Udo on 22/3/2023 at 23:04

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Well, at first: I like Dark Mod, too. Not as much as Thief 1&2, but overall it´s awesome, not only considering it is a totally free game with a lot of good missions. Would pick it every time over Thief 3 and 2014.
So if you like Thief, you will have fun with it.

That being said, for sure there are differences.
Yes, while it´s based on Doom 3(I guess they did some revamps - not sure if they profit from the BFG edition revamp, but likely, or even newer), you don´t need this game for it. Just go the homepage of the game, download it and play.
It´s also more demanding on your hardware, hovever unless you have a really old or bad PC, it wouldn´t be a big deal. I watched some guy playing it on a 2012 rig and it usually worked fine even with streaming.
Graphics look usually good, newer missions usually better than older ones. It feels a bit more "polished" than Thief, if you prefer it that way or the Thief-style, best is to see for yourself.

Walking, running, and climbing feels indeed a bit more shooter-like. Haven´t played Doom 3 yet, but I guess it borrows the physics from it. It feels more dynamic.

There are some difference I welcome, like you can carry bodies and open doors at the same time. You can also nudge bodies to hide them a bit better. Be a bit careful, sometimes the bodies of unconscious NPCs might glitch out and start spinning wildly, killing them in the process, which then might fail a no kills restriction.

Another thing is that readables don´t stop the game like in Thief. I like that TBH as it adds a bit more realism. What I don´t like they sometimes use a really obnoxious font that is hard to read, but then it´s up to the authors if they want to use it or not.

Blackjacking works a bit different(which means more challenging), so you have to hit them exactly on the head to KO them. Otherwise it just counts as a normal hit and they will attack you. AI is also more relentless as in Thief.

AI is more advanced, they will bust you more often than in Thief for sure. You can however tune the AI independent from the difficulty of the mission.

There are similar enemies as in Thief. Different human guards, undead, also beasts. Not sure if there is a mission with bots, but there might be some. You also have watchers.

Setting-wise it´s of course not Thief-related, for copyright reasons. It is inspired of course, you have a kinda established setting. Often the protagonist Corbin is used, and you have the Builders as a faction(with hammer-wielding fighters, priests, churches and all that things), one of the voice actors nearly sounds as the one Hammerite guard.
Design-wise they already provided the game with a lot of good of their own stock sounds, textures, voice acting and such things. It´s then up to the mission makers if they want to add custom stuff.

There are single missions and campaigns. Usually the campaign missions are to be downloaded separately. E.G. there is the William Steele campaign(unfortunately not finished as the author passed away during the making of the later missions whihc weren´t released) and some others.
Some missions are related to other ones, but usually it´s not necessary to play them in the correct order. You might miss a bit of story context maybe, but that´s all.
There are for sure a lot of awesome missions.
Some add even more challenge, one of the newer features is that higher difficulties have the option for saving only at certain spots.

There is also a stealth score. Best one is 0, you get penalties for AI suspicions, being seen and so on. I don´t care that much about it, some people indeed play the game with a zero score style, something I can respect.

So, why do I like the Dark Mod? Well, it´s a refreshing and nice experience, similar but different compared to Thief. You will get the hang of it quite fast if you are a Thief player.
Sometimes it´s nice to have a setting with similarities but without some of the things I encounter in some Thief FMs(at least I view them that way) like annoying fanon drivel about the original Thief lore, shittons of unnecessary readings(some TDM missions have that of course, too) and such things. As much as some might wish for a more up-to-date "real" Thief game, IMHO it´s the difference between the settings that makes the appeal. So, I view it as an advantage, even if I wouldn´t mind a real Thief with newer graphics(but if not, well, then not a big deal, and I really doubt there will be such a game anytime in the future).

The best thing then would be to download it, play the introduction missions and then try some of the others. Wouldn´t recommend to go for the very big ones like The Painters Wife, but then this is up to you.

Hope my posting gave you some insights. If you have some questions, feel free to ask.

Udo on 22/3/2023 at 23:45

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Glad I could help!

Thief 4 is a big letdown...I finished once but only with a "rambo playstyle" as I didn´t care for no kills at some point.

IIRC I saw once that you have another level directly after the first one with a shop and the loot you stole from the first one, but most campaigns have levels you need to download separately.

Haven´t found a DL all button yet, but trust me, you don´t want to do this lol.
There are also some poopers of missions I don´t want to play. Some missions were also remade. I just played the La Banque Bienveillante mission and it´s a cute nice piece of art.

About Gloomwood, I played the demo, it was ok, but not really "Thiefy"...I bought the EA version on Steam and got me a refund as I didn´t like it at all. IMHO it has nothing to do with Thief. Just a bit of inspiration, but more like a stealth killer game with currently not much content. Also don´t like the style. Maybe one day when it´s finished I would buy it for 5 bucks on sale, but otherwise...no thanks. If I just want a kinda-inspired not Thiefy-game, I can also play Dishonored...

Azaran on 23/3/2023 at 00:29

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I recommend playing Tears of St Lucia as your first Dark Mod mission, it's the traditional first mission most people play (I believe it may have been the first ever created). It will give you a good feel for what you can expect

Udo on 23/3/2023 at 01:05

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So, in the meantime, you already played or finished some TDM content?

Udo on 23/3/2023 at 13:29

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Great, enjoy the gameplay.