Thief: The Dark Project

Lore & Background

The City is a metropolis blending elements of Middle Ages-like dark fantasy and the Industrial Revolution. Project director Greg LoPiccolo described it as "sort of medieval [Europe] meets Brazil meets City of Lost Children," with some electricity, some magic, and 19th century machinery. The setting has been described as steampunk and argued to be one of the earliest examples of the New Weird genre. The City contains three factions: the Keepers, and two opposing religious orders known as the Pagans and the Order of the Hammer, or "Hammerites."

The latter two represent chaos and order respectively, while the neutral, secretive Keepers strive to maintain balance. The Hammerites worship a deity called "The Builder" and believe in progress, craftsmanship and righteousness; the Pagans worship the dangerous "Trickster" god and value the natural world. During levels, the player may learn about the setting by finding notes and overhearing conversations, participating in the revelation of Thief's setting.

Reader's Guide

Thief takes place from a first-person perspective in a 3D environment, with the story taking place over a series of missions. Levels are largely unscripted and maze-like, allowing for emergent gameplay. Players have the freedom to choose how to get around NPCs and obstacles to complete specific tasks. In each level, the player is given a set of objectives to complete, such as stealing a specific object.

The player can choose to play on one of three difficulty settings before starting a level, with higher difficulties adding additional objectives such as not killing human NPCs or stealing a certain amount of loot. The game's emphasis is on stealth, encouraging concealment, evasion, distraction, misdirection, and subtle takedowns rather than outright confrontation. A special meter on the HUD, in the form of a gem, indicates the player's visibility to NPCs.

NPCs feature AI systems that detect unscripted visual and aural cues. The player carries equipment including a blackjack (which can incapacitate humanoid NPCs), a sword, and a bow with various arrow types such as water arrows, rope arrows, moss arrows, and fire arrows. Other tools include lockpicks, flashbombs, and potions. Players can purchase additional arrows and tools between levels with loot they have acquired.

Did You Know?

• Thief achieved sales of half a million units by 2000, making it Looking Glass' most commercially successful game.
• The game was followed by an expanded edition called Thief Gold in 1999, which modified certain missions and included brand new levels.
• Thief was one of two games in the series that Looking Glass worked on before its closure in 2000.