could kill or knock out random citizens you find in the various levels, you get a Non-Standard Game Over for killing any beggar you find in the hub level.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Naturally, and par for the course in the series. Garrett can obtain dozens of trinkets and dinnerware items in a single level (up to and including cutlery, plates, rings, City Heritage Plaques, pieces of jewelery, etc), and the final total of loot collected will be seen on the result screen at the end of each chapter.
• La Résistance: The Graven, led by Orion, are working to stop the Baron's reign of corruption. After they take over the Baron's Keep, it's revealed that Orion is actually Aldous, the Baron's half-brother, who wants to transform the population into Forsaken.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Erin turns Orion into a Freak in the final mission, after he tried to use her as the catalyst to turn the inhabitants of the City into the same thing.
• Last Lousy Point: The game tracks how much loot you find during missions, with some cleverly hidden in hard-to-reach or initially-unaccessible locations. It can make a "full-loot" run hair-tearingly frustrating.
• Legacy Character: The game suggests that this version of Garrett is a descendant of the original Garrett, who was incarcerated in the old prison underneath Moira Asylum (and whose original Mechanical Eye can be found during the mission "The Forsaken"), and whose fate is left ambiguous. The old Garrett is known as the Sneak Thief.
• Left Hanging: The game ends with Garrett looking at the sunrise, while Erin's ultimate fate is unknown. However, judging from the footprints beside him in the final shot, the hook embedded into the pillar, and the missing summoning book, it can be presumed that Erin survived and left before he woke up.
• Lockpicking Minigame: The reboot uses a similar minigame to Thief: Deadly Shadows, with a slight variation in that unlocking a certain focus skill allows the player to see the insides of the lock mechanism when they use it.
• Mad Artist: One of the collectibles in the game is a series of portraits by an artist named Montonessi. He spent some time at Moira Asylum, and a letter in his home implies he was sent there for killing his family. Montonessi was Driven to Suicide before Garrett returns to the city, driving up the value of his works.
• Made of Iron: If you choose to confront the Thief-Taker General in a straight fight during the Climax Boss confrontation, he can take an incredible amount of damage before being defeated (requiring several blast arrows to knock down, which are otherwise a one-hit-kill against anything else). Pretty impressive considering he's just a normal human being with no supernatural powers. This is likely to encourage players to take the stealthy approach instead and sneak away from the fight entirely.
• Mama Bear: Madame Xiao Xiao is willing to put up with the Thief-Taker General up until the point he strikes one of the girls working at the House of Blossoms, at which point Xiao Xiao tells him to leave and threatens to cut his balls off.
• Master of Unlocking: There are plenty of locked doors, chests, and safes throughout the game world, most of which can only be opened by Garrett (via a lockpicking minigame).
• Meaningful Echo: "Garrett, I'm slipping! Give me the claw!", said in the prologue and final mission.
• Mythology Gag:
  • Garrett still has an odd eye in this continuity; instead of from having it ripped out and eventually replaced with a prosthetic camera, here it's because a piece of the Primal Stone got embedded inside it during the prologue. Later on, you can find the original Garrett's mechanical eye (a collectible) in the old prison underneath Moira Asylum.
  • Garrett has a mentor-like relationship with a younger female thief, a call back to the ending of Deadly Shadows.
  • The Sneak Thief is heavily implied to be the original Garrett.
  • The Moira Asylum chapter seems to be an attempt to evoke the feeling of the Shalesbridge Cradle.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: The Baron's plan to invent "electricity" and uplift society to the next stage of civilization might actually have worked out alright if Garrett and Erin hadn't crashed the Primal summoning ceremony and set the events of the game in motion.
  • Starts earlier than that, gameplay-wise. All this goes sideways... because Garrett steals Erin's claw to teach her a lesson, and Erin won't give up on a very messed-up mission.
    • Although it is implied that even if Garrett and Erin hadn't interrupted the ritual, things would have gone wrong anyway.
• Nothing Is Scarier: Most of chapter 5, The Asylum.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: Discussed in one cutscene. When Garrett visits Orion for the first time, the latter tells him that he knows how to pique the thief's interest (with a bag of gold), but goes on to tell him that he can't keep avoiding the plight of the people forever, and implores him to help the Graven.
• Not Quite Dead: Erin is revealed to have survived falling into the Primal Stone energy, and is being used by Orion to (unwittingly) transform the inhabitants of the city into monsters.
• Order Versus Chaos: The conflict between Hammerites and Pagans has been replaced by a similar conflict between the Industry-focused nobility and the Graven, a revolutionary group from among the lower classes who want to overthrow the nobility and also worship the "old gods". In the end, Chaos Is Evil, and the City Watch and the nobility they protect are comparatively Punch Clock Villains.
• Pacifist Run: The game can be completed without killing a single person, which Garrett apparently encourages to Erin. The one major fighting boss encounter (against the Thief-Taker General) can be skipped by turning a couple of valves and simply leaving the room.
• The Plague: The Gloom. Starts out with flu-like symptoms, ends with suicidal depression, and is apparently airborne.
  • Mystical Plague: It is caused by the poisoning of the Primal, the energy that allows the use of magics such as Glyph Magic.
• Punch-Clock Villain: Most of the City Watch is just doing their jobs, with the exception of the Thief-Taker General. This is why Garrett refuses to kill them unless absolutely necessary.
• Puzzle Boss: Erin's "boss fight" involves collecting the three pieces of the Primal Stone while hiding from her in the darkness.
• Reluctant Hero: Invoked verbatim in the Thief 101 trailer.
• Remixed Level: The Moira Asylum in Chapter 5, "The Forsaken", appears to be a reworked version of the Moira Mansion level from Deadly Shadows. as well as a Call-Back to Shalebridge Cradle from the same game.
• Robbing the Dead: Played with. In Chapter 3, Garrett will express his disgust at the Thief-Taker General and his guards for pilfering jewelery and rings from corpses. However, there's nothing stopping the player from robbing them as well (one of which is right in the same room as the cutscene where this occurs).
• Room Full of Crazy: The Archivist in Moira Asylum lives up to his reputation — he's seen ranting to himself while surrounded by the writings he's made over a long period of time.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Primal Stone, which Orion tries to harness to cure the inhabitants of the city of the Gloom (or so he thinks). An unusual example as, according to the Baron, the Primal energy is originally neutral, and only became evil after being sealed inside a corruptive can, namely Erin. You could chalk the Baron's explanation down to simple privileged misogyny, except Erin is admittedly a fairly wicked person.
• Servile Snarker: In the second mission for Vittori, Garrett has to sneak through the mansion of a depraved noble with some unusual tastes. His butler Aubrey is this trope, who grumbles under his breath and wishes his employer had taken up opium like the other noble brats.
• Stealth-Based Game: Mostly follows the pattern set out by the original series (i.e. stealth based on hiding in shadows and balancing your movement in dark and lit areas for further progression), and Garrett doesn't even have his sword or a dagger this time around.
• Spirit Advisor: The Queen of Beggars, who tells Garrett his prophecy at two separate points in the game.
• Stealth Hi/Bye: The Queen of Beggars pulls this on Garrett in her second appearance, surprising him by showing up in the clock tower then disappearing just after he turns his back for a moment. It's implied that she might have supernatural powers.
• Stealth Run: The game encourages this, both through the Ghost playstyle (where getting alerts counts against your score) and the custom difficulty settings, which can be configured to trigger an automatic game-over if you're spotted or trip an alarm.
• Stealth Sequel: The game is stated to be a Continuity Reboot, but all of the factions of the original games are said to have existed in the past, the mechanical eye of the original Garrett is a rusted piece of loot with a similar history to that of the first incarnation, and the original Garrett himself has a place in the new mythos as a historical figure, along with the old Baron Brestling of the first games. The references seem to be more in terms of the characters with similar names being examples of Generation Xerox than rebooted versions of the same.
• Storming the Castle: The Graven besiege and eventually take over the Baron's Keep.
• Suspicious Video-Game Generosity:
  • In Chapter 7, "The Hidden City", there is a shopkeeper who sells basic consumable supplies (like the various arrows) just a short while before you head into the ceremonial room to confront Orion, and fight the Thief-Taker General afterwards. However, the supplies aren't mandatory, and you can simply leave the room without killing him after the cutscene.
  • Likewise, a merchant is standing just outside the Dawn's Light before you board it (and confront Erin) in the final chapter.
• Technical Pacifist: Yeah, Garrett can do a Pacifist Run, but his non-lethal attacks can be brutal.
• Time Skip: Basso tells Garrett that he has been missing for a year, which Garrett doesn't seem to remember. What happened during this time is slowly revealed through flashbacks during the game.
• Trick Arrow: Both Garrett and the Thief-Taker General have ranged weaponry that uses multiple types of arrows.
• Walking Armory: While Garrett is only able to use his blackjack and bow, he also carries several implements that would be lethal blade or blunt weapons in their own right, including a wrench, prybar, and large razor.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Both The Baron and Orion/Aldous fall under this, with the Thief-Taker General being the only outright villain. The Baron has a pragmatic "ends justify the means" mindset, as he was truly trying to elevate society by creating electricity, but didn't care at all about the plight of random beggars and Gloom-affected residents on the street. Orion/Aldous cares about the common classes, but wants to overthrow his half-brother as well, and doesn't realize that his cure for the Gloom will turn the inhabitants of the City into Freaks. Garrett himself even asks if anyone was truly wrong in the final chapter recap.
• What Measure Is a Mook?:
  • The guards are given a large amount of characterization. Just within the prologue, you overhear a Jerk with a Heart of Gold older guard that reluctantly helps a new guard before warming up to him, and a guard that discusses the fact that his soon-to-be father-in-law wrongly thinks he is "on the take" with his senior officer, who gives him relationship advice.
  • Erin and Garrett discuss this in the prologue, after Erin kills a young guard. Garrett tells her that she didn't have to kill him, while Erin counters that he would have woken up later and triggered an alarm. Garrett shuts her up by saying he's long gone by the time they wake up.
  • On the other hand, you will hear Guards bragging about doing horrible things, such as putting the white cross (symbol for "Gloom here") on the door of a squat a thief ran into, and how they've strung up thieves who only stole something to eat, amongst a host of other atrocities, minor and not-so-minor. Some guards are also highly corrupt and not above marking someone's house as inhabited by the plagued, so they can evict the owner and steal his belongings.
    • Truth in Television: In our own history, thieves have been sentenced to death. An English girl was sentenced to hang for stealing bread for her child, but she got sent to Australia instead.
• Zombie Apocalypse: If Orion's plan to 'cure' the Gloom with the corrupted Primal had come to pass, it would've turned every living human inside the City into a Freak.

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