You Can Finish The New Thief Without Killing Anyone

[Steven Bogos]

You Can Finish The New Thief Without Killing Anyone

The upcoming Thief reboot will come with several varying difficulties for everyone from newbies to veterans.

A large amount of video games feature killing in some way or form. In some games, it makes a lot of sense to the story and the characters, where as in others it seems like a huge disconnect to how the player character actually acts. My experience with GTA IV, for example, featured a rather comical sequence where Nico and Roman spent a cutscene being wracked with guilt for killing a single man, after which I immediately hopped into a car and ran over three police officers. Garrett, the protganist of the upcoming reboot of the Thief series [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/122510-Game-Informer-Reveals-Thief-Reboot] is a master thief, not a crazed murderer, and Eidos Montreal has revealed that the new game can be completed without killing a single person.

"Players will have multiple ways to approach their objectives and each objective can be reached using Garrett's various tools, by exploring and by playing with your environment," said Edios Montreal, assuring fans that the Thief spirit of being able to complete objectives the way you want to is still alive and well in the reboot.

Eidos added that "Each path comes with a set of challenges, encounters and looting opportunities. Difficulty options allow the experience to be scaled for hardcore fans of the original series, but to also let newcomers have a lot of fun. And yes, you can complete the game without killing anybody - Garrett is a Master Thief, not a killing machine!" Pacifist gamers rejoyce! The difficulty options should also allow Eidos to offer a nice compromise for those hardcore fans who want their Thief experience to be as unforgiving as the original games.

The recently released Dishonored featured an achviement for completing the game without killing anyone. Mirror's Edge and Deus Ex: Human Revolution featured similar achivements, although the later did force you to "kill" a few characters in boss fight sequences.

The new Thief is slated for a 2014 release for the PC, PS4 and other next-gen consoles.

Source & Image: Only SP [http://www.onlysp.com/2013/03/16/thief-reboot-can-be-completed-without-killing-anyone/]

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[knight steel]

Yay all this is good news more games should take notes from this and learn ^_^

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

That's... kinda obvious thing to say, if we're speaking about Thief series.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I'm looking forward to this one! I'm not really surprised that you can go through the game without killing anyone though as the game is called Thief as opposed to Murderer. I was going to ask if a staple of the series was no-kill runs but realized that the games featured zombies and whatnot that you likely did have to kill...

Anyway, I look forward to more news on this one; if I can't play it on my U it'll be another reason to grab a PS4.

 

[weirdee]

So many developers promise a "no-kill run" ability, but sabotage it in their own way.

Dishonoured had all of the fun abilities and accessories geared to kill in amazing ways.
Metal Gear Rising only lets you do it on Playthrough 2 (with a weaker weapon)
Deus Ex forced fighting sequences where in earlier games you could find a way around.

Wonder which route this one will take?

hey man just look at iji, it has nine weapons, each with nine modifiers to those nine guns, but you only get the good ending if you don't actually use any of them except for the reflector at the end

for the most part, unless the game is built for it like splinter cell, noncombat gameplay involves high skill and being able to resist using most of the game's features

 

[Rad Party God]

Hmmmm... I was a bit skeptical at first when they announced it would be a reboot and I'm still not a fan of Garrett's new design, but...

 

[MercurySteam]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

 

[MrCalavera_v1legacy]

II was going to ask if a staple of the series was no-kill runs but realized that the games featured zombies and whatnot that you likely did have to kill...

Well, i guess by "anybody" they meant living bodies. Besides, iirc, you could permamently "kill" a zombie only by using the holy water. Otherwise it would just stand up after a while.

I just hope, they won't add some fancy knockdown animations like in new DE. Good ol' blackjack and Bonk! to the head should do the trick.

CAPTCHA: "Be my friend?" Aww, how sweet.

 

[Voulan]

It's good that it's possible, but they still said Garrett had a lot more action sequences, so I'm worried about how much emphasis and options there is for killing. Some games are advertised in the same way, and yet they offer a large range of weaponry to kill, with nothing but a single Pacifist trophy to tempt you in the other direction. The only killing I want to see is supernatural enemies, like zombies and Hammer Haunts, or if you're really, really bored after your 50th playthrough. I'll just remain cautiously optimistic for now.

 

[IronMit]

It doesn't mean anything.

You can complete Hitman Absolution without killing anyone & causing accidents..doesn't mean it's similar to the previous game

You can do mini-tombs and puzzles in the Tomb Raider..doesn't mean it's similar to the previous ones

Thief will be a good game....but will it be a Thief game...

 

[Basement Cat]

Given Yahtzee's love for the old Thief game and the fact that he criticized the obligatory violence in it (if I remember correctly) then he should be all over this game.

In a good way, I mean.

I've often thought about the way games oblige players to mow through zillions of petty henchmen, etc, in order for the game to be played through. I occasionally played Dragon Age: Origins with a rogue who could "stealth" past 90% of threats but I DID'T because you HAD to slaughter every available/possible baddie in order to get character level progression.

I also remember hearing of a WoW player who maxed out her character without ever killing--but had to re-spawn (or whatever--I've never played an MMO) a zillion times to do it.

This looks interesting.

 

[Quellist]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

The problem with HR was somewhere along the line "you don't have to kill anyone" mutated into "you get more XP for knocking everyone out" which made it pointless to attempt a pure stealth run because no bodycount=no XP. I really hope they don't make that mistake with Thief

 

[MercurySteam]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

The problem with HR was somewhere along the line "you don't have to kill anyone" mutated into "you get more XP for knocking everyone out" which made it pointless to attempt a pure stealth run because no bodycount=no XP. I really hope they don't make that mistake with Thief

If you got more XP for knocking everyone out then why how does "no bodycount=no XP"?

 

[Quellist]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

The problem with HR was somewhere along the line "you don't have to kill anyone" mutated into "you get more XP for knocking everyone out" which made it pointless to attempt a pure stealth run because no bodycount=no XP. I really hope they don't make that mistake with Thief

If you got more XP for knocking everyone out then why how does "no bodycount=no XP"?

Because in this context by body I mean unconscious or dead bodies vs guards who are still standing having never noticed you sneaking past. My point is stealth was sacrificed to create a game that's about stealth takedowns. By not killing or knocking out any guards in HR you would miss out on the bulk of the available xp

In The thief series there are no rewards for taking down guards, except in one or two specific missions. In fact Thief 2 has one mission where you must not takedown more than 3 guards and another where a single takedown or being seen is an instant fail.

I'm hoping the new thief game sticks to this rather than using an HR-like "points for takedowns" mechanic

 

[MercurySteam]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

The problem with HR was somewhere along the line "you don't have to kill anyone" mutated into "you get more XP for knocking everyone out" which made it pointless to attempt a pure stealth run because no bodycount=no XP. I really hope they don't make that mistake with Thief

If you got more XP for knocking everyone out then why how does "no bodycount=no XP"?

Because in this context by body I mean unconscious or dead bodies vs guards who are still standing having never noticed you sneaking past. My point is stealth was sacrificed to create a game that's about stealth takedowns. By not killing or knocking out any guards in HR you would miss out on the bulk of the available xp

In The thief series there are no rewards for taking down guards, except in one or two specific missions. In fact Thief 2 has one mission where you must not takedown more than 3 guards and another where a single takedown or being seen is an instant fail.

I'm hoping the new thief game sticks to this rather than using an HR-like "points for takedowns" mechanic

To be honest it seems to me that if you get more XP from silent takedowns/kills then it looks like they're trying to encourage the use of stealth.

 

[Quellist]

Deus Ex: HR and Dishonored had the same thing so it's not exactly uncharted territory. Still looks interesting though.

The problem with HR was somewhere along the line "you don't have to kill anyone" mutated into "you get more XP for knocking everyone out" which made it pointless to attempt a pure stealth run because no bodycount=no XP. I really hope they don't make that mistake with Thief

If you got more XP for knocking everyone out then why how does "no bodycount=no XP"?

Because in this context by body I mean unconscious or dead bodies vs guards who are still standing having never noticed you sneaking past. My point is stealth was sacrificed to create a game that's about stealth takedowns. By not killing or knocking out any guards in HR you would miss out on the bulk of the available xp

In The thief series there are no rewards for taking down guards, except in one or two specific missions. In fact Thief 2 has one mission where you must not takedown more than 3 guards and another where a single takedown or being seen is an instant fail.

I'm hoping the new thief game sticks to this rather than using an HR-like "points for takedowns" mechanic

To be honest it seems to me that if you get more XP from silent takedowns/kills then it looks like they're trying to encourage the use of stealth.

Which is entirely missing my point. Ok to spell it out. Thief, unlike HR does not reward takedowns or kills in any way, thus allowing unbiased freedom of choice in your tactics.