I have slight mixed feelings on Thief The Dark Project. Its a game that plays with your expectations a lot. Thief is able to achieve the ability to suck you in to its environments very easily with its world, story and level structure. However, these experiences can lead to you getting sucked into a very frustrating experience. Thief fans will attribute certain missions to either the worst category or some will defend them. After beating the game I will say that everything till the final act works, but even with such problems I cant deny good craftsmanship.

As much as I would love to talk about the light gem, the equipment and the mechanics. To me the most stand out feature is the sound scaping. Leaning on doors to hear approaching footsteps. Echoing sounds of people talking and whistling idly. Your own steps heard shuffling in the halls. And this is all overlayed by Eric Brosius atmospheric score based on your progression. This aspect alone to me says Thief. The trademark of the franchise right next to the steampunk fantasy world it has set. I wont forget the mission where you have to find a horn, a relic deep in the old crypts. The sounds of the horn echoing through the tunnels and halls. As you use the sound to determine where it lies. I cant think of a time a game used such implementation.

Thief The Dark Project has many other good traits, such as throwing curve balls at the player once they get use to the game. Missions become something else entirely or become more complex. Finding myself swearing under my breath once I found out how complicated things are about to get once I found out deep in the mission, kind of made me smile. Movement in the game is another great trait. A lot of games could learn from Thief's ledge grabs. The satisfaction of actually able to pull yourself up on reachable ledges is something to be sought out more in games. However, I kind of ruined some of the immersion due to learning that I could bunny hop around .

Even with my frustrations, certain level confusions and the dislike of the the last portion of levels and story at the end. I will agree that they are just as importantly connected. You cant remove them or really change them for that matter. This is one of those games that helps define its structure. A game that even with parts I dislike or had trouble with, I know its grand picture and I respect it.

Played with TFix patch.