Thief: Deadly Shadows Demo

In a time of peril and hunger, a great thief by the name of Garret lurks the shadows, only to disappear with the most expensive jewelry in town. Despite his justifications, the fact remains that he steals to help himself, although while doing so, he also finds out about a way bigger danger that's about to descend on everyone.

Thief: Deadly Shadows tells the story of how Garret, a professional thief, happens to overhear a conversation about something called the Dark Age and the signs that are signaling its approach. Naturally, his curious nature pushes him to find out more about the subject and, after consulting with an old book, Garret decides that he too can partake in the matter, a thought which immediately puts him in big trouble.

Over the course of the story, your character is sentenced to death for an alleged murder but manages to escape, which in turn results in a team of assassins sent to finish the job. Hence, while you have to steal from people in order to survive the life on the run, you also have to avoid being caught by the powerful assassins, although that is much easier said than done.

To differentiate itself from the first two titles, Deadly Shadows now features a more open-world environment for you to explore. Unlike before, you do not just get to immediately jump between missions, but you actually have to travel the city in order to get from one place to another. On the way there, you can make bit of scratch on the side, by mugging or pickpocketing the common folk who are out for a walk.

Other than that, the gameplay was kept pretty much the same, although the actual mechanics do not work that well this time around. Although the sneaking part is more or less convincing, the AI is definitely not what you would expect from a Thief title, although it can be quite funny to watch the soldiers act surprised and disoriented whenever you throw something at them. It stops being funny after a short while, though, and you are left with a bad and annoying AI in the end.

Because the game does not seem to take itself too serious, you might also find yourself feeling rather disappointed after a successful sneak inside a well-guarded castle, because it's not much of a challenge anyway. Thus, Thief: Deadly Shadows is not at all a bad game, but it certainly shouldn't be considered as being part of the franchise.