Thick As Thieves introduces an immersive multiplayer world of larceny

OtherSide Entertainment, the newest studio from gaming industry luminary Warren Spector, has been hard at work on a game called Thick As Thieves for a while. For a long time, the game was shrouded in mystery, but the studio finally pulled back the curtain on its project at The Game Awards.

As revealed by a new trailer, Thick As Thieves is a roguelike... in the sense that it's a world filled with rogues. In actuality, the game is an immersive PvPvE multiplayer sim where players take on the role of different thieves and get stealthy across a giant living sandbox world inspired by the Northern United Kingdom. There are different heists available across the city and players can opt to try and steal valuable loot. However, valuables are usually heavily guarded. Some treasures can be so difficult to obtain that players may want to band together to take on the job cooperatively. Of course, only one player can truly enjoy the spoils, which can lead to PvP conflict.

In a briefing to the press prior to Thursday's award showcase, OtherSide leads, including Spector, Game Director Greg LoPiccolo, and Lead Designer David McDonough offered an idea of what players can expect. Players will jump into session-based multiplayer where they take on various objectives for their thieves guild. Users must not only look out for law enforcement, guards, and traps, but they must also be wary of competition. Other players can potentially be after the same quarry, which can lead to a PvP element. At the end of the day, stealth is the name of the game, so while PvP is probable, master thieves can put together runs where they go entirely undetected, not even by other players.

Otherside is hopeful that the immersive sim nature of Thick As Thieves will lead to unique experiences that only this genre can provide. That can mean thieves banding together. It can also mean some jerk waits outside the window for another thief to do the heavy lifting, only to purloin their hard work and make a clean getaway. It can even mean swiping the treasure from under someone's nose by entering a target location from another area and then tripping the alarm. Individually, players will be looking to build their reward pile and advance their individual story. Socially, they can also join factions or help NPCs across the world and use them to further fill their coffers.

There wasn't too much shown regarding thieving methods. However, OtherSide notes that the world will blend technology and magic. Both will coexist in this world, but will operate in a drastically different manner, as one might imagine. OtherSide hopes that players can utilize NPCs to their advantage, which will usually involve exploiting them. Improv is the name of the game and players are encouraged to experiment during their heists. They're also expected to adapt when things go sideways, as these types of jobs inevitably do.

In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, OtherSide teased a new gaming concept in the works. Earlier this year at the Game Developers Conference, Spector spoke glowingly about the potential for immersive multiplayer sims. Thick As Thieves appears to be the culmination of this vision and it'll be interesting to see how this experiment eventually unfolds in the hands of the end user. We'll continue to keep our eye on Thick As Thieves over the course of its development. It's coming soon to PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X|S.

This preview is based on a developer briefing held via Discord.

Ozzie Mejia

Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?