Not only one of the most important stealth games from the genre’s past but also among the best PC games of all time, ‘90s classic Thief: The Dark Project is one of those pieces of gaming history that you owe it to yourself to try. A renowned first-person adventure that pushed the boundaries of sneaking forward with clever use of light and sound along with its impressive enemy AI, and was co-created by developers who would go onto the likes of Half-Life 2 and BioShock, the re-released Thief Gold can be yours for next to nothing right now.
Despite its modern-day reputation, you’d be forgiven for having missed Thief: The Dark Project back in the day. It arrived at the tail-end of 1998, a year notorious for being particularly packed with the best PC games. It gave us the likes of the first Half-Life, Baldur’s Gate, StarCraft, Unreal, and Grim Fandango on PC, along with other hits such as Resident Evil 2, Metal Gear Solid, and Tekken 3 across the wider industry.
Despite this, and a pair of equally well-regarded sequels, the first Thief game remains one of those classics you deserve to see for yourself – particularly so if you’re a fan of immersive sims such as Prey, Dishonored, or Deus Ex. Thief gives you freedom to approach missions however you want, and its foundational innovations in stealth gameplay still outpace a lot of modern attempts at the format, making sound as well as light and shadow essential components both for and against you.
At an entry level, this adds a fundamental and palpable tension to your first time exploring each level, listening for nearby footsteps as you desperately slip through the darkness. As you become more adept with the mechanics and the environments, you can learn to use a range of powerful tools, such as water arrows to douse candles or moss arrows that can soften the sounds you make, as you aim to complete entire missions without leaving so much as a trace, never being seen or heard.
If you’ve heard of just one thing from the original Thief, it’s probably Robbing the Cradle, which on its own merits alone more than justifies the price of entry. Designers Jordan Thomas and Randy Smith aimed to build the most unsettling level to ever appear in a game, and in the Shalebridge Cradle they succeeded in masterful fashion. It’s a sinister pinnacle of atmosphere and environmental storytelling that still holds up to this day despite the comparatively dated visuals.
Thief Gold is 82% off on GOG, meaning you’ll pay just $1.18 / £1.09 for your copy, which includes both the original Thief: The Dark Project and its three-mission Gold update. Just click the button below to secure your slice of PC gaming history.
Alternatively, we’ve picked out more of the best stealth games on PC, along with lots of the best old games you can and should still play in 2024.
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