Thief: Explore the Possibilities in this New Trailer

Over the past few months, I have been skeptical about the Eidos Montreal reboot of Thief. I played the original Thief games on the computer back in the nineties and the fantasy and fun that they created for me will be hard for this reboot to follow up. If you've been keeping up though, Eidos Montreal has flooded the web with walk through videos and demonstrations showing a variety of new possibilities in the upcoming reboot. Now, a new trailer released earlier today ties them all together for one big trailer filled with plenty of thieving.

The new trailer has me anticipating Thief more than I had been but I'm still cautious. Incredible looking visuals made possible by modern technology certainly breathe new life into the series. The last Thief game, Thief: Deadly Shadows was released nearly 10 years ago in 2004 so the jump of an entire generation of game consoles is quite the face lift. Eidos Montreal seems to have done a great job with the environments which capture the pivotal dark, steampunk atmosphere. They also seem to have adopted the ever popular free running style of navigating buildings and rooftops which is appropriate for someone in Garrett's line of work. Garrett's arsenal of tools and weapons at his disposable also seems to have been expanded allowing for plenty of ways to reach your goal. 

My main concerns aren't with visuals however, the size of the city or how many tools Garrett has in his inventory. I could return to the original Thief games on the computer and enjoy it for hours. What matters to me is the story and the true feel of Thief. Many have pointed out it looks Bethesda's Dishonored when in fact, Bethesda has admitted to having been heavily inspired by the early Thief games. I don't want Eidos Montreal to feel like they have to live up to Dishonored. 

No, Eidos Montreal needs to live up to the original Thief games by crafting Garrett as the character he was originally conceived as. He's a true anti-hero; a cynical loner shrouded in mystery. He does things his way, because he wants to. His interests serve only himself. He doesn't steal because he needs to, he steals because he wants too. He craves the challenge and the excitement of stealing. He's been compared to Robin Hood but he's more like a medieval Han Solo if you think about it. I think if Eidos Montreal can pull off the creation of Garrett the game will be a success. 

I'm sure many early fans of the Thief series feel the same way and they will have very high standards for this game. What do you think, fan or not are you looking forward to Thief? The game will be available on the Xbox One, Xbox 360, PS3, PS4 and PC February 27th. 

Get a closer look at Dishonored

In a interview with Morgan Webb, Co-Creative directors, Raphael Colontonio and Harvey Smith show off the  Steampunk and stealth based gameplay featured in their upcoming game, Dishonored. Smith and Colontonio emphasize the focus on the stealth aspect in Dishonored and go as far as to claim that players can go through the entire game without killing a single person.

Players assume the role of Corvo, former body-guard to the empress. After being framed for her murder, he gains supernatural abilities (similar to Plasmids in Bioshock) and combined with his marksmanship and talent as a swordsman, he sets out for revenge against those actually responsible for the empress' death. We get a glimpse of these powers Corvo has throughout the demo. One of the powers demonstrated is called 'Blink' which allows Corvo to teleport over short distances. He can use the power to dodge enemy attacks, sneak past guards or even reach areas that are normally inaccessible. At one point in the demo, Corvo strangles a guard and must hide his body to avoid being detected; the player uses the Blink ability to teleport into the second story of a vacant building to hide the corpse.

One of the other powers demonstrated in the game allows the player to posses animals such as the vile rats that scurry along the streets or even a human. When you use the posses power, you can use animals such as a rat or a fish to find vents or tunnels to access the domains of your enemies. When the player controls  rat at one point, he accesses a tiny vent which leads to the inside of a mansion. Once through the vent, the player ends the possession and resumes the game as Corvo having successfully infiltrated the mansion. It sounds strange but Smith and Colotonio explained there are almost endless possibilities in the world of Dishonored. You can approach your missions with stealth in mind and find these hidden access points and even use other powers at your disposal to infiltrate certain locations without alerting a single guard. Not many of the other have been revealed just yet but they imply that missions can be completed in a multitude of different ways.

Also important to keep in mind is that the choices you make as Corvo effect your morality and the outcome of the ending. Smith and Colontonio explain that sparing the life of certain enemies will have an effect on the game in the future but killing them will have different results that effect the game as well.

As the demo begins, you get a glimpse of Dishonored's Dystopian setting as the two directors explain the city named Dunwall (one of the various locations you'll frequent through out the game) is part of a completely fictional world and inspired by the streets of London with a Steampunk-esque vibe. You can see primitive forms of steam based technology such as generators to power lights and other machines.

You can check out the whole interview below and see just how awesome this game looks. If you're a fan of Bioshock, Thief, or just stealth games in general, you'll definitely want to keep your eye on Dishonored which is set to release on the PS3, Xbox 360, and PC on October 9, this year.