Personally, my expectations for Thief 4 have always been another Thief game, featuring the same-old  Garrett in the same-old City, just moving the story along with better graphics, better interface, and some added goodies. I suppose seeing Dishonored, with all of it’s Thief-inspirations but wrapped up in a more modern-looking package, should have been my warning that any other games coming out in the sneaker genre are going to start to look the same way. When the screenshots came out, my expectation for that game dropped. Seeing the new look for Garrett, I think I’m better off having no expectations at all.

My love of the Thief franchise stems from the fact that Garrett has always been a gritty, noir character. He was written in the vein of classic D&D thieves. He was like the Grey Mouser, or Shadowspawn. He doesn’t fight unless he has to, and he’s better at getting away than using a sword. Instead, it looks like we’re getting Thief: UFC Edition, and less Shadowspawn than goth Chuck Liddell.

This game might wind up being really good. It might be a ton of fun. But with the direction they’re going, it won’t be Thief except in name and that really sucks. It makes me love Thief: the Dark Project even more, outdated graphics and all. It’s like comfort food, but with blackjacks and water arrows.