Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age nearly done!

[Wynne]

I don't know how big the audience for Thief is around here, but I figured I'd give it a shot. All that's left to do is finish up the beta-testing...

 

Thief 2X Trailer on this page

 

Practical lowdown on the Thief games and their availability?

 

Thief 2: The Metal Age is the sequel to the revolutionary game Thief: The Dark Project. While I don't think T2 is half as good as the first game, since it was rushed a la KOTOR 2, it is still good. And both games, although out for the PC only, were released in the year range of 98-2000 range and are thus playable on some pretty damn old systems. They are also ridiculously cheap, and sometimes packaged together. And with the unbelievable plethora of high-quality mods out there, you can get hundreds of extra hours of decent-to-fantastic gameplay for the bargain bin price you'll pay for these games. They practically pay YOU for buying them, by now.

 

Thief 3 is on PC and Xbox, and is a great game. Not as good as T1 to a hardcore fan like me, but very close, and with a VERY satisfactory conclusion to the trilogy. The kind of awesome closing line that ties in to the first game well enough to bring tears to your eyes.

 

Also, if you like horror, Shalebridge Cradle will blow you away. I've got a strong stomach for that stuff. I'm the type who watched the Exorcist for the first time at night, but got bored and took a nap. I've played the Silent Hill games, and while they were awesome, Shalebridge rattled me way more. It's one hell of an intense experience. When a mere place, without very much at all inside of it besides walls and doors and sounds, can freak you out like nothing you've ever seen before, you know you're playing something unforgettable.

 

But what is Thief, really?

 

Thief is a game about the shivers down your spine when all the lights are out. Thief is a game about the feeling you got playing hide and seek as a kid, but refined for more mature tastes. Thief is a game that appeals to both genders, much like the KOTOR games, although there is a single (male) main character. Thief will capture your imagination and give you a shock which I would call akin to the original KOTOR's jaw-dropper. Thief features lots of in-game moments you make yourself, as well as breathtaking and edgy cutscenes which will stay in your mind for years, and ambient music which will burn itself into your brain. Even now, after I've played it to death, I could tell you Thief stories with the kind of misty fondness people reserve for their first love--or for Planescape.

 

Thief is a unique steampunk universe shown primarily from a first-person perspective (Thief 3, while it must be played after the first two games to truly appreciate the plot, has third-person), but it's not a shooter. It's MUCH more interesting than your garden variety shooter. If you do play shooters, it will remind you more of Call of Duty or System Shock 2 than Doom.

 

What you do in Thief is what Looking Glass had us doing years before Splinter Cell came out--similar, but in a medieval universe which is more raw and gritty and low-tech. You don't have sophisticated technology and a constantly available team of experts on your side. You do it the hard way... the sexy way... your hands and feet wedged against cobbled stone and brick, your teeth clenched around the next arrow you'll be firing to take out that torch, your back to the wall and your stomach in knots. And as that guard comes around the corner, your breathing will cease without thought as you try to flatten yourself against your chair so he won't bump into you.

 

You don't get any more powerful in Thief--and contrary to how it sounds, that is one of the most delicious aspects of the game. Everything you thought you knew about gaming will be nudged a little bit to the left--Thief will teach you another way, and nothing else will ever feel quite like it.

 

So, then, what the hell is Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age?

 

A near-professional, unofficial, and thus completely free full expansion for Thief 2. It is sort of a prequel, with a new main character who is neither a copy of Garrett nor a crappy stereotype. Basically everything in the game is refined and tuned and made new all over again.

 

The modding community for Thief has always been high above the average.

 

Thief's uniqueness, addictiveness, and obsession-creating appeal somehow drew an unusually smart crowd--and I say this firsthand, having played scores of fan missions over the years since the first game's release. Calendra's Cistern, Calendra's Legacy, The Seventh Crystal, Rowena's Curse, COSAS 1, and many others have amazed me no end with how much non-professionals can--and will--do with their free time. The crowds for other games are okay, but only Thief has really blown me away when it comes to mods.

 

In fact, the modding crowd was so good that Sledge--responsible for a mod called Inverted Manse--was actually hired to help make Thief 3 after some of the developers played his mission and saw his fine work. That is hella cool, and he was an invaluable aid in making T2X happen as well.

 

You're not gushing just like this because. What's your ulterior motive?

 

I will confess to that motive in a moment, but I honestly LOVE Thief. I'm a crazily devoted fan ('who needs a life when I have Thief?' ) who's been active in the community for quite some time--I have been around long enough to remember drooling over the prospect of Thief 2 being released.

 

I did help with this project, voicing Zaya and contributing two panels for briefing art. But there's a reason I invested in it in the first place--I saw how awesome the fan content (made by the level-builders and other assorted talents who later went on to work on T2X) was, I saw the work of Looking Glass Studios on the original Thief, and I fell in love with voice acting through doing voice for other fan missions. The whole reason I became involved in the first place is because I fell in love with the work of the developers, and of the community who made me fall in love with their work as well.

 

I'm not recommending this as self-promotion. I'm recommending it because I believe in it, love it, and can't wait to play the finished product myself. Thief in all its forms, both the original work and the best of the fan works, deserves all kinds of love from gamers, much like KOTOR, and I will always be around to tug the arms of people who like intelligent, fun games and say "Look what I found over here!"

 

This project was a labor of pure love. Five years of blood, sweat, and tears. It is completely free, and it was meant to be enjoyed. I hope some of you folks will give it a look.

[Musopticon?]

Hey Wynne! :ph34r:

 

There are quite a few of us taffers here, all of them supportive to this project, and some, like me, have been waiting for the odd 4 years for it. 13 missions is whole new game, so, albeit Dark Engine shows it's age, I'm sure most channels are brimming full of folks wanting to download it. Poor epithumia.

[Powerslave]

DEFINITELY gonna download this. I was so dissappointed with the majority of the console-oriented inovations of "Deadly Shadows" (I guess that makes me hardcore ), that I've been looking all ovet the net for expansions etc on the previous 2 games.

[Lcaus Scuks]

I just hope it has hammerites and a good story, that's what I need.

Thief 1 is my favorite game even if Torment is better.

If you have Thief Gold you should know there's a high resolution textures pack available: http://darkfate.iskratelecom.ru:81/FILEARC...ualPatchV09.exe ; there are other models and texture patches available at thief-thecircle.com , in the dark.cfg add:

ObjTextures16

TerrTextures16

If you have a good PC and the Thief games run too fast enable vsync while you play them.

I think Thief 3 will have good fan missions like these; there are hundreds of people working with the new Editor, some of them don't even want to say a word until their mission(s) is/are good and finished

[SpamDevourer]

Thanks for posting this. I hadn't heard of this project before, but I will most definitely play it once it's released. It looks fantastic.

 

Out of curiosity what about Thief 2 was impacted from it being rushed? The game seemed just as solid as the first to me.

[draakh_kimera]

Cool! I actually found out about this project like a year ago or something, the "completion meter" was at 65% or something. Tell me more about it. Is the gameplay going to be pretty much like Thief II or different? What are the new weapons? What are the new enemies? What's the expected playtime? Any other mods I should take a look at?

 

Sorry for all the questions, but I REALLY like the Thief series (even though I haven't played Thief I :"> )

 

Oh, and props to the people working on it, it looks massive!

[Tel Aviv]

The Metal Age is the best of the trilogy, surely.

[Powerslave]

The Metal Age is the best of the trilogy, surely.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree that "Metal Age" is a better game overall, and it also contains the greatest mission a human mind could possibly design ("LIFE OF THE PARTY"! The night stroll through the city's rooftops was totally amazing!).

 

"Dark Project", however, was much more atmospheric in most cases IMHO. The undead contributed majorly to this, despite being totally annoying to kill (again...) in most cases, especially the Hammerite skeletons (that sound of someone dragging chains on the floor as they walk towards you still gives me the creeps!).

 

Also, the Hammerites are much more awe-inspiring than the Mechanists IMO. That mission in THIEF I where you had to infiltrate their temple was excellent!

Not to mention all the levels after Constantine's...revelation, which makes you see the game in an entirely new prespective...

 

...Bah, off to replay those! Except for "Deadly Shadows" of course, which, with a few exceptions, is nothing compared to the first 2.

[zer"0"]

Nice Post there, Wynne.

 

The Thief community is still going strong I see.

 

I had no idea people were still working on a project with the DARK [tm] Engine.

 

Great news! Thanks for sharing.

Definitely looking forward to this.

 

To all Taffers involved with this mod. Keep up the good work.

Its appreciated.

[Noceur]

I thoroughly loved thief 1 and 2, but I never finished the last level on Thief II. Neither did I play any of the mods, since I wasn't that involved with the internet thing back then

 

I just have to ask, is there an official editor out there for Thief 3 now? Or is it like a total sneaksie sneaks hack from the community? (question directed at the fellow who mentioned fan-made material for above mentioned game)

 

Shalebridge Cradle had my pulse go up a notch, I can say. ;P

[Claws]

Yeh the editor was released recently.

[Noceur]

Wow, that is good news indeed. Last time I checked an editor was so far from happening... well, it looked bleak.

 

Is it complete with SDK's and all or just a map editor? Man my taffing-finger is starting to itch now. Must... investigate further.

[aVENGER]

Great work guys.

 

This is going straight to my "must download when I finally get the damn ADSL" list.

[roguefrog]

The Thief community is totally awesome and the fan missions are simply incredible.

 

TTLG is the spot for all LGS related gaming discussion.

[Musopticon?]

And as long as you don't venture into the wilderness which is Community Chat, it's one of the better forum communities. Nice people there.

[draakh_kimera]

This is gonna be ready to download on the 15th, for those of you that may be interested and don't know yet...

[Musopticon?]

I'll be posting download links here when the full product comes out. Stay tuned, dudes.

[Jumjalum]

It's out, here's a link to the mirror page.

 

http://www.thief2x.com/t2xmirrors.asp