Heartwarming / Thief II: The Metal Age

• Garrett being snarkily dismissive of love, romance and "feelings getting in the way of his money" in the first mission's briefing cutscene, but still helping his old pal Basso reunite with his girlfriend Jenivere (who is an indentured maidservant of Lady Rumford). While he tries to explain his motivation away with the prospect of loot from the Rumfords' mansion, it's clear he's also voluntarily doing Basso a favour. After all, Basso is implied to be one of the few stable friends he has and trusts, whether inside the thieving business or outside of it.
  • As a bonus, one of the pieces of special loot you can steal in the game is a set of engagement rings for Basso and his lover (which also fulfills a bonus objective).
• Garrett showing genuine compassion to Lotus, a Mechanist-captured Pagan agent, after he finds him in a freezer. Garrett doesn't think much of any faction, Pagans included, but knowing that the man went through torture and was deliberately exposed to hypothermia makes Garrett act more considerate than usual. He even adressed the dying agent with the question "Yes, my friend?" and (depending on the player's decision), gives him a Mercy Kill.
• While the circumstances surrounding it are both Nightmare Fuel and a Tear Jerker, when Garrett comes across a Pagan village wiped out by the Mechanists, the spirit of a slain young girl appears and introduces Garrett to her doll Dewdrop. She encourages Garrett to take Dewdrop with him, saying that she doesn't need him anymore. Sure enough, Garrett can pick up Dewdrop, taking the doll along with him to keep him company. But Dewdrop is more than just a Tragic Keepsake. While it doesn't trigger due to a bug, the doll is coded to actually protect Garrett if he's attacked by the Mechanists, magically floating up into the air and temporarily blinding Garrett's attackers. As it does, an echo of one of the ghost girl's earlier statements can be heard.
  "His name's 'Dewdrop', and he doesn't likes Mechanists..."
• Despite their past animosity and every reason to hate or be suspicious of each other, after Garrett and Viktoria are forced to team up, you see them gradually trying to come to an understanding. By the time the storyline nears its end, they're already talking in a manner that implies mutual respect with a hint of friendship. You're still not sure whether either of them completely trusts the other. It would be entirely logical if they didn't. But they're both past the stage when their impression of each other was "suspicion" at best and "contempt" at worst.
• By the game's final mission, in what might be an Ironic Echo to Garrett's previous snarking at the expense of feelings and romance, he seems to express genuine fear and anguish when he realises Viktoria is a goner and is about to die in a Heroic Sacrifice. That Viktoria puts aside what differences they might have had, and even pays him farewell with the words "My good thief...", hammers home just how much their opinions of each other have changed. This isn't exactly helped by some of the minor, but cheeky Ship Tease / UST moments the two of them had before in both the first and second installment, or by the stone-cold hatred heard in Garrett's mutter of "Karras..." after Viktoria perishes.

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