Thief Gold

Thief Gold the expanded version of Thief: The Dark Project. It is a first-person stealth video game developed by Looking Glass Studios and published by Eidos Interactive in 1998. It takes place in a medieval steampunk metropolis called the City. The player take on the role of Garrett, a master thief trained by a secret society who, becomes embroiled in a complex plot that ultimately sees him attempting to prevent a great power from unleashing chaos on the world.

Thief Gold is a stealth game, so the main game-play is built around this. The game employs both visual and sound design to help the game-play and atmosphere. There is a meter in the HUD that displays the visibility of the player as well as if a guard is nearby. Players can hide in the shadows which is necessary to avoid combat with the guard. If players listen closely can hear enemies nearby, be it their foot steps or they are talking, so they can avoid them. The atmosphere of Thief Gold itself is very immersive, I credit this to the sound design of the game. The sound design is employed very well. The world is feels very quiet and ominous, the music is silent but noticeable, and you can hear guards walking or talking in the distance. One moment while playing the game as I was turning a corner and a guard was right there, this would have been all well and good excpt right when I did this the music increased in sound for a split second and scared the crap out of me. The fact that I was able to feel tense in Thief Gold made the game more enjoyable for me.

Based on what I just discussed it is very apparent that it is recommended not to initiate combat. This is for two reasons one the game is built around stealth so that is more effective, and two because the controls are a bit wonky. The default controls are a bit wonky so if you do play the game, I would recommend editing them. The combat controls however are weird in the sense that there is a delay with swings after you stop moving, you can’t attack while walking.