Exploring the Shadows: My Experience with Thick as Thieves
My initial hours spent playing Thick as Thieves were quite the thrill! This first-person stealth title offers a quirky charm with its hand-drawn maps that seem like they were sketched by a mischievous character named “Fingers.” Set in a world where technology meets magic, I found myself chuckling at guards sporting Scottish accents, debating whether the lights around them were electric or fey. The basement of Elway Manor even has an area marked with a mysterious question mark!
As I hopped across rooftops and squeezed through vents, I was pleasantly surprised to see how attentive the guards were—snuffing out candles or leaving doors ajar didn’t go unnoticed. The game initially gave me a nostalgic vibe of classic stealth titles while adding fresh twists, like ghostly guards drifting through walls. Their eerie coughs served as a warning that danger was never too far away.
Neglecting the friends list in the game’s thieves den made Thick as Thieves feel like the Thief sequel I had been yearning for. Even the electrogram for contracts, set to the iconic 0451, was a nice nod to immersive sim fans. At first, I didn’t mind the limited choice of two maps. Both the police station and Elway Manor are expansive, multi-layered environments with various points of entry. On my second run, I discovered fresh challenges and strategized new approaches to my objectives. Upgrading my gear, like acquiring a pickpocket fairy to swipe keys from afar, added to the fun, much like revisiting Sapienza in Hitman.
However, the looming time limits started to gnaw at my excitement. You typically have 45 minutes (or sometimes only 30) to locate the magical escape door, which appears at random, followed by a frantic eight-minute dash to get out before failing the mission. Thick as Thieves clearly aims to be a fast-paced stealth experience rather than a slow-burn one—manual saves are non-existent. While this design works for co-op modes, where your partner might want to squeeze in just one more level before bedtime, it does cut down on the immersive exploration.
What really threw me off was that the eight-minute countdown begins the moment you accomplish any objective. If you’re tasked with stealing three items, the clock starts ticking as soon as you grab the first one, often leading to confusion. The first time this happened, I hadn’t even located the other two items yet! After grabbing one and leaving, I returned only to find I had to search for all three again. It was frustrating, and by the time I was ready to collect the last item, the escape door appeared in an inaccessible spot. Talk about a buzzkill!
Somewhere along the way, Thick as Thieves shifted from its original PvPvE concept to focus on single-player and co-op gameplay. This change probably explains why we’re left with an immersive sim that doesn’t allow for key rebinding and has only two maps. The developers call it the first chapter, but it feels more like an early access title to me. On the bright side, the game is just $5, and if the timer allowed players to complete all contract steps before starting the countdown, I’d probably still be playing it. At that price, I might have even considered buying a copy for a friend to join in on the co-op action, though I’m not sure they’d appreciate it in its current state!