Dishonored is almost upon us. What space for Thief 4?

demagogue on 12/10/2012 at 10:43

What Dishonored does for Thief 4 is I think incubate a market that's going to expect Bioshock-like gizmos for stealth gameplay too... So I imagine Garrett (or whoever the protagonist is) may have a lot of magic or steampunk upgrades and abilities. The era of minimalist gameplay -- just you, a few arrows and flashbombs, and a lightgem -- may be ancient history.

Edit: I mean obviously it would have been part of T4's design before they knew about Dishonored. It's just another sign of where games are today, though I could see some tweaks towards that direction following DH.

Xorak on 12/10/2012 at 10:52

I tend to think things like having the guards go searching for Garrett should be scripted into the level design, because otherwise the player will just reload if the guards find a body and start searching with highly-honed tactics. Nobody wants to deal with that if they don't have to.

The challenge should exist in the perfect positioning of the guards, as they move back and forth on patrol, and as they constantly 'check up on each other.' This requires the player to find creative ways to get around them, using both their tools and the architecture/shadows of the level. Akin to something like the Commandos series, where each guard is positioned with precision. And where it can sometimes take minutes waiting for that perfect opportunity to sneak past two guards as they turn their backs at juuuust the right moment.

But I also feel that expert level in the game should be just that--for experts. No knockouts, no kills, nothing left out of place, no open doors, etc.

Though a thing making a comeback in some of these old-school RPGs being kickstarted again (for example (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity/?ref=kicktraq) Project Eternity ) is IronMan mode being built into the game as an option. So if you die once you have to start over, even if you're 40 hours into the game. Why not add that into a new thief? No reloads.