Thief: The Dark Project (Windows)

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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. It is set in a metropolis called "the City", a medieval fantasy world with some elements from the industrial revolution era of technology. 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. Entering combat against armed opponents is not recommended, though some enemies (notably the various undead) can be taken on directly or avoided. It is also possible to silently sneak on guards, incapacitate them with the blackjack, steal their keys, and move their bodies.

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, rope, and noisemaker arrows. Each type of arrows has a unique purpose: water extinguishes torches, moss covers the ground to soften the sounds of footsteps, ropes can be used to climb in certain spots or cross chasms, etc.

The levels in the game are fairly open, and most of the time there are several paths and ways to accomplish the objective. Certain objects can be interacted with, moved from place to place, or destroyed. The game has three difficulty levels distinguished by the amount of goals needed to fulfill. Lower difficulty levels may allow the player to skip some of the harder areas due to the lack of a mission objective leading there. On higher difficulties, additional requirements (such as completely non-lethal way of finishing a stage) may be added. Loot gained from Garrett's thieving can be used to purchase additional equipment for the mission ahead.

Screenshots

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

• 3D Engine: Dark Engine
• Gameplay feature: Lock picking
• Theme: Steampunk
• Theme: Zombies
• Thief series

User Reviews

Novelty and perfection	Oleg Roschin (164804)
An utterly unique game in a world a copycats	Jeff Thomas (19)
If you like impressing yourself with your own cleverness, this is the game for you!	Saborlas (4)
A stunning game for people who want thinking with their action.	Bluddy (13)
An excellent game which defined a genre.	Steelysama (106)
Steal this one if you have to!!	Zovni (9384)
Gripping, innovative, and truly addictive. A dark masterpiece from one of PC gaming's most undeniably inventive developers.	Cory Buttler (5)
Excellent	Ashley Pomeroy (233)
" The definitive single player FPS..."	Unrealist (179)
Original & fun.	OlSkool_Gamer (99)

The Press Says

Just Adventure	2000	A+	100
Cincinnati Enquirer	2000		100
The DOS Spirit	Dec 06, 2011	5.5 out of 6	92
Computer Gaming World (CGW)	Mar, 1999		90
Svenska PC Gamer	Jan, 1999	90 out of 100	90
Secret Service / New S Service	Jan, 1999	9 out of 10	90
Jeuxvideo.com	Nov 25, 2011	18 out of 20	90
All Game Guide	1998		90
Just Games Retro	Apr 17, 2013		90
Game Over Online	Dec 03, 1998	88 out of 100	88

Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Duality	7	hribek (38) Mar 24, 2009
What can/ could You take away (add?)	3	hribek (38) Mar 22, 2009
Garrett on steroids	3	hribek (38) Mar 22, 2009
Garret looks like Nicholas Cage?	3	hribek (38) Mar 13, 2009

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
• GameSpy
  • 2001 – #40 Top Game of All Time
• 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
• Power Play
  • Issue 02/1999 – Best Action-Adventure in 1998

Information also contributed by Jack Lightbeard, Neon Hammerite, PCGamer77, Scott Monster; WildKards and Zovni

Related Web Sites

• The Circle of Stone and Shadow (A huge fan network dedicated to the Thief Series. Including everything from user-crafted levels to fan fiction. If it is Thief-related, odds are that you'll find it here.)
• Thief: The Dark Project (Official Website)