Thief™ II: The Metal Age Reviews

As good as thief 1! I love the secret system!

a fantastic sequel to the original masterpiece

"Thief: The Dark Project" was groundbreaking for its focus on stealth and evasion, setting it apart from the action-heavy first-person shooters of its time. Its sequel, "Thief II: The Metal Age," developed by Looking Glass Studios and released in March 2000, continued this legacy but faced challenges as the studio closed shortly after due to financial issues, leading to the cancellation of future titles until "Thief: Deadly Shadows" in 2004. In "Thief II," players once again assume the role of master thief Garrett, who finds himself embroiled in a conspiracy involving nobles and the Mechanists, a religious sect intent on creating mindless servants. Stephen Russell returns to voice Garrett, enhancing the immersive experience. The game shifts in tone and atmosphere, toning down fantasy and horror elements in favor of a steampunk aesthetic. While the gameplay remains similar to its predecessor, it emphasizes stealth over combat, making for a more satisfying experience. Players are encouraged to sneak and steal rather than engage in combat, which remains unchanged and is best avoided. "Thief II" introduces new equipment, such as Frogbeast Eggs and the Scouting Orb, while retaining the original weapons: a blackjack, sword, and bow. The gameplay revolves around light, shadow, and sound, with players using stealth to navigate and complete missions. Overall, "Thief II" refines the formula of the first game, offering a superior stealth experience. Just like its predecessor, the maps are not only large but can also be confusing, especially if you don’t pay attention. It’s often wise to eavesdrop on conversations and read any journal entries and any scrolls or notes you come across which will often provide hints on what you need to do or where you need to go. Many levels contain multiple floors with multiple rooms and corridors. However, in general, levels feel less maze-like than those in the first game. Many are just huge and you can spend a good chunk of time simply exploring which is one of the most enjoyable aspects of the game. Exploring and stealing is just so fun and rewarding that it’s easy to get lost in these maps for long periods of time. I would absolutely recommend Thief II. It gives you more of the same great gameplay but with all the annoying shit stripped out. It’s a game that holds up really well and has a good amount of replay value. From the multiple difficulty levels to the open-ended nature of the maps to mods, there’s plenty of reasons to return and plenty of valuable loot to steal. Definitely check it out.

They improved the game, moving backwards and strafing are now possible. However, the game is still so old it hurts.

For me, dark project, metal age and deadly shadows are in my s tier games list. Absolute classic.

An awsome adventure stealth game, honouring the legacy of the first Thief, although not perfect as its predecessor

As this game is extremely similar to the first entry in the series, most of those thoughts still apply to this - namely that it was great and important for its time, but has since been surpassed by modern stealth and immersive sim games.

Refined a bit from Thief 1, but more or less the same. I like the mission quality overall better because Thief 1 was hit or miss with some of the supernatural stuff and stinker missions, but it comes at the expense of a bit of the original's charm. I'm playing on expert and I haven't encountered that much of a challenge yet, so maybe mostly having human enemies is the reason for that. There are some interesting new obstacles they added that could make it much more challenging, but they aren't always utilized as much as I think they should be. Having a blast so far despite that.

The game demands I move like a shadow but sounds like I’m wearing tap shoes on sheet metal, the darkness hides you and also the fun alongside being forced to listen to the voice acting which is great if you enjoy every character sounding like a theatre major with bronchitis. The many times i died were because I breathed near a guard and his AI detected my existential despair.

yeah, this game is old but that excuse doesn't matter one bit when the game frustrates you this much. the amount of times i had to load a quicksave not because i went too fast or played poorly but the game decided the fully pitch black surroundings i'm in are actually making me very visible, or the times an NPC hears literally nothing and still gets alerted to my presence, or the time where the clunky movement hinders my abilities waaay past my own fault. i enjoyed thief 1 a lot and didn't run into a lot of problems but holy shit do not play this game if you have a short temper.