My objectives for this mission are shorter than usual. I have to find some sort of evidence of what the Trickster is up to + I have to escape.

I start off the mission with nothing except Constantines sword but I soon recover my blackjack and a few arrows in the starting room.

This level may be Constantines house again but it’s changed a bit since the last time I was here. I get to go through a previously locked door to start the level and this leads to a cave system guarded by some new creatures. There is a giant grasshopper which shoots clouds of insects at me if it sees me + a sort of imp that carries a sword. The animation for these things is quite surreal, and they march around like automatons. They move noticeably quicker than anything I’ve seen before which won’t make my life any easier.

I can’t find a good angle to approach one of these creatures on its own so in the end I sneak and dash through without being spotted. This leads me into a series of red tunnels full of spiders. I can just about deal with the spiders with my sword and a bit of judicious saving/loading. I can sneak up of a few and backstab them but more often than not I end up fighting.

From here I enter the starting area again and approaching it from a different angle I’m able to get behind the giant grasshopper and blackjack it. The good news is that these things seem to be as vulnerable to this as anyone else.

I keep exploring and have to deal with a load of imps and grasshoppers. The difficulty level went through the roof on this level and I’ve had to use everything I’ve learned so far to have a chance. I still end up in the odd sword fight but manage to fight through them. There are a few healing fruits around the place which help me recover from these but its not something I want to make a habit of.

I discover a couple of tree-houses raised up from the ground on a wooden platforms. I have to use a rope arrow to get up to each one.

In here I find some documents which give me a little idea of what Constantine is up to. It’s enough to satisfy the mission objective anyway. Now I just need to get out of here.

I find a way out of the caverns into what might be a cellar area. There is more advanced sneaking required here but it is possible provided I use water arrows to put out the torches. One of the corridors has a hole in the wall leading to a void. I have a look out here but I only go splat when I hit the void so I give it a miss after reloading.

I go up a floor and the building is starting to look familiar now. There are a lot more plants around than before and some blocked routes but its clearly Constantines house. The biggest problem up here is tiny little hopping creatures that bounce at me then explode doing a stack of damage. I never do find a good strategy to deal with these other than running away. The front door is still passable and I make a dash for it, past the guarding beasties and make it to the street.

For the next level I have to go back to the Hammerites and attempt to get them to help me. If anyone will know how to deal with the Trickster they will. From the sound of it, I will have to sneak through their temple not killing anyone and find someone in charge to talk to.

This hasn’t been a bad level and has had a nice blend of different elements. Its certainly tested my sneaking abilities without being too difficult after a very tricky start. I’d like to push on and get the game finished but the reality is I’m not going to get chance to play this again until next week.

This next mission is going to be a little different to the previous ones. Instead of the usual back door approach, I start the mission disguised and can just walk in straight through the front entrance.

I’m primarily here to collect the amulet but I have the usual expert mode additions. I can’t kill anyone, I have to collect 2400 in loot + I also have to steal the first hammer. This artifact takes little finding and is near the entrance.

I progress rapidly through this mission quickly clearing out each level and collecting the required loot with ease. After the last mission, this is stupidly easy in fact. My disguise means that I can get away with literally walking straight up to a guard, then I get behind him while he is asking who I am and whack him on the head. It’s all a bit silly but I’d rather have things too easy than too hard.

I find the amulet but its over a gap and in a cage. I guess that I can get over the gap by carrying a hammer here. It’s the obviously extendable bridge, the picture of a hammer on the floor and the nearby rack of hammers that makes me think this but I expect there was a note about it somewhere. I still can’t get into the cage with the amulet though.

I find a note with the instructions for this. I have to flick 5 levers in 5 minutes. These levers are hidden all over the map.

The first in behind a platform in the room where I found the first hammer.

This one in in the torture chambers.

This one is in the kitchens.

This is on the ceiling in the tomb of one of the order.

And finally this is hidden in the garden at the back – this one took a bit of spotting.

After doing this task the cage is open. I still have to read a prayer scroll before I can grab the amulet but I’ve picked it up somewhere along the way and head straight back outside again completing the level.

This level was extremely easy but fun enough. Since I got through it so quickly, I decided to push on and get another level in today.

At long last, I have all the amulets so its back to the cathedral to get the eye. My objectives here are brief with no loot requirement, I just need to get the eye and leave.

I use all the amulets and the front door opens.

The cathedral is full of ghosts and zombies and is generally a bit of a pain. I can already tell I’m not going to like this level but I do manage to work my way around the cathedral into a position where I can jump for the eye and take it with me.

Getting the eye was far too quick so I expect more tasks to show up and sure enough as soon as I get out of the cathedral a ghostly monk mistakes me for an initiate and starts giving me jobs to do. First off I have to fetch his rosary beads which are in his old bedroom.

There are several religious buildings in a little complex here and for these tasks I’ll be making my way between them all. They are plagued by the usual ghosts and zombies and its not easy making my way around. I can clear out the ghosts with a sword chop from behind but the zombies are an ever present nuisance. I find the room I’m looking for in a few minutes though, I’m told it overlooked the fountain which narrows down the possible locations.

Next I’m told to go make myself a holy symbol. One of the buildings is a factory of sorts and in here is a smelting pot full of molten metal. There are a choice of moulds in the room to go with it. I figure the hammer must be the holy symbol of the Hammerites and use the hammer shaped mould.

Next I have to find a prayer book, which is in the library building. This is a little tricky to get to as I have to jump onto a table then mantle up to the second level.

Next I fetch a candle which is a lot harder to find. I need to go through the factory building and jump out through a chute. Before hitting the ground, I have to jump onto the nearby shed roof. Why this guy would leave his candle on a shed roof I have no idea….

Now he tells me to go to the cemetery and perform a consecration ritual on his grave. I make my way there only to be told that my holy symbol needs blessing so its back to searching round church buildings.

One of the buildings has a tower with a telescope at the top and a bath full of holy water. I throw my hammer in there and its now blessed.

I take the hammer back and use the items one at a time to consecrate the grave. This is an annoying task in itself as I have to dodge zombies while scrolling through my inventory one item at a time. I’m expecting that to be it but I’m still not done with this guy. Now he wants me to fetch bodies back to the empty graves here.

I trek all the way back to the cathedral basement to grab a body I noticed earlier then haul it all the way back. The journey back with the body is no fun, I’m still avoiding zombies and the body slows me down + I can’t even open doors without dropping it first. I get back in the end only to be sent all the way to the cathedral again for another body….

The novelty has worn off long before this point but I know where the next body is from earlier, up in the rafters of the cathedral. I’m a little fed up with this task so instead of showing respect for the departed, I hurl the body off the beams to the ground floor to save a bit of time.

I pick it up again on my way out then lug it all the way back to the cemetery as I’d done with the previous one and throw it in a grave. I’m rewarded with a key for the armoury. I’ve only noticed one locked door in my travels which was, (surprise, surprise) back in the cathedral. So I head back there once more past the same zombies and let myself in.

In here is a bag of explosives + instructions. It looks like I’m finally getting somewhere. It’s another trek back through the same church building I’ve just done about 6 times first though.

I drop the explosive in front of the gates and shoot it with a fire arrow. This blows the gates, and I walk out to complete this level at long last.

In a disturbing cutscene, I return to Constantine with the eye and he reveals himself to be the Trickster. Him and Viktoria morph into what are presumably their real forms and I’m rewarded by having my eye extracted to give the other eye the power of sight. This betrayal has blatantly been coming the whole time, we wouldn’t have had a plot otherwise but I’m unclear where things are going from here on out. Constantine leaves me to die but I’m rescued by the keepers who hint that I should sort this mess out. Constantine is long gone and I’ll have to find out what he is up to first.

This last level was the worst of the game by a mile. I can’t stand it where I’m sent backwards and forwards through the same territory over and over again. Maybe it would have been better on a lower difficulty setting but the endless tasks from the ghost Hammerite felt forced and the level was spun out for the sake of it.

The tasks in this mission seemed to show some weaknesses in the interface for this game. There are a couple of problems which I hope are cleared up for Thief 2. My biggest problem is I can’t open a door if I have an item selected. This is a pain throughout the game, especially given that doors tend to snag on things when they open. So if I’m picking a lock, the door bangs into my face when I open it, and I have to cycle through my whole inventory before I can get the thing open. Not ideal if a zombie is right behind you…. It also stops me being able to prepare an item on the way to a task.

The main trouble I had with this last mission was being unable to open a door while carrying a body. Then after I throw it down its not always easy to pick the body up again as I can end up highlighting the door instead and closing it again. The item selection can be a little temperamental and a simple task like this shouldn’t be this difficult. These are very minor annoyances and they definitely weren’t in System Shock 2 so I’ll assume that it will be fixed in Thief 2.

The end cutscene had a bit of the same atmosphere that I saw in System Shock 2 with similar sound effects. The visuals have little similarity though. They deliberately go out of their way to not show much and have a very unique style. Its all a cut above average but the games story hasn’t been up to much. What there is has been well done but I’d like to have seen something a lot more complex. I always have the impression that there is a load of backstory I’m not seeing that is going to waste. I’ll be curious to see what happens with these final 3 missions and whether they manage to keep the thieving aspect of the game going. A typical FPS would end with a boss fight which wouldn’t be appropriate here at all. I’d struggle to think of a fitting last mission for a stealth game like this and am looking forward to seeing what Looking Glass came up with, as long as its not more zombies.

I go into this next level, not especially looking forward to it. With a title like The Caverns, it leads me to fully expect more crawling around caves. It certainly starts off that way although  do complete my first objective easily which is to track down my informant. He’s come off the worst in an encounter with some spiders.

There are a lot of the pincer handed monsters down here. I blackjack most of them and kill off the last before swimming through some underwater tunnels.

This brings me to a treasure chamber. The walls are covered with arrow traps but I can just duck under them all. After my efforts the chest is empty.

The amulet should have been in the chest so I now have to go searching for it. I come across a strange hermit living down here. He is an opera buff and tells me how the owner from the opera above now has the talisman after a party of his discovered it down here. He gives me a map and a key to get in.  This leads to a completely new set of mission goals and it doesn’t look like I’ll spend the whole level in caves after all.

I completely ignore his map which may not have been the best idea but I do find the opera house after making my way back to the surface which requires cleaning from the Cleaning services Toronto. I end up having to sneak in through the front entrance and it isn’t easy. All the floors round here tend to be made of marble or stone and the guards can hear me all too easily. I make it up to the 1st floor eventually and its marginally easier from here on with some of the floors being partially carpeted.But you can contact experts from carpet cleaning salem or else your time and energy will be wasted no matter what.Hence, avail carpet cleaning service to get your carpets done.

The opera house has to be the best location so far in the game. It’s a well thought out structure complete with stage and I can even get into all the boxes and rob the opera fans.

I’m starting at the top floor and working down and actually run into the amulet very early on. If this wasn’t expert level, I expect the mission would have been over without me ever seeing most of the level. Getting in the room wasn’t easy. There were two guards directly outside the door and I couldn’t kill either of them. A gas arrow would have helped but instead I have to deliberately make a bit of noise to tempt them into the shadows.

I notice a secret passage while exploring the rest of level 3 and this takes me back to the ground floor.

The ticket office is down here. Another of my requirements is to rob this. It isn’t guarded so this isn’t a problem, I just have to take out the ticket clerk.

I continue exploring and blunder into the guard room. The guards spot me and I end up having to attempt to blackjack one of them whilst he is attacking me. This works but it’s not something I want to make a habit of.

I work my way to the 2nd floor and find another needed item – a silver flute. This still leaves me short of about half the loot I need to complete the level so I keep exploring.

Further exploration finds all sorts of rooms you might expect in an opera house, There is a backstage area with scenery boards, practice rooms for the ballet, a props room, etc… My stealth abilities are really tested in all of these although with a bit of patience I can clear out huge areas of the map without having to resort to killing anyone. Getting the 2000 loot takes a while but I never get bored for a minute and don’t have to retread old ground.

Once I have the money, I drop the stealth and just leg it for the front entrance straight past all the guards.

This leaves one more amulet to find which I ‘ll be going after in a Hammerite temple next mission.

This has been the games best mission so far. It was another huge level but always varied and challenging. The guards were all extremely alert for any sound or movement and the level design made keeping unseen and quiet something of an art. The long thin broken carpets were an excellent idea in the marble corridors. To blackjack a guard I had to move minutely slowly onto the carpet, but quickly enough so I could then speed up and catch the guard before he got to the end. If he got off the carpet first, then I’d be heard every time.  I’ve also been required to use misdirection for the first time, deliberately making noise to draw guards away from a guard point.

This was the final of 3 levels which were added to Thief Gold but were not in the original game. It has to be said that those have been the best 3 levels in the game and my opinion of Thief so far would have been a lot lower without them. Hopefully the remaining levels will come close to these standards. Looking Glass had obviously learnt what the fans wanted by the time of Thief Gold – if Thief 2 manages to keep these sorts of levels going for a whole game then it should be an absolute classic. I’ve still got a few levels of this to go first though.

I start this level with a map of the lost city that looks like hieroglyphics. I can’t see it helping much but I suppose its better than nothing.

I start in the streets outside and have to find my way in first.

Diving in the water shows me a likely looking stone plaque. This was in the intro video so its a dead giveaway that I use my key from before to get in.

I carry on swimming through tunnels. When I see these bubbles I attempt to breathe them Sonic the Hedgehog style but it doesn’t work and I end up reloading.

This time I just keep swimming. I’m swept along and over a waterfall. The climb back up here is a bit of a pain and its easy to keep falling back down as I have to make running jumps at every ledge.

I get up there in the end, fight my way through a few spiders and get my first view of the lost city + the amulet I’m looking for. There is no way to get to it from here so I’m forced to turn round and go the other way.

This leads me through a series of rooms, in what looks a  bit like a stone tomb. All the rooms have automatic lights which come on when I enter. The lost city used to be quite advanced by the looks of it.

After the tomb I emerge into an area full of small stone houses. My main enemies so far down here have been the lizards which I’ve taken out with my sword each time. I run into tougher opposition though in the shape of these fireballs which I’ll be seeing a lot of. They move faster than me and shoot flame darts which hurt a lot. I can take them out with a single water arrow and as long as I’m fast they aren’t a big problem, at least until I run out of water arrows.

As I travel through I find the usual clues to prod me in the right direction. I’m just about out of water arrows at this point so I try to find this tower.

In truth, I’m just wandering around aimlessly exploring but I do chance upon some more water crystals.

This area leads me to a palace of sorts and its inhabited by more fire mages. This guy is not in the easiest place for sneaking up on him, especially given that the light comes on in the room every time I go through it. I end up just hacking him with the sword.

In the room he was guarding is a machine with a big slot for a key or lever. I’ll have to come back here later.

I turn round and go back the way I came to the central area and discover a new location by hopping over rooftops.

One of the requirements of this mission is to find medallions from a missing expedition. The first is located here guarded by a fire mage.

I sneak past a couple more mages into another tomb. After blackjacking yet another mage I come to a cavernous gap. I have to shoot my rope arrows into the convieniently located beams so I can jump across to the other side.

This place is protected with traps. Stepping through this door swings a bit metal plate at me but I can avoid it by ducking.

At the far end is a lever which I carry back all the way to the palace.

I slot this in the machine…

… and it lowers the drawbridge upstairs.

I find the second and final talisman through here along with more notes.

I’m getting near the fire amulet now but its right at the top of a tower and the stairs are bust. I end up climbing through a window and teetering on a ledge. I have to follow this around the building and shoot a rope arrow onto a beam to climb upstairs.

The fire amulet is in here and unguarded so I grab it. I’ve still got a requirement for a certain amount of loot to be collected (2000 including 500 gems). I’ve got enough loot but not gems at this point.

Thankfully the search isn’t too long. The trick is to realise that a room I saw earlier has removable gemstones all along the walls. I’ve now got my loot and just have to figure out how to get out of here. It’s a long trek right back to the waterfall and a load of new fireballs are in the way. How I swim back up the river which swept me over the waterfall I don’t know but this completes the mission.

Next level is more caverns to explore to find the water amulet. This last level wasn’t too bad but wasn’t one of my favourites. Sneaking was barely required and I prefer the levels when they are a bit more concentrated and less sprawling. I didn’t have any real trouble finishing it but I’d prefer not to have what sounds like another similar level coming up. I’d like to see a little more thieving and a lot less wandering round caves killing lizards and the like. In this sort of level Thief is reduced at times to being a sub-par FPS by not playing to it’s strengths.

I’m carrying on with expert mode for this level. This presumably means I’m going to actually have to succeed with being stealthy which could be a problem. It does start out with plenty of dark areas to hide in though and the mages aren’t as aware of noise around them as guards making them an easy target.

The layout of this level is relatively simple after the previous one. There is a central building with this large tower, a library, etc… and four connecting towers, each one representing an element.

The library has a small room with four talking statues that talk about me being ruined by my own greed, and betrayed. I’ve already guessed that much but I’ve got the eye to steal first which is a good few missions away yet.

The library contains a few documents I can read which offer minor clues of whats to come. I’m really in here looking for some jeweled spectacles which are a mission requirement in expert but I don’t find them.

I find a further set of clues in the lower library downstairs. These are a bit more significant. One tells me that I’m going to have to work my way through every tower to get the key to the next one. Another gives me an idea of where I can get out after the mission.

I head down to the bottom of the main tower next and find the dungeons. These have secret doors in a couple of the walls, but they stand out quite clearly.

At the end of the dungeons, I find the sewers and Garret points out that this would be a good place to leave after the mission.

There is nothing else down here so I make my way to the first tower instead – the water tower.

This tower is pretty much what you might expect and after a bit of a swim I get to an island with the next tower key.

The next tower is Earth. This one is a lot larger and includes a bit of platform hopping.

I get the key easily enough once again.

On my way back I pass through the central tower and nearby find the guard captain’s quarters complete with a medallion he has been keeping hold of. This is one of my mission requirements.

Next its on to the air tower.

This one is even more platform game like with moving platforms that I have to float around on. I’m not that keen on this sort of thing in an FPS but at least there isn’t too much of it and I suppose it makes sense in the air tower.

The chest with the key is suspended out of reach and I have to swing what look like telescopes to bring it down for a few seconds, quickly pick the lock and grab the key.

I pass through the central tower again on my way out and decide to have another look for the spectacles. I’ve completed all the other mission objectives by this point (other than the main one) and have had no problems whatsoever securing the 1800 loot for this mission. The spectacles are hidden behind a secret panel which is opened by pulling a particular book in the library. I find it easily enough this time but I get lucky to highlight the book when I’m looking around.

There is a bit of warning about the trials of fire before I enter the tower.

Sure enough it looks dangerous when I get there. The lava isn’t too convincing though I must say. The stuff in Underworld looked better than this. The whole lava slides around in a giant texture and it looks more like a disco light effect.

In addition to having to worry about not falling into lava there are metal panels in here which heat up and glow. They alternate between hot and cold, in another platform game style gameplay mechanic. I can cool them down with a water arrow but there isn’t any need most of the time. It hurts walking on them when hot though so I have to wait or jump over them.

There isn’t too much opportunity for stealth around here and I simply run through some of the rooms which works well enough.

I get to the final chest and I have to slowly pick the lock while avoiding the glowing panels. This nets me yet another key.

I have to go to the central tower again and right at the top I can use this key. In this room are a couple of mages and a load of fake runes. The real one turns out to be at the west end of the room. I just run in and out of here once I discover this and then head back to the dungeon to exit the level.

The next level will be The Lost City. This is the ruins of an ancient city which I can only get into with the key I found in a previous mission. It looks like another zombie level I’m sorry to say but at least this time it doesn’t have any particular loot requirements.

I’m really enjoying this game now I’ve gone to expert. It hasn’t made it particularly difficult, I wouldn’t say it’s any harder than before. It just means that I have to explore each level and can’t just hack my way through. Both of these are good things. The only downside is the amount of time it is taking me to play each level. I like to play each level in one go, especially when I’m going to blog about it so it means I need 2-3 hours free every time I want to play the game. This is probably going to limit me to 2 or 3 levels a week but I can live with that.