Thief Will Feature a "Less Goth" Garrett - UPDATED

[Andy Chalk]

There are a couple of things to keep in mind here. One, Eidos Montreal took on Deus Ex, a project fraught with risk, and nailed it. Human Revolution was a proper, full-on and entirely satisfying DX game, and that buys the studio a LOT of credibility. Two, as others have mentioned, the look is less important than the man, and the man will be dependent upon The Man - Stephen Russell. I'm willing to put up with a lot, but if Stephen Russell isn't back on board it's going to be a problem. Remember when Rockstar first announced that it wasn't going to use James McCaffrey for Max Payne 3? Leaving out Russell would probably be even worse. A Robert Smith-esque Garrett I can handle, but the real test will be when the cast is announced.

I'M NOT FREAKING OUT

 

[Dfskelleton]

My heart leapt with joy when I head that there would be a new Thief, and not even a week after the initial announcement, my excitement is ebbing away and being replaced with a sound similar to "urrrrrggggggnhhhggghhhhuuuuh..."

Garrett was never very goth to begin with. Shady and misanthropic, yes, but he wasn't flipping his hair and listening to awful music in his bedroom with all of the lights off.
And he never wore any really stupid eye shadow.

 

[Programmed_For_Damage]

That image certainly gives credence to this:

<youtube=xICYmQmNNv4>

 

[piinyouri]

*holds face in hands*

Ok...ok.
I'm not even going to read the posts before me, because I know they will be filled with outrage and much butthurtedness.
Regardless.....developers..he looks "goff" in that picture, ie teenagers who dress in black everything and wear entirely too much makeup and think they have to be dark and brooding all the time.
Shows how much they know about what goth is.

And for the record, he never really was goth, aside from his cynical understated snarkiness.

*sighs heavily*

EDIT: For anyone saying something like "You're going to dismiss/judge the game based on how the main character looks?"
YES....
...to a degree.
I think most Thief fans would agree one of the many joys of the game is hearing Stephen Russell snark on and on in his lovely tone about the goings on the player is witnessing. His look is most certainly going to have an effect on how he talks and behaves. And that character up there looks about as fun as a wet blanket.

EDIT 2: Still going to wait. If the gameplay is still as varied and satisfying, I may be able to get over the redesign.

 

[Radoh]

Wait, this is the less goth version? What, did the previous iteration drown out the light surrounding him? If so, they probably should have left that in, since being able to steal light would be pretty cool.

 

[Mike the Bard]

I wouldn't jump of the hate train just yet, Human Revolution showed they know their stuff. So i'll give them the benefit of the doubt for now.

I wonder if they meant that they'll improve the combat engine and make it a viable option to get through the game, but a crappy option when compared to stealth with little to no reward. It could also possibly mean that garret's movements will be more dynamic. "Action moves" is a really vague phrase when you get down to it and it could mean their making Generic Action Game #45621654, or a proper thief game with an improved combat and movement engine.

Either way, poor choice of words on the game designers part.

 

[Denamic]

They're redesigning a character to have less of an attribute he never had, which actually seem to result in him getting more goth. That speaks volumes about how well they know their source material. Bracing for disappointment.

 

[BlindTom]

Devil May Cry fans: is this how you felt about that Dante kid? Suddenly I understand. I am so sorry.

 

[Spectrum_Prez]

But Deus Ex: HR had terrible character design. Adam Jensen had a ridiculous overgrown emo-child voice that no functioning person, much less a corporate security chief (i.e. successful management personnel) could ever pull off in real life without being ridiculed. He did this strange valley-girl side-lean animation every time he was in conversations at the same time that he would cross his bizarrely inflated arms. The sunglasses and trench coat gave him the vibe of one of those mallrats who just finished watching The Matrix circa 1999 for the first time and was desperate to look as cool as Neo. And most silly of all was the pointy chin -- what in the hell was going on there?

We're trusting these guys to redesign Garrett, one of the greatest characters of gaming history. Ugh.
Hopefully the cutscenes will be in FPV and they keep Stephen Russell as Garrett's voice.

 

[Grampy_bone]

Thief 3 wrapped up Garrett's story pretty nicely, I don't see why they even needed to use him at all. The Thief games were always more about the City and its inhabitants than Garrett. I'm guessing they felt fans would reject a Garrett-less game. I'm not particularly married to the character, nor do I even feel Stephen Russell needs to voice him. New Thief for a new generation; nothing wrong with that.

I'm willing to give this team some credit after the solid job they did with Human Revolution. The "more action" focus was inevitable, and while I agree that Garrett shouldn't be some one-man army hacking and slashing his way through hordes of dudes, giving him more options to deal with foes is just fine. Again, Human Revolution had some pretty solid stealth mechanics so I'm not too worried.

In any case it's way too early to call the game. The hype train is only just leaving the station...

 

[DeadlyYellow]

Putting fingers in ears now because everything I hear about the game disappoints me more and more.

La la la la la la.

 

[WouldYouKindly]

"We wanted to bring him more for the modern audience of today's console market,"

Those are words I always fear. I got nothing against consoles, but shit if I don't hate when they take a good old game and make it extra shitty so people will like it. Not that Deus Ex HR was bad, I quite liked it, but it wasn't it's predecessors and I think it's unfair to hold them in the same light. Just make an honestly good stealth game. Make it so you can fuck up without dying instantly(I'm looking at Splinter Cell here). Make it so you can just leave the enemies alone if you're really good. Dishonored nearly did this, but there needs to be more shadows. Also letting us teleport around makes it too easy. I did like possessing rats in order to escape or sneak.

 

[Andrew_C]

THAT is their idea of less Goth? He looks like a frikking cross between Nosferatu and Ezio - if they shopped at Hot Topic! What the hell did they think Garret looked like in the first place?

This seems somehow appropriate

And of course this

 

[Cyrus Hanley]

He reminds me of the merchant from Resident Evil 4, only with a more monotone appearance.

Holy crap you're right. I was wondering why he looked so familiar!

 

[Epic Fail 1977]

"Action moves" is a really vague phrase when you get down to it and it could mean their making Generic Action Game #45621654, or a proper thief game with an improved combat and movement engine.

Hey come on now you have to admit Generic Action Game #45621653 was pretty fucking awesome! Didn't you SEE the level of detail in the protagonist's stubble?

 

[Triality]

God...dammit.

Grimdark, grim-and-gritty, scowly-mcmean-scowl bs character design like this makes me lose respect for developers.

 

[synobal]

Is he still wearing a man corset and has a complete lack of pouches? Because if so ya fail.

 

[Ishal]

Doesn't seem too bad to me. Though I never have played Thief, but I really want to. Seems like they are going to the Assassins Creed look with hood and single shoulder piece. The eye shadow is a bit much though.

I don't think action would be too bad as long as it makes sense within the context of the game. The name of the game is "Thief" not "Assassin" I would think a thief wants to avoid combat. Yeah the AAA treatment might not fit in well here.