The announcement of the new reboot of Thief was long awaited by fans of the series. Today we have some details of what you can expect when the game launches. Gameinformer dropped the first images and details in its latest issue. If you didn’t get a chance to see those initial images and the cover art go here.
We have some details on both the gameplay and some of the tools Garret wil make use of, via NeoGaf. Long time fans can expect much of what they have always loved about the series along with a few changes. This time around the development team is taking away some of the magical elements of the lore for a more grounded approach.
In a recent gameplay demo Gameinformer attended, we see Garrett returning to his hometown to find a “city of melting prosperity.” The demo showed off the game’s attention to AI and player choice.

The gameplay focuses on evasion and stealth, as I’m sure you imagined, Garrett is more likely to run or hide than to stand up to more than just a few enemies at once.
The Artificial Intelligence in the game will allow NPCs to understand the design of a level or area, allowing them to more realistically react to player choices. The NPCs understand the topography of a given environment allowing them to realistically search area’s Garrett could be hiding in. This kind of reaction by enemy guards is something that many fans of the stealth genre appreciate and has been a hot topic among gamers regarding other big time stealth experiences.
Garrett will have an ability called Focus which allows him to highlight various elements of the environment. The Focus mode will highlight objects the player can interact with, revealing hidden paths and climbable objects etc. The Focus mode can also be used to slow down time while pick pocketing and in combat, allowing Garrett to swipe more goodies and even target a specific point on an enemies body. According to the magazine, the points can be chained together in order to deliver a more devastating attack.
There is also a very interesting detective-like mechanic being referred to as the Fingerprints system as well. Apparently every drawer can be accessed while Garrett is on his missions, so players can use the Fingerprint system in order to decipher which drawers are more important than others.
We also have a brief list of some of the tools Garret will bemaking use of in the new Thief reboot.
Blackjack: use when sneaking up behind guards to knock them unconscious
Bow: powerful, can be used outside of combat (ex: fire at a bottle in another room to lure a guard away, trigger a switch to lock the guard inside)
Specialty Arrows: different uses; dry-ice arrow can be used to snuff flames from far away; smoke-starter arrow: cover and a distraction
Claw: grapple attaches to certain points
The mag via NeoGaf goes on to mention that Eidos is being “vague about how faithful the team is remaining to the original Thief lore.” We will have to wait until sometime in 2014 to find out, until then check out the latest screens for the game and the official site.
Craig Hunter – who has written 1159 posts on The Jace Hall Show.
Craig Hunter is a main contributor for the Jace Hall Show and has been an avid gamer for over 15 years. He also freelances for a number of websites and magazines covering mobile products and emerging technologies.

Logan Huffman wants to know who is posting comments about him online and asks Jace for help. Meanwhile Joe Flanigan is caught again flirting in the V costume. Jace heads to the set of Law and Order: SVU to catch up with Ice – T and Coco and the Starcraft II team gets “rushed” by World of Warcraft Lead Designer, Jeff Kaplan.
Jace has decided to take advantage of his co-hosting duties at the Sony Online Entertainment Fan Faire celebration, by showing his new music video to the thousands of EverQuest players in attendance, much to the dismay of the crowd. That didn’t stop one enthusiastic guest from doing something radical.