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Game Informer April: Thief (Square/Eidos Montreal, PC/PS4/"Other Next-Gen", 2014) #1

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Eidos Montreal has been working for years to reboot the classic stealth series Thief, and the fruits of its labor will finally be revealed in issue 240 of Game Informer Magazine.

 

Our April cover story is a world-exclusive look at this next-generation stealth title. Series hero Garrett returns to the Gothic, industrial metropolis known simply as the City to steal any and everything that will make him richer. Unfortunately, the City is broiling with social tension as it is ravaged by a plague and lorded over by a political tyrant known as the Baron. In order to survive his adventures, Garrett will have to pay attention to his environment and make use of the may possible paths through each of the game's levels.

 

Square Enix plans to release Thief for PS4, PC, and other next-gen platforms sometime in 2014. Check out our coverage trailer for a taste of all the content you can look forward to absorbing over the next month.

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I'm not going to lie, the most exciting news is that they've dropped the Thifourf name in favor of a reboot.

 

I'm not sure how you're expecting us to discuss this in just one thread, though?

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http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/03/05/thief-4-coming-in-2014

 

UPDATE: Square-Enix has issued a press release introducing Thief as "a reinvention of a franchise that helped define an entire genre of games".

 

The release talks up "a first-person adventure featuring 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." Coming from Deus Ex: Human Revolution Eidos Montreal, that's hardly surprising.

I'm not really familiar with the franchise at all, though I've heard of it before.

 

This reinvention sounds like it may have been kicked into gear by Dishonoured... as the concept sounds and looks very similar!

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Some of the screenshots look a bit like Dishonored, but the good Thief levels have always been about exploration and freedom of choice.

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I'm not really familiar with the franchise at all, though I've heard of it before.

 

This reinvention sounds like it may have been kicked into gear by Dishonoured... as the concept sounds and looks very similar!

 

The unfortunate thing there is that not only does Thief as a series predate Dishonoured so did the announcement of this game that was first mentioned back in 2009 (as Thi4f) compared to Dishonoured's 2011 announcement.

 

With Deus Ex getting priority, this fell by the way side and unfortunately will no doubt be drawing comparisons with Dishonoured and the rumoured sequel should it be unveiled before this game sees release.

 

Still, I've no doubt the guys at EM can pull it off providing the level design is up to scratch.

 

...So no Wii U release?

 

With a 2014 release on the cards, and likely the second half of it, I suspect that they need to see the game in a state closer to its final version before they can say whether a down port can be accomplished without sacrificing the gameplay. I doubt they have the man power to run concurrent development with the full-fat version at this time so they probably won't be thinking about it in much detail just yet.

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Debut Trailer

 

 

 

Definitely one to watch for me!

 

Coming to PS4 and other Next-Gen consoles, I guess again there isn't a Wii U version, or otherwise it would have been mentioned alongside the PS4.

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I wonder how the PS4 version and the PC version will differ. From my pathetic understanding of all things super technical, this being an open world game, how will having all the RAM effect draw distance and such. The vibe I got was bigger was easier to do. [Edit: My bad, it's not reaaallly open world.]

 

I'm excited. Maybe this is the game I felt Assassin's Creed should have been.

 

In Focus mode, time slows down, allowing you to target your opponent’s weak spots. At the minute, this seems to be done by dragging a moving cursor over key areas and a matching button press. It makes combat more of a quick-time event sort of experience, but with ‘Focus’ disabled combat is a more traditional affair. This optional mode takes its inspiration from Guy Ritchie’s Sherlock Holmes film, in which Sherlock Holmes uses his immense intellect to rapidly evaluate an opponent’s physical frailties – “So alright, because you have this brandy nose, you probably drink a lot, so I’m going to target your liver and it’s going to be very painful. That’s the philosophy behind it,” reveals Roy. The escape itself recalls that frantic Mirror’s Edge-style section, in which you get a sense of Garrett’s agility and speed.

 

I wonder if they might use the touch-pad on the PS4 controller for this, to replicate the computer mouse. Could be neat.

 

Edit: It's an Unreal Engine 4 game, too. Interesting.

Edited by Daft

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I posted this in the Wii U shit storm thread... which one? Right :p but this game is using UE3 according to the producer. A heavily modified version mind and it's down to the game being too far in development by the time UE4 was a viable option.

 

Source

 

Eurogamer had an article up at the start of last year stating that Thief 4, as it then was, was using UE3 instead of an internal engine.

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Not sure. If there are other devs with games due out this year on UE4, one would assume it must be out there in some fashion and yet it's clearly not ready for consoles yet as they only just made clear about the swap from real time global illumination in favour of UE3s Lightmass pre-baked solution. So anyone who had a version of it for consoles would have using features no longer available.

 

I think if it were available right now, we'd have heard more press releases from Epic and whomever that they had struck up a deal instead of just the three announcements in the last year. If UE4 is as ubiquitous this generation as UE3 was for the last, devs will want to it the ground running as soon as possible and if it is out there, I'd imagine they'd be all over it and Epic would be letting everyone know about it.

 

Of course it could already be out there and my speculation isn't worth the time it took me to write the above words.

 

 

The problem then being that devs are already 2-3 years into a 3-5 dev cycle and just aren't ready to look at UE4 until they clear their slate of UE3 projects because they've made so many adjustments themselves to the engine that to swap would be a waste of the time already spent and could jeopardise the release schedule.

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I guess Epic would have gotten an early version out to certain devs while holding off a full on release until they're happy about it. Who knows? I don't know shit.

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Fuckin ell! Does everything needs dubstep now?

 

Looking good generally however there is plenty about this game which makes it look a bit dated. And it's not to say that the artistic execution isn't good but the visual design just screams from the era that Thief 3 was made in. Really murky colours, lots of effects going on that have minimal visual impact. Basically a lot of Unreal type stuff.

 

It's so strange that everything I've seen of this so far makes it look very derivative which is hilarious when you think what a bar Thief 3 set. I don't see it capturing anywhere near the magic of the originals and nothing from a gameplay point of view has stimulated me at all.

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Indeed it does. I hope it's still worth getting on the 360 as I'd hate to wait too long for this.

 

It looks very much like Dishonored (though it's probably the other way around) which is good. Loved that game.

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Looks very good actually. Wonder why the showed the last ten version for the big trailer and not the next gen one. A bit concerning at the "value" of getting it next gen

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Looks very good actually. Wonder why the showed the last ten version for the big trailer and not the next gen one. A bit concerning at the "value" of getting it next gen
I would have thought that was the PS4 version in that trailer personally?

 

I know it doesn't look OMG DAT NEXT GEN... but it's a game that's straddling generations, and there are some really nice touches to the footage. If it's current gen it's extremely impressive.

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Looks very good actually. Wonder why the showed the last ten version for the big trailer and not the next gen one. A bit concerning at the "value" of getting it next gen

 

If it's going to other consoles too then that's why it won't look so good. Got to wait for the next gen only releases to see the major differences.

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