Warren Spector's Thick As Thieves Has The Potential To Blow Up The Stealth Genre

Stealth games are really hard to get right. If they’re too hectic, they may as well not even be labeled a stealth game. If they’re too passive, players can easily get bored, especially if your aim is to capture a general audience. There’s a reason so many of them fail to captivate people, but Thick As Thieves could be on to something special if they can deliver on what we saw at Summer Game Fest.

“A PvPvE multiplayer stealth game set in a 1910s metropolis” with magic elements and Warren Spector’s involvement sounds enticing on paper: which is why I had to see it for myself. We had the chance to chat with Michael Fitch, Director of Product from OtherSide Entertainment, to get a feel for what Thick As Thieves will be bringing to the table when it eventually arrives.

Four Thieves Enter A Map, Only One Leaves A Winner

Make Friends And Enemies

Here’s the elevator pitch. Four players, all of whom control a unique named character with different tools, are all thrown into a giant map. That map is randomized every game, and tasks you with finding clues that eventually lead to loot, and a big treasure hidden somewhere on the map. All the while, everyone is trying to compete with one another to get there first, and extract with the prize. It’s intriguing enough on its own, but there’s a lot of unique personality and flair to Thick As Thieves that helps sell the game beyond the premise.

“We weren’t interesting in making the flavor of the month stealth release,” Fitch notes. When Warren Spector and company looked at the game, they honed in on multiplayer as a focus. Originally, Fitch says, the game was co-op based, but when they pivoted to PvPvE, “other players brought a special experience” to the table. Fitch explains: “the level of tension, and the unpredictability… makes things way more dynamic.” I could see that in the live demo, where every player (which consisted of folks from Otherside remoting into our session) was approaching things in a unique way, and generally were puzzling everything out separately; while converging at key moments.

“Coming Back To The Roots Of Parkour & Stealth”: Assassin’s Creed Shadows Creative Director Teases What Longtime Series Fans Have To Look Forward To

Assassin’s Creed Shadows is going back to basics, says its creative director, with a renewed focus on stealth and parkour over action gameplay.

The character choice really dictates that approach. One thief uses a grappling gun just like Batman would, but they need to crank it after use. The demo also showed off a pickpocket fairy, which flew down from a rootop to grab a key from an NPC guard. Another character, that I suspect will be very popular (just like the spy in Team Fortress), is a chameleon, and able to change shape and emulate any NPC in the game. Fitch made sure to let us know that the form they take will replicate those NPCs down to the walk speed and animations: though something is slightly off about them, to make them easy to spot at a glance, rather than with something rote like a detective vision mechanic or arcadey outline.

One thing I picked up on is how the game is not mean-spirited in any way, which adds a lot of heart to everything that I saw on screen. “You never kill anyone, right?” Fitch explains. “We wanted an ethical center. There are penalties for disrupting civilians…the thieves’ guild is going to get mad at you for ruining their reputation. It is very much a game about thievery than about killing or domination.” For instance, guards and other players can be knocked out, but there’s no kill count or reward for doing so. Your eyes are supposed to be on the prize, which is core to what being a true thief is all about.

Thick As Thieves Is Still A Way Out, But It’s On My Wishlist

I’ll Be Following It Into Launch

Immersion is often a buzzword, but when watching the live demo, I was drawn in by the world, and by the lack of annoying UI elements. Instead of tons of dots and text littering the screen everything was clean, and the in-game map (which you can bring up manually) is dynamic: showing off points of interest as they evolve throughout the game. It really fits the 1910s feel despite the addition of magic, without making things look too futuristic. It ensures that Thick As Thieves is operating at a unique wavelength compared to a lot of other modern stealth titles.

If you know what you’re going to do when going into a match, we’ve failed

“All of the clues are dynamically placed,” Fitch reminds us. “Our goal…is that as a player, you’re improvising an adapting. If you know what you’re going to do when going into a match, we’ve failed. We don’t want players beelining for an objective.” “Every match ends up being different” Fitch notes. “We want to support this over the long term, we expect DLC, more maps, more mission types, more characters. The core game is just the beginning. Once we have that relationship with the audience, we can explore more opportunities.”

As a long-time stealth game player, I saw something in Thick As Thieves that really spoke to me, especially when it came to the striking art style and theme, which sings in motion. While it remains to be seen if it can fully execute on everything it sets out to do, the team at Otherside Entertainment is on the right track.