I love stealth games, particularly those played in first-person, but usually they focus on silent neck snapping rather than good old fashioned stealing stuff. To nobody’s surprise, Thick as Thieves puts emphasis on the latter, letting you loose in large levels to nick things to your heart’s content, and it does a pretty darn good job of it too!
Normally I’d start by talking about the narrative premise for the game but Thick of Thieves doesn’t seem to have one beyond a (rather nice looking) motion comic-style opening cutscene followed by a tutorial mission that introduces you to the idea of the Thieves Guild as much as it does the mechanics. I can’t really knock the game for this though; as I’ll discuss in more detail later it’s clearly designed as a multiplayer-first experience, and nobody wants to be sitting there skipping through a story when you’re trying to squeeze an hour of gaming in with busy friends.
Following the tutorial you’re brought to your thieves den, which acts as a hub between missions. Here you can use the ledger to buy new equipment, cosmetic items and, most importantly, unlock new environments to explore. You can enter these levels whenever you want to earn some more money, although I did find that there’s only one primary objective for each level. Every time you visit the Elway Manor, for example, you’re looking for three mystical urns (although their locations may differ) but your current contract offers a little extra diversity to proceedings, bringing an additional main objective for you to focus on. It’s a good system that encourages replaying levels and I can see this being a fun base to spend time with friends in between missions.
Missions themselves are good fun too and there are a solid set of systems in play that let you feel like a mastermind thief. All the hits are there: different levels of movement noise, a visibility meter impacted by environmental light, lockpicking, sentry turrets to deactivate and a plethora of guards to avoid, pickpocket or simply knock out. It’s not without a few surprises though, and there are a number of inventive gadgets that make missions more enjoyable. These range from the more mundane smoke bombs that break line of sight between enemies and yourself, to a rather fun Batman-style grapnel launcher for scaling walls. There are even a few really bizarre additions, such as fairies that can fly out and pickpocket or insult guards to draw their attention. Between the equipment and the general manoeuvrability of your character it reminded me of a less magical Dishonored at times, which is high praise as that’s one of my favourite games.
This thieves toolbox is perfectly suited to exploring the expansive levels in Thick as Thieves. They’re seriously sprawling, with some having 6 or 7 floors to explore and each is packed with things to find. Clues dotted around will give you an idea on where to find your objective, with handwritten notes from guards and other characters guiding you towards kitchens, libraries or nearby towers. There’s also, perhaps unsurprisingly, copious amounts of stuff to steal. Every room will have at least one glinting object on a bookshelf or locked in a display cabinet that you can’t help but pilfer, and it’s satisfying seeing your little calling card left behind in its place. All the loot you steal adds up too, and you’ll find mystical stash points dotted around where you can bank your gear so you don’t lose it if guards knock you out.
That’s the only real penalty for getting caught, and as the game’s clearly designed with a multiplayer-first approach, you simply respawn somewhere in the level, usually in a toilet or somewhere equally unsuspecting. Unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to play any multiplayer heists, but I imagine that elevates Thick as Thieves from a solid single-player stealth experience to co-op carnage, as someone else gets caught and chased down while you’re busy sneaking through the rafters. There are timers on the missions and the exit points to add even more jeopardy, and I can see plenty of last minute scrambles to extract after stealing everything that isn’t nailed down.
Thick as Thieves is good fun, and as a single player game there’s certainly fun to be had. That said, I think it would probably benefit massively from playing with friends where you can split equipment between you all and tackle objectives simultaneously. Either way you’ll find a fun stealth steal-em-up that’s worth playing.