Thief producer on being more stealthy than Dishonored

Modern stealth action games typically give the player a choice: do you play aggressively, leaving a wake of bodies behind--or do you play silently,...

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Modern stealth action games typically give the player a choice: do you play aggressively, leaving a wake of bodies behind--or do you play silently, avoiding confrontation whenever possible? Last year's Dishonored was celebrated for its ability to adapt to playstyle. However, what's Thief's approach?

Stephane Roy, senior producer on the game, says the game is meant to be played in a more thoughtful, less aggressive way. "It's always from the thief's point of view," he told us. "If you're aggressive like a soldier, you're going to die because the mechanics don't want to see you going into the light."

When asked about the player that wants to play commando-style, Roy said that "it's going to be frustrating for the player." He gave an example of a recent playtest, one that had a Call of Duty fan trying his luck at the game. "Full of arrows, making headshots--he wasn't really enjoying the game," Roy admitted.

Roy says that a key difference between Thief and Dishonored is that the gameplay mechanics sway players away from killing in Thief, while Dishonored uses narrative. "Personally, I think it's easier to play aggressive than full stealth in Dishonored," Roy said. "Thief is much more about stealing and not killing."

Steven Gallagher, narrative director of the game, also chimed in, pointing out that Garrett's weapon is intentionally crafted to steer players away from running-and-gunning. "You can't panic with a bow and arrow," he pointed out. "But you can do aggressive stealth."

To coincide with our interview, Square Enix also offered three minutes of new gameplay footage. Take a look:

Andrew Yoon was previously a games journalist creating content at Shacknews.

From The Chatty
  • reply
    October 9, 2013 6:40 AM

    Andrew Yoon posted a new article, Thief producer on being more stealthy than Dishonored.

    Modern stealth action games typically give the player a choice: do you play aggressively, leaving a wake of bodies behind--or do you play silently,...

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      October 9, 2013 7:25 AM

      That sounds a little better than most of what I've read but I'm still not buying it until I hear from actual Thief fans.

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      October 9, 2013 7:50 AM

      "Personally, I think it's easier to play aggressive than full stealth in Dishonored," Yeah, you just suck at Dishonored. You can jump 15-feet in the air, teleport from one building to another, and possess animals. Stealth is no problem at all, unless you just have a compulsory urge to attack everything.

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        October 9, 2013 7:58 AM

        Of course, none of that addresses the fact that it really is easier to just kill everyone.

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          October 9, 2013 8:32 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 9, 2013 8:40 AM

            Because if you're down with killing everything, hiding bodies is pointless.

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            October 9, 2013 9:01 AM

            If you think that, you suck at stealth.

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              October 9, 2013 9:01 AM

              Dammit, that's for people saying that it's easier to kill everyone

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              October 9, 2013 9:04 AM

              Maybe you're better at stealth and he's better at action? Now touch dinks and hug it out.

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            October 9, 2013 10:45 AM

            Because you don't have to hide bodies, there's an easily accessible skill that vaporizes kills

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        October 9, 2013 8:12 AM

        The only incentive to not kill everyone is Dishonored is to not let the city go to shit. You can beat the game half the time if you kill everyone.

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          October 9, 2013 8:20 AM

          Actually, the incentive is to make the game fun. Killing your way through would be boring.

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          October 9, 2013 8:33 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 9, 2013 8:41 AM

            Is it that complex? Sneaking around all slow, finding routes to move past guards, etc all takes much longer than "Oh, my goal is there?" and then moving that direction while killing everything in the way.

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              October 9, 2013 8:51 AM

              [deleted]

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                October 9, 2013 9:34 AM

                So now we have to play games at the hardest difficulty to comment on them?

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                October 9, 2013 10:37 AM

                Nope I did that on the highest difficulty. Not saying it doesn't take any thought, but the enemies over all aren't really that hard.

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                  October 9, 2013 10:38 AM

                  Sorry that comment was in reply to Mr. Goodwrench

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                  October 9, 2013 10:41 AM

                  [deleted]

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                    October 9, 2013 11:32 AM

                    I don't really block, I use the pistol to take out as many guys as I can before getting to close, and using blink to maneuver out of the way so that they can't surround me. Not to mention all the other possibilities to kill them. Its actually ridiculous how many ways you have to kill ppl.

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            October 9, 2013 9:38 AM

            [deleted]

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            October 9, 2013 10:35 AM

            You just run through the game killing everything in your path, not that difficult

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          October 9, 2013 9:02 AM

          You are so wrong that you may never be right again. You can flash through complicated areas without ever being seen, and it's fucking fast.

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            October 9, 2013 10:41 AM

            lol Yeah? and you can do the same thing without caring about where you land or being spotted because if you are your just gonna kill them anyway

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          October 9, 2013 9:07 AM

          [deleted]

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            October 9, 2013 4:37 PM

            And it takes only 4-5 hours if you killed everyone.

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        October 9, 2013 9:12 AM

        the reason to play aggressive in Dishonored is because of all the fun shit you get to use that you can't if you are playing stealth/nokill

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        October 9, 2013 4:38 PM

        Killing is way WAY faster.

        You kidding me??

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