Thief: Deadly Shadows

aka: Dark Project: Deadly Shadows, TDS, Thief 3: Deadly Shadows, Thief 3: Złowieszcze Cienie, Thief III
Moby ID: 13460
Windows Specs
Note: We may earn an affiliate commission on purchases made via eBay or Amazon links (prices updated 3/27 10:27 AM )

Description official descriptions

Master Thief Garrett is contacted by the Keeper Artemus, who wants him to steal two valuable artifacts. Meanwhile, Garrett learns that the coming of a Dark Age had been prophesied long ago. Gaining access to the Keeper Prophecies, Garrett learns that an ancient book known as the Compendium of Reproach contains more information about the prophecy. As Garrett is trying to solve the mystery, it becomes more and more clear to him that there is a traitor in the order of the Keepers.

Thief: Deadly Shadows is the third installment in the Thief series. The game follows the same design philosophy and gameplay structure that distinguished its predecessors. As before, stealth is the key to successful completion of missions. Avoiding confrontation with the guards, Garrett has to make his way through the levels towards the objective. Shadows and sounds play a large role, as guards will react to suspicious noises, and studying their patrolling routines is essential.

A few gameplay elements have been slightly altered. Garrett can no longer swim, but is able to use climbing gloves that attach him to the walls. He can also flatten himself against walls while standing; if in shadow, he remains completely unnoticeable that way. The player can see Garrett's limbs even if he is viewed from first-person perspective, allowing more precise movements. Switching to third-person view is also possible.

The most significant gameplay change is the non-linear exploration of the City, which has been added to the largely linear missions. In order to access the next mission, Garrett has to explore the City. On his way, he can overhear conversations, steal valuables, avoid or knock out the guards, and even accept secondary missions, which will influence his reputation with some of its factions.

Spellings

  • Thief 3. Тень смерти - Russian spelling
  • 神偷:死亡阴影 - Simplified Chinese spelling

Groups +

Screenshots

Promos

Videos

See any errors or missing info for this game?

You can submit a correction, contribute trivia, add to a game group, add a related site or alternate title.

Credits (Windows version)

265 People (208 developers, 57 thanks) · View all

Studio Director
Project Director
Executive Producer
Associate Producer
Additional Production
Lead Programmer
Programmers
Additional Programming
Director of Technology
Technology Group
[ full credits ]

Reviews

Critics

Average score: 83% (based on 44 ratings)

Players

Average score: 3.9 out of 5 (based on 105 ratings with 7 reviews)

All good things must come to an end

The Good
Admittedly my expectations were quite low, what with Ion Storm’s much touted bungling of ‘Invisible War’...I almost made the 3 hour journey to Austin to scream at Warren. Luckily ‘Thief: Deadly Shadows’ has in no way suffered the same fate. The list of good and bad aspects is a long one, so here we go:

The most prominent improvement is, of course, the update to the Unreal II engine. More than capable of rendering real-time lighting and shadows, it also gives a boost in the AI department. Because of this, I had to be more mindful of my actions this time around, because guards and others would often become alerted or suspicious if a torch was doused, if valuables were not in their proper place, or even if a guard was not present at his scheduled patrol station. Speaking of which, NPCs will often randomly stop to talk to one another and react to each other’s actions, and even start fights!

Graphics and AI upgrades aside, the nucleus of the Thief atmosphere is one thing that has not changed at all. In fact, ‘Deadly Shadows’ feels much more like a Thief game to me than the mechanical environment of ‘The Metal Age’ (even though such an environment was vital to the story, but still…). One thing I loved about the first game was its dark, gritty appearance, and that it really did give me the creeps. Thankfully, this atmosphere has made a return, and is in fact much more sinister and frightening at times than even ‘The Dark Project’. Also, a lot of familiar entities, friend or foe, have made a comeback as well, including a couple of “old friends” from the first game.

Perhaps the most outstanding difference between ‘Deadly Shadows’ and the previous two games is, rather than employ the traditional complete-a-level-and-then-transport-to-the-next-one, most of the time you’re required to journey to the next mission yourself throughout the various quadrants of the City. Along the way, you’re allowed to break into establishments, pickpocket unsuspecting citizens, and sell your loot to buy supplies at fence shops. Excellent!

The Bad
I only have a couple of major grievances, and they’re artistic ones.

First of all, I was highly disappointed at the disappearance of the between mission cut scenes that the first two games had. Gone are the tantalizing quotes and slide-show movies; now we simply have Garrett reading text that sits against a smoky background. Second, the interface was changed. I’m not exactly sure why; it can’t be because of co-development with XBOX, because the Thief games already had a very simple control scheme. This most likely won’t bother most, but it did irk me, so if you want a more traditional Thief UI I’d suggest going to TTLG.com and downloading the “tweaker”, because it does wonders. Also, there is a known bug with the enemy AI, but the 414KB patch can be downloaded from Ion Storm’s homepage or TTLG.

Many have complained about the “load zones” throughout the game (to accommodate the memory limitations of the XBOX), but I didn’t find them to be a huge distraction. Many of my favorite FPS games such as ‘Deus Ex’, ‘System Shock 2’, and ‘Undying’ have load zones, so I don’t see it as anything to gripe about.

The Bottom Line
It’s well known by many how much of a devoted Thief fanatic I am, so people like myself are 99% more likely to be extremely critical of this game. I can say with confidence that ‘Deadly Shadows’ is most definitely a Thief game in almost every sense of the word, and surpassed my expectations across the board. I confess that it doesn’t surpass ‘The Dark Project’, a magical game than can never be duplicated. In my opinion however it does offer a much more satisfying and thief-like experience than the heavy sci-fi overtones of ‘The Metal Age’. Old-timers like myself will be happy with the conclusion, and newbies will want to know more about this bizarre world that is the City.

So long Garrett…thanks for six years worth gaming righteousness.

And Mr. Spector, thanks for restoring my faith in you.

Windows · by HandofShadow (49) · 2006

Some great additions for the series, and some drawbacks too

The Good
First of all, this is the third in the planned Thief trilogy, and the fact that it's here is good. Stephen Russell is back to voice Garrett(as well as guards etc) along with other instantly recognizable(and excellent) voices, Thief style FMV's are back and they're as atmospheric and other-worldly as always, although mixed in with some that appear to be in an in-engine style, there's still the haunting ambient sounds to keep the tension up. All these things are familiar to seasoned Taffers and help bring the unique Thief atmosphere back, and should draw newcomers in to the game.

The graphics are excellent, although technically an improvement I wouldn't say that they're necessarily so, as the originals looked sharp and the graphics did the job very very well(The Dark Project even ran smoothly on my ATI Rage 2MB onboard graphics!). Deadly shadows still looks excellent(there's much less right angles too) and this is failing to mention the real-time shadows; which are a great addition to the game, and directly effect gameplay, you can now hide in the shadow of a door left ajar, or a pile of stacked boxes etc.

There is now a much more open-ended element to the game, and even some side quests that effect your standing with the factions. The City itself is very much part of the game, patrolled by the City Watch and wandered by valuable adorned passers by. There's fences and blackmarket shops throughout the City of several types - some will buy some types of goods from you and others will buy others. In turn some shops will have equipment or items in stock that other's won't. You'll have to travel across the City to get to the areas of the next mission, and this is where the open-endedness really comes into play, stop to pickpocket a passer-by, break into an armoury or a closed up tavern, or pretty much visit any area you want.

The missions themselves are varied, from a traditional manor/castle type estate to a zombie infested ghost ship, pagan settlements, a spooky maze like asylum etc, one of my favourites was the sunken city inhabited by the lizard-like Kurshock. The later levels are more difficult, and achieve a very good level of tension and scariness, in keeping with the original games. The plot quickly becomes a driving force behind the missions and, as always, the Keepers are very much involved.

The AI will notice extinguished torches and investigate missing valuables, comrades and open doors. A small point but it's now longer possible to stand in the shadows and lean into a well lit corridor unseen, more realistic and a good point in my book.

The Bad
My main gripe is the movement, which is somewhat clunky and slower to react, once you've pressed a key you've got to wait for the model to do it's thing. For example, say you're having a look around and decide to set off in another direction, the model will turn to first to face the same direction, and move slightly to one side while doing so - this resulted in falling off a close ledge a couple of times early on. Leaning also feels rather haphazard. I did get stuck in the scenery a couple of times too. That lot all said, I got used to it pretty quickly and was having too much fun to notice.

Load zones, most missions are broken up into two areas and the City is broken up into several areas, now this didn't bother me too much, but one drawback is that it's easier to run through one and leave a band of cursing guards on the other side, also they can sometimes still be waiting for you when you return, this detracted a bit from the experience.

The design of the game seemed a bit easy in places(not the AI). No swimmable water, entering deep water results in instant death. Rope arrows, while highly improbable, were fun to use but have been replaced with climbing gloves. The HUD is more obtrusive and has some unnecessary curly iron work. Now there's a lot of tweaks available on the web that address a lot of issues, but personally I thought I'd just play the game as is(and moan about it afterwards).

The missions are much smaller than the originals, but a lot of effort has gone in to making the levels not feel small. A small note but the guards will now get tired and pause while chasing you, this makes it easier to get away but may be down to the smaller levels.

The Bottom Line
There is a fairly long list of improvements and drawbacks, perhaps the drawbacks are a little longer on my list but overall the game is true in many ways to the Thief series and is a lot of fun to play through.

Windows · by Jack Lightbeard (2685) · 2005

Garrett Makes His Triumphal Return

The Good
Garrett’s back! The personable thief, yet again voiced by the talented Stephen Russell, is as much of a badass as ever. The series that made popular the pattern of gliding from one pool of darkness to the next, snatching up loot along the way, and laying a guard low with a blackjack when he unsuspectingly wanders into Garrett’s path. It’s all back again, with some welcome fresh technological touches.

Arguably, the biggest change is with the visuals. Thief: Deadly Shadows is powered by a modern Unreal engine, the same engine that powered Deus Ex: Invisible War, optimized in this game for torches and pools of darkness to hide in, and boy is the engine demanding. If you have the hardware to keep the engine roaring, though, the payoff is enormous. Dynamic lighting makes the gameplay in Thief shine, and it makes snuffing out the many torches with water arrows almost a crime. The way that shadows dance on the far wall is reason enough to pause, as is how you can see your shadow while you’re creeping up behind someone, blackjack in that dark shadow’s hand, raised at the last moment to strike. Oh yes, the visuals are something to behold, that much is certain.

Hand in hand with those visuals, is the new ‘body awareness.’ Look down, you’ll see your legs, look from side to side, you’ll see your arms, weapons in hand. While climbing a ladder, scaling a wall, and all that jazz, you’re very much aware of where your body is at all times. Being able to see your own shadow is something you get used to pretty quick, but body awareness…now that’s something novel. Far from being distracting, it’s just one more method of keeping track of where you are, in a game that puts a lot of emphasis on being in the right place at the right time, so you can go unseen by the passersby. This kind of awareness is something I ache for in Valve’s Source engine, and I hope it’s not limited to Thief 3 as time goes on.

Now we come to something that really shines in this new engine – the level design. With the enhanced color palette, and the increased ability of the engine being used (no offense intended to the wonderful Dark engine, which powered the first two games), level design has reached a new height in the Thief series. Buildings made of stone actually look made of stone now, and rear up impressively. The soaring towers are reason to pause in your thieving, and the level designers made full use of what this engine is capable of. Unfortunately, the city levels are broken up into smaller sections, and each mission is generally made up of two areas linked together. More on that bit in the ‘Bad’ section, but aside from the minor annoyance that this level segregation brings, it fortunately doesn’t distract from the level design all that much. All in all, the level design is breathtaking at times, which is something I didn’t expect from this game. One of the levels in particular, Shalebridge Cradle, is also one of the spookiest I’ve had the pleasure of wandering through in a game, even factoring in the hair-raising Ocean House mansion in Vampire Bloodlines.

One great thing about the Thief series has been the sound in the game, and most notably, the voice work. Overhearing conversations has been a highlight in all three games, and many of the old voices are back again. This is one very good thing, as something familiar and as well done as ever is very nice in the light of all the other changes to the game. A conversation is still a delight to come across, and the sounds of the level are as capable of setting the mood as they ever were. Since much of the game is spent in darkness, and hiding, a great part of survival is simply listening to your environment and the enemies within it, and this game doesn’t slack when it comes to letting you use your auditory senses to keep Garrett in one piece. Sometimes the sound is a little TOO effective, as Shalebridge Cradle again brings to mind. That level manages to show off the game quite nicely, though it comes at a later point in the game.

Ahh, gameplay, isn’t that what Thief has always been about? Graphics were certainly never the main draw, and the amusing conversations have just been a bonus. No, the Thief games are all about making a profit as Garrett the Master Thief, while being given motivation to steal through well-written pre- and post-mission briefings, as well as a potent story advanced mostly through nicely done cutscenes. The cutscenes themselves are very close to how they’ve always been, and mission briefings are still narrated by Garrett, though the briefings have changed, which I’ll get to in a bit. The loot that you can pick up is now highlighted by a timed ‘glinting’, and while this happened to throw me off at first, when factoring in how rich the game world is now it’s a very welcome improvement. Even with the loot glinting, I still had to keep a sharp eye out in order not to miss any loot. Knocking out guards is still as fun as ever, and being able to see your shadow while doing it just adds that extra bit of cinematic feel, bringing you in even closer to the action. Gameplay was transferred intact to this new game, and is all the better for the changes that have been made.

An interesting touch is also the inclusion of walking around the city, getting to your mission areas by actually travelling to them on foot, and selling the loot from the previous mission along the way. Stopping by a thieving supply store, of which there are many, is also part of the game now. What this manages to do is bring life to The City, of which we saw in some missions in the previous games, but never really got much of an impression of The City outside of them. The City is definitely well-represented here, if it does seem a bit cramped. An element of realism has been placed, and it’s done nicely.

Oh, and my personal favorite touch – no more spiders. While not terribly afraid of them in real life, the spiders in the first two Thief games were...a bit much, for my taste. Hissing gigantic spiders that take up the whole screen, no thank you, sir!

The Bad
Well, for one thing, the pre-mission briefings no longer have their still-image cutscenes to go along with the narration. While not something that adversely impacts the game, it’s still a disappointment, as this was one hell of a touch of class for both of the previous games. That Garrett is still Garrett, and that he does the narrating, helps to make up for this, but the change is still there.

As mentioned previously, the levels are split up and segmented. Strangely enough, the city levels suffer from this more than the missions themselves do. Maybe it’s the amount of traveling that you will do in the course of the game, but the city segments feel a little off somehow. While it didn’t take much out of the game for me, the loads between Old Quarter and The Docks are definitely where you’ll ponder your feelings about the level segmentation. I’m sure there was a reason for keeping the levels split up, most likely performance-related, but it’s still one of my main complaints.

Swimming has been removed, and replaced with climbing gloves. The gloves feel gimmicky to me, and though I did manage to find several places to use them cleverly, I do wish that swimming had been able to be implemented in this new engine. Again, nothing game-breaking, but when you die the first time you encounter deep water, you’ll wonder what happened to make Garrett lose the ability to swim.

The Bottom Line
The Thief series has always been one of my favorite games, and Thief 2 is still a contender for my absolute favorite game, depending on the mood I’m in. When playing this new Thief, I tried to keep my feelings for the previous games separate from this game, but by the end, I had to admit that this is a true Thief game. Changes have been made, but overall, they seem to have been for the better.

If you’re a follower of Garrett, as I am not ashamed to admit being, then this game is worthy of your attention. If you have no idea what I mean by that, then all I have to say is to check out the first two games, and then consider this game again. Much of the storyline has attained closure at the end of Thief 3, storyline that has been developed through two previous games as well as this one. A fantastic storyline, at that.

At the end of the day, Thief: Deadly Shadows is a good game, possibly more if you let it be. While Thief 2 will remain this reviewer’s favorite of the series, Thief 3 has shown itself to be worthy, and because of that, I can’t recommend this game enough.

Windows · by Bet (473) · 2005

[ View all 7 player reviews ]

Trivia

Difficulty bug

Both the Xbox and PC versions shipped with a bug that affected the AI. The difficulty setting of the AI would default to Normal from all other levels (Easy, Hard, Expert) upon reloading a save game or re-entering a load zone. The game would still indicate that the setting was unchanged, so the only noticeable effect was that the awareness of the guards was easier and they dealt less damage. Ion Storm released a small patch (415 kb) for the PC version that fixes this problem.

Engine

Ion Storm developed Thief: Deadly Shadows with a heavily modified Unreal engine. Its the same engine that was used for Deus Ex: Invisible War.

Graphics

Originally the game did not work properly on ATI Radeon cards. Textures popped in and out, causing walls and floors to turn black and making it appear like there were shadows where there aren't supposed to be any shadows. This was fixed with the Catalyst 4.8 drivers.

Mods

Even though Ion Storm was shut down by its publisher-owner Eidos in early 2005, mod software tools for their final game Thief: Deadly Shadows have been released shortly after.

The mod tools could be found at a number of web file download sites like FileShack and 3DGamers. The 323 MB download will allow players to modify or build new maps for the game along with scripts, conversations and more. It also includes a number of tutorial maps.

[Source: Computer Games Magazine (Feb. 2005)]

References

The various painted portraits gracing walls throughout the game actually depict members of the development team. They were drawn by comic-book artist Frank Teran, who supplied much of the concept art for the game.

Awards

  • GameSpy
    • 2004 – Best Sound of the Year (PC)

Information also contributed by Alan Chan, EndlessDespair, Jack Lightbeard and Jeanne

Analytics

MobyPro Early Access

Upgrade to MobyPro to view research rankings!

Related Games

Thief: The Complete Collection
Released 2006 on Windows
Thief Collection
Released 2007 on Windows
Thief II: The Metal Age
Released 2000 on Windows
The Multi-dimensional Thief
Released 1991 on DOS
Cops & Robbers
Released 2009 on iPhone, Windows Mobile
Grappling Action: Moon Dancer
Released 2009 on iPhone
Thief: The Dark Project
Released 1998 on Windows
Rhythm Thief & the Emperor's Treasure
Released 2012 on Nintendo 3DS

Related Sites +

Identifiers +

  • MobyGames ID: 13460
  • [ Please login / register to view all identifiers ]

Contribute

Are you familiar with this game? Help document and preserve this entry in video game history! If your contribution is approved, you will earn points and be credited as a contributor.

Contributors to this Entry

Game added by PhoenixFire.

Additional contributors: Unicorn Lynx, Sciere, Scott Monster, Xoleras, UV, Havoc Crow, Klaster_1, Patrick Bregger, ZeTomes.

Game added May 26, 2004. Last modified March 17, 2024.