MINORU'S BLOG

Everyday I'm taffering

In the early 2000s, we got some nice stealth game series to play hide-and-seek on. From Hideo Kojima's blockbuster movie Metal Gear Solid series; the social dress-em-up Hitman series; and of course, my starting point in the genre: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell series. There's also the now-forgotten Tenchu and the not-so-stealth-anymore Assassin's Creed.

All those games usually follow the same formula. Players need to emphasize on hiding from the enemies instead of just simply killing them and moving on. If you're detected, either it's game over or you need to fight difficult battles to survive. Stealth is about hiding in the dark, waiting for your chance to slip away undetected to reach the goal.

I love the stealth genre. Some of my favorite games of all time (note to self: need to make a list one day) are either stealth games or have stealth elements in them. In fact if any games give me a choice to build my own character, I usually make myself a stealth one. Like the infamously overpowered Skyrim stealth archer build. I also spent my childhood sneaking from my parents to play games during nightime

Got some rare things on sale, stranger!

That's why I owed it to myself to play one of the classics, the grandfather of sneaking video games: Thief (1998) by Looking Glass Studios. And play I did. I took my time on this, with me finishing the final level only last February even though I started it after completing System Shock 2. It's not too hard, like I said, I just took my sweet time.

Thief placed you in the control of Garrett (a.k.a. Mr. Taffer), a master thief / archaeologist who steals from the rich people to give it to the poor (himself). The game is played in first-person view, so you rarely see his face, but he does speak from time to time, giving him a bit of character. He's quite a cool character IMO, definitely right there with Geralt of Rivia ("Wind's howling") and JC Denton ("I’m not big into books") in terms of the best one-liners.

The world in Thief is kind of a mix of steampunk and medieval era, which at times looks pretty depressing. Like you don't want to live in that kind of setting. Oh, and there are also fantasy elements such as zombies and sentient, floating fireballs. However, I must admit the world is indeed very immersive. It feels alive thanks to the fantastic sound design of the game. The footsteps, the constant droning backsound, the guards' conversations, all helped to immerse me into the game's world.

A religious man he ain't

The gameplay itself is honestly pretty obvious from the game's name. In each level you need to steal certain items from a certain place. You can up the difficulty to add more objectives, like stealing more loot or not killing any guards. Garrett has many tools to aid him in his thieving quest, like water arrows to douse the torchlights, noisemaker arrows to attract enemies out of your way, and rope arrows to climb otherwise unreachable points.

To be fair, once you get the controls set up to your liking (the default is really really bad), the game feels familiar like any modern first person game that isn't a shooter. The first level set in a rich man's mansion serves as a great tutorial about the game. You can enter via backdoor after stealing the key from a guard, you learn how the guards have patrolling routes, you learn how sound and light work in the game, you earsdrop the guards about important stuff. It's a great introductory level by any means.

The story is simple at first but getting a bit cryptic near the end. You can learn the story via cutscenes before the levels, also via guard conversations and in-game notes and books. There is this grand backstory about The City and its factions such as the Hammerites, The Keepers and The Pagans but none of those are really needed to know to enjoy the game.

This is how my wife read Google Maps

Thief is not a perfect game nor it's aging well. The graphic is quite dated even by 1998 standards. Heck, we got MGS and Ocarina of Time that year. Still, after finishing it for the first time in the year of 2026, I can say with confidence that its core ideas and concepts are way ahead of its time. The sound and light systems are still used in today's games. Thief's legacy is foundational to modern stealth and immersive sim genres. Maybe it is not for everyone especially for today's kids, but if you do play it you'll know why it's an important piece of gaming history. I will also play Thief 2 soon and hopefully Deadly Shadows follows. No, there is no Thief 4.