Thief: TIDS - Volume One: Order of the Vine - Playing Feb 8th - Feb 22nd - by Iceblade
Iceblade on 18/2/2019 at 00:33
Style: Serial Blackjacker
Time: 2 hour, 43 minutes, 51 seconds
Loot: 1025 out of 1125 - (Prologue Expert)
1989 out of 2089 - (Main Hard)
Pickpockets: 3 out of 5
KO: 52
Kills: 8
The first mission of this mini-campaign is a simple prologue and while there is more loot to be found than the 1000 gold advance we receive, I was only able to find one such piece. In the main mission, I played as a serial blackjackers, cleansing the entire level of the pesky conscious sort. The kills are mainly spiders. I did never, however, take care of two nasty individuals permanently. My playthrough was slow and methodically, even going so far to place the now unconscious guards and servants into their rooms. The epilogue at the end has story only and no campaign at all.
Story: This mission is set as a prequel to the appearance of Constantine. Here it is clearly implied that the Trickster is in fact sealed away. The story provides a bit of interesting background into wealthy human pagans in the city, the kind that would support the dramas of the opera house. Most all of them are clearly shown as knowing little at all of what their Order supports, being merely in it for the anti-hammerite attitudes. The mission is quite packed with short readables that clearly demonstrate the society and the attitudes of the pagans at the top.
Looks and design: The mission is very well built. Textures are well-aligned and clean with complexity in the design and placement. While the building is well-ordered, the layout is still complex with difficult and easy areas due to carpet and marble placement. The rooms, halls, and walls are a little spartan, but far from empty. The
Atmosphere: The atmosphere is decent, but only goes so far as to push the pagan ascetic as seen in Constantine’s mansion. The building gives a dark yet lavish vibe throughout with the special area provides enough elements to feel mysterious.
Conclusion: Overall this mission is quite solid and polished with an interesting story and a well-built level both in gameplay and design. For its time, this mission is quite excellent suffering from none of the problems common amongst early missions in terms of awkward or weird missions layouts and simple, unpolished texture work.