Thief-lite
On the ZTGD Podcast we talk, probably ad nauseum about the current trend of early access games and how much we don’t like them in practice. I think the idea of them, working together with your audience to build a game; is a great one but the practice has just become to feel like we throw whatever kind of game we want in early access and sees what sticks. Thick as Thieves is the newest game from OG developers Warren Spector and Paul Neurath, both of which are no stranger to games about thieving. The problem is that while Thick as Thieves may not be saddled with the early access tag, it certainly has the same lack of content as games that do.
Thick as Thieves puts players in the shoes of a thief in the city of Kilcairn and as a member of the thieves’ guild players will take on missions to steal treasures, plans and more. Right now, there is only two maps available which will take players about 10 hours to finish everything and have enough XP to unlock the highest difficulty. There are multiple thieves to choose from, well there will be; currently players can only unlock one other one to play as. Each heist that players undertake will be different as the game will change security layouts and guards as players increase the difficulty level. There is even a green ghost guard who can travel through walls that can make things tricky. If players are killed during their heist, they will lose all of the loot they are carrying. To mitigate this there are stash holes scattered around, these orange literal holes in the wall allows players to teleport items they are carrying back to the base so they are safe. Once used these stashes holes will be unusable, so players will have to decide when best to store their loot.
MSRP: $4.99
Platforms: PC
Price I’d Pay: $4.99
As players undertake contracts from the Thieves Guild, they will have to steal specific items to progress the missions and then there are lots of treasures around that can be stolen for money. Players will use these funds to unlock new tools like the Pickpocket fairy, which allows thieves to trigger switches at a distance. With more tools to be added players will have lots of different strategies to try and infiltrate these maps. A lot of the turrets and traps that litter some maps feel as though they are holdovers from when this game was going to feature PvP. I entered a room with 4 sentry turrets, all of them turned off. If I was playing against someone then this would be a perfect trap, but without that it just feels off of place and unnecessary. Another thing that is HUGELY unnecessary is the time limits on heists, players will have 45 minutes in the first map, but why? Again, another arbitrary system that was implemented when the game was PvP.
Roaming around maps is fine, but in order for players to see guards through walls they will need to hold this giant diamond tool Again, I feel like this is a hold over from the PvP days because there is no way to mark a guard or anything, so the jewel works to see what may be ahead but so does just moving ahead and peeking from behind a box. Then there is the grappling hook, which is awesome to have in any game. Players can fire a line and be pulled up to higher areas which helps to evade guards or just find new paths. The real issue with the grappling hook is that there is no real grapple points, players can shoot it and use almost anything but even when trying to get on a roof, I would end up falling down the side because my character never grabbed the ledge. With some tweaks this can become a more reliable way to move around the city but at present it feels very ‘hit or miss’
One of the big issues with Thick as Thieves begins with the liner tutorial. Why on Earth the developers thought it was a good idea to use this type of on-boarding for a game that is all about choice. So from the get go players are trained for a liner experience but once dropped into the first map they will find a huge playground of guards and entrances. To put it bluntly, the tutorial does a poor job of preparing players for the game that’s ahead. Then there is the illusion of choice that players are given, and while yes there are lots of ways to tackle these heists, one way that is missing completely is combat. Players can knock out guards but once spotted there is no way to fight back and their only volition is to run.
While the developers removed the PvP, they did keep the co-op in-tact. Players will work with their friends to steal the same items but this time with a friend. Anthony and I managed to run some heists together, our experience varied. When players run out of time a magical exit door will appear that players will need to make it to in order to exit to their safe room. First of all, it was very unclear as to where we were supposed to go, because the arrow appeared to point back to where we spawned. Anthony had ran back there and discovered this was incorrect, then once we found the door we were attacked by guards, he died and I managed to get him revived and as we dashed through the magical door I found myself in my safe room, he found himself with a Windows crash log, as the game had done just that. Then after that he was unable to play because the Cloud save will not update, and so he is now unable to even play the game at all.
Thick as Thieves is armed with a lot of tools for success, but somehow doesn’t seem to capitalize on them. Now I am a big proponent of ensuring to include the price of a game into my reviews, and Thick of Thieves is being sold for cheaper than an Extra Value combo at McDonalds, clocking in at $4.99. That price may make Thick as Thieves attractive enough but this is very much a matter of ‘you get what you pay for’. As the content here feels more akin to a very generous demo than a complete package. I really like the idea of Thick as Thieves, but in its current iteration it has found it self stuck between its PvP past and its Co-Op future and try as it might, to me, Thick as Thieves is trying to cater to both audiences and in the end satisfying neither.
Review copy of game provided by publisher.
