To put it simply, if you are a fan of the previous Thief games, it will be that much harder for you to enjoy this one. I myself grew up with the series, and rank the original two among my favourite games of all time, so I had an especially hard time getting over the ways in which this newest iteration distances itself from the series. I found myself angrily challenging every difference, big and small, and thus struggled to take the game as seriously as I should. It isn't that a reboot can't work - the likes of Tomb Raider or Deus Ex:HR shows you can change things up and still have a good game - but if you are going to change the formula and risk the fan's ire, you'd better make a good enough game to justify all the changes.
Once I managed to get over the differences (the sooner you can do this, the better) The actual core game play of sneaking and stealing is fun, at least for the first few hours. Evading deadly guards, going at your own pace, and looting a massive mansion from top to bottom all feel pretty fun. The addition of a "swooping" mechanic to replace a standard jump button does a great job of letting you get around faster whilst spending most the game crouching, and encourages you to take riskier, more time sensitive manoeuvres, which feels nice when it pays off. Unfortunately, having to watch the same scripted animations for climbing, picking up objects, and opening windows gets old. Moving around the city becomes tedious too. The city has some wonderful three dimensional design and looks lovely at times, but it does the Thief: Deadly Shadows thing of segmenting the city - albeit much worse. Getting around requires you to enter windows (which hide loading screens to the next section of level), but finding these windows can be an awkward and perplexing search. How the hell are pedestrians supposed to get around this place?
The worst thing though is the story. After so many re-writes, the story has become an aimless mess that squanders the series' unique lore, transforms Garrett into an expressionless husk, and culminates in a lazy, insubstantial, literal cliff hanger.
My verdict is this: Rent it and give it back before you make it to the end.
Depends on how much you love the other Thief games
To put it simply, if you are a fan of the previous Thief games, it will be that much harder for you to enjoy this one. I myself grew up with the series, and rank the original two among my favourite games of all time, so I had an especially hard time getting over the ways in which this newest iteration distances itself from the series. I found myself angrily challenging every difference, big and small, and thus struggled to take the game as seriously as I should. It isn't that a reboot can't work - the likes of Tomb Raider or Deus Ex:HR shows you can change things up and still have a good game - but if you are going to change the formula and risk the fan's ire, you'd better make a good enough game to justify all the changes.
Once I managed to get over the differences (the sooner you can do this, the better) The actual core game play of sneaking and stealing is fun, at least for the first few hours. Evading deadly guards, going at your own pace, and looting a massive mansion from top to bottom all feel pretty fun. The addition of a "swooping" mechanic to replace a standard jump button does a great job of letting you get around faster whilst spending most the game crouching, and encourages you to take riskier, more time sensitive manoeuvres, which feels nice when it pays off. Unfortunately, having to watch the same scripted animations for climbing, picking up objects, and opening windows gets old. Moving around the city becomes tedious too. The city has some wonderful three dimensional design and looks lovely at times, but it does the Thief: Deadly Shadows thing of segmenting the city - albeit much worse. Getting around requires you to enter windows (which hide loading screens to the next section of level), but finding these windows can be an awkward and perplexing search. How the hell are pedestrians supposed to get around this place?
The worst thing though is the story. After so many re-writes, the story has become an aimless mess that squanders the series' unique lore, transforms Garrett into an expressionless husk, and culminates in a lazy, insubstantial, literal cliff hanger.
My verdict is this: Rent it and give it back before you make it to the end.