Description
Garrett, discovered on the streets as a beggar, is taken in and trained by the secretive organization known as the Keepers. However, Garrett's plans for his training is different than that of his masters and so Garrett soon parts company. Surfacing as a master thief, Garrett must enter forbidden places and appropriate the treasures of the rich and the powerful. Of course this line of work is offensive to many people including the rich nobles, the town guard and the religious order of the Hammerites. If Garrett can keep his head while he relieves these forces of their valuable trinkets, he should be able to do quite well....
Thief: The Dark Project is a first person game focused on stealth. Garrett's main skills are in using the shadows to avoid being seen (the level of visibility indicated by a "light gem") and to avoid being heard (different surfaces make different noises). Guards can be alerted by either, and remaining hidden is ever important.
At Garrett's disposal is a wide range of equipment; including lockpicks, a blackjack, a sword, flash bombs, holy water, explosive mines, and a bow which fires normal arrows in addition to water, fire, moss and noisemaker arrows. Loot gained from Garrett's thieving can be used to purchase additional equipment for the mission ahead.
Alternate Titles
- "Thief: o Projeto Negro" -- Brazilian title
- "The Dark" -- Working title
- "TDP" -- Informal name
- "Dark Project - L'Ombra del Ladro" -- Italian title
- "Dark project : La guilde des voleurs" -- French title
- "Dark Project - Der Meisterdieb" -- German title
- "Dark Camelot" -- Working title
Part of the Following Groups
User Reviews
The Press Says
Forums
Trivia
Basketball
Like other Looking Glass games like
System Shock and
System Shock 2, this game also contains a hidden basketball court. (See Tips & Tricks for details on accessing it.)
Development
Originally,
Thief was to be a game called
Dark Camelot where Merlin was a time-traveler but it eventually became
Thief... before that it was a game involving Communist zombies!
Editor
Thief fans requested the level editor, so Looking Glass Studios released DromEd (subsequently included on the
Thief (Gold) and
Thief II disks), there are now hundreds of fan missions available for download.
Hammerites
"The Hammer of Light" in the game are a group of religious warrior/knights, similar to the Knights Templar during the height of their power in Europe
Inspiration
Members of the design team have said that books by Umberto Eco (
The Name of the Rose among others) were a big inspiration for the atmosphere and setting of the game.
Taffer
According to an interview made by the now defunct PC accelerator to project designer Steve Pearsall the word "Taffer", which many fans went to great lengths to define as some sort of long-lost "olden" word, was actually created by level designer Laura Baldwin. It was originally meant to be some sort of slang for common criminal but it evolved from that point on.
Thievery
There is a group of people working on a free
Thief inspired conversion for
Unreal Tournament. It can be accessed it from
http://www.thieveryut.com.
Awards
- Computer Gaming World
- April 1999 (Issue #177) – Runner-up as Best Action Game of the Year
- GameStar (Germany)
- Issue 12/1999 - #45 in the "100 Most Important PC Games of the Nineties" ranking
- Issue 03/2000 - Most Innovative Game in 1999
- Issue 12/2008 - One of the "10 Coolest Levels" (For "The Sword". It uses the player's expectations against him - instead of the usual quick burglary, it sends him on a horror trip which manages to wear out Garret's earned self-confidence.)
- PC Gamer
- April 2000 - #27 in the "All-Time Top 50 Games Poll" (tied with Tribes)
- PC Player (Germany)
- Issue 01/2000 - Best 3D Stealth Game in 1999
Information also contributed by
Jack Lightbeard,
Neon Hammerite,
PCGamer77,
Scott Monster;
WildKards and
ZovniThis entry to the MobyGames database was contributed by
robotriot 
(8642) on Nov 01, 1999.
