There is a rising tide of fear in The City. Hatred saturates every stone and whilst the rich prosper, the less fortunate face misery and repression. Ravaged with sickness and famine, they wait for something to change.
Into this shadowy world steps Garrett, THE master thief in Thief, a reinvention of a franchise that helped define an entire genre of games. This first-person adventure features intelligent design that allows players to take full control, with freedom to choose their path through the game's levels and how they approach and overcome each challenge.
Getting through the world of Thief VR is natural and intuitive, and there's times where it all comes together as you knock out guards and pilfer, but there's so many small details and poor AI that drag you back out of the moment. A decent thievery game, but not as good a Thief game.
Perhaps what is most disappointing is that Thief does its best to make you believe that there's more to it beneath the surface, and you'll drudge through much of its mess with that glint of hope. That isn't the case, though, as it's very much a "take it as it is" experience, and if you're willing to do so you'll find that it just might steal some time...
Though this might seem incongruous with the rest of the review, Thief is definitely a game that's worth playing. It gets a recommendation, despite the final score and its many, many, many flaws, because the stealth gameplay really is great, and with pure stealth games becoming such a rarity it's gratifying to find a game that really brings the art of...
There is the idea of what a Thief game should be here, and it's not complicated. Strip it down, get back to the essentials, and this game may have played something more like Arkane's excellent Dishonored. As it stands, however, it's neither itself nor, really, anything else.
