HomeFeatures
Thief: Deadly Shadows will still have you fearing the light some 16 years onA Keeper
A Keeper
I was a little afraid of returning to this one. Not because I knew it’d mean returning to The Cradle, even though I was very intrigued to see if it would still work. But because I once scored it 90% in a magazine, and I really didn’t want to be wrong. What if I’d been caught up in the hype of reviewing a massive title from one of the best ever developers? Then I’d feel silly.
Well, there are almost certainly (let’s face, definitely) examples of this in my career, but thank goodness Deadly Shadows isn’t one of them. My goodness this is a magnificent game. And it’s so, so much more than just The Cradle. In fact, I’d say there are missions in there better than its infamous horror story. Or perhaps what I want from a sneaker has changed in the last sixteen years?
I’ve been back to the originalThief: The Dark Project(TDP) a few times over the years. I wrote about it (oh lord) eleven years agofor Eurogamer, but returned much more recently than that. Yet for some reason I don’t believe I’ve ever been back to Deadly Shadows (TDS) since its 2004 release. And while if I ever got enough sleep I might be able to compile a strong article explaining why I think TDP is still the best game in the series, I’m delighted to have learned that with time, TDS feels far more like a part of a trilogy with the first two than it did on release.
Gosh it’s just so brilliant being Garrett. I’m not sure I can think of a game character I prefer playing as. I mean, he’s a proper dick - stealing from the elderly, the desperate, the victims of blackmail. Goodness me, Garrett is deeply without morality. But I mean more in terms of the sneakiness. Garrett stays hidden, slips through the shadows, and resents any direct contact with anyone. As a misanthrope, to me that’s a hero characteristic right there. But more importantly, being Garrett redirects absolutely everything about a first-person game. You are not there to blast the shit out of everyone, nor to be the hero, nor to gain accolades and the love of all around. You’re there to never be noticed at all. To enter a large, sprawling building, and leave without anyone ever knowing you were ever there. And when a game is designed from the ground up with the ego of the player character completely eradicated, it makes for such a more interesting experience.
And while I’m moaning, I wish the blackjack weren’t so pedantic in this. That’s my favourite bit of Thief, andDishonored, and all the other games in its wake. Sneaking up behind someone and bonking them on the back of the head, then adding them to my sleeping victims pile in a dark corner. But TDS makes such an odd decision to demand that blackjackings are executed at some improbably perfect angle, victims somehow immune if they turn their head 15 degrees as you swing.
So let’s talk The Cradle. There are few levels that have received such attention, and it’s certainly well deserved. Jordan Thomas and Randy Smith put everything into this one, years of Looking Glass know-how to craft a spooky level that finds horror in every tiny detail. I’m not going to add to the vast pile of articles about it, because frankly there’s no point since Kieron’s meticulous and ludicrousten page magazine feature about it (pdf). Go read that. It’s amazing. But I want to talk about my experience of it in 2020.
As I mentioned, it wasn’t my highlight this time around. I mean, I can’t pretend I didn’t say the words “Shitting shit!” out loud at one point at the all-consuming horror of it all, nor grin like a loon that first time you see a patient in the distance, running wildly past a window. But I was here to steal shiny things, and Robbing The Cradle is about feeling scared while completing some fetch quests, across various time periods, whilesome fucking thing is clicking near you for goodness sakes. My favourite this time was The House of the Widow Moira, a proper old mansion level, with all manner of secret passages, hidden rooms, spooky backstories, and so many guards to put in fetching piles. This for me is Thief at its most Thiefy, and playing it is just sublime.
Which leaves me just one more thought I want to convey in this rambling screed: save-scumming. Thief’s other joyful strength is the variety of ways in which it can be approached. I believe the Only Correct Way to play the game is to set out to completely ghost every level, but then improvise as soon as anything goes wrong. I don’t do this. Because I want to live out the fantasy that Garrett is completely undiscovered in every heist, I incessantly reload the moment anything isn’t perfect, and then execute it better. And yes, I know. There are those who look down on this. There are those who consider such behaviour treason. But to you I say this: Hush, I’m having fun. And I’m still better than the people who just kill everyone with arrows.
That said, it was still pretty buggy for me, Garrett often getting stuck in the middle of a jump so he hovered above the ground, and an awful lot of crashes to desktop. Hey, it’s nearly two decades old, but be warned it’s not stable.
It’s a massive game, and such an interesting one, and while I think Thief: The Dark Project will always be the best of them, it’s right up there. Shut the curtains, stick Blu-Tac over the lights on your monitors, and return to the sneakiest of all sneaky games.
Can I still play Thief: Deadly Shadows?
Yes. But get theSneaky Updatementioned above first, that’s pretty essential, and save often as it’s prone to crashing.
Should I still play Thief: Deadly Shadows?
Oh gosh definitely. Play all three. But don’t miss out on this one. It’s glorious.
