Thief is a reinvention of a classic franchise that allows players to take on the role of Garrett, THE master thief. When the city that created and defines him is threatened, Garrett must step from the shadows and uncover the truth before his world is torn apart forever.There is a rising tide of fear in The City. Hatred saturates every stone and whilst the rich prosper, the less fortunate face misery and repression. Ravaged with sickness and famine, they wait for something to change.
Into this shadowy world steps Garrett, THE master thief in a first-person adventure featuring intelligent design that allows players to take full control, with freedom to choose their path through the game’s levels and how they approach and overcome each challenge.
Eidos Montreal has put up a community Q&A explaining why it decided to remove of the XP system from game:
Why was it removed?
Nic: At first, we wanted to outline the progression of the player with XP, but it was reducing our motivation to steal. The main goal of a thief should be to gain loot. Garrett is already the Master Thief, so we saw no need to have XP as a core mechanic.
Daniel: We wanted to put emphasis on stealing things, and put the rewards on the stealing aspect. We want to allow the player to decide the "how to" – we shouldn't judge how the player wants to achieve their goal, only reward them for achieving it.
The reaction from fans to the "Headshot XP" pop-up in the E3 gameplay demo was fairly negative. Did that have an impact on the decision to remove it from the game?
Daniel: Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the "real world". This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions.
Nic: It is more a design decision to add to our economy system and entice the player to steal more. But yes, the E3 reaction was right, rewarding killing like that was wrong for a Master Thief.
How will Garrett progress through the game without XP?
Nic: The goal is to use gold to buy elements to progress, to encourage the player to steal. The player will be able to choose how to spend money, for more stealthy or more aggressive tools.
Daniel: It was always possible to play without using XP, like it is still possible to play through the game without killing anyone or even spending any coin (though it isn't going to be easy!)
Thanks guys, this was very instructive. And wait until you hear what they have to say about QTEs...
More articles about Thief