Nothing makes me feel like a sneakers-for-sneaking wearing master thief in video games more than discovering a window on a roof that the developers left in a very obvious spot precisely so I’d feel clever for using it, and in this at least, Otherside’s PvP stealth game Thick As Thieves looks to have me covered. Deus Ex creator Warren Spector introduced some pre-alpha footage this evening, and while I won’t pretend I’m actually likely to play anything PvP anytime soon that isn’t Mechabellum, I enjoyed seeing how they’ve adapted some of that classic immersive sim DNA Spector is known for into a competitive format.
“We’re trying to have all the bells and whistles of an immersive stealth game,” says Otherside’s Shafi Adams. “Hiding in shadows. Understanding NPC pathing and vision cones and timing your movements. Lockpicking your way through a guarded location”. The “x factor”, he says, is the presence of other players in all this. “I don’t know what another player’s going to do,” says Otherside’s Valerie Kromas. “Are they going to pickpocket me?”. I mean, probably not, now you’ve said it. Seems like a trap.
The footage shows off a few tools like grappling hooks, smoke grenades, and bonking clubs, the latter of which you can use to knock out the NPC guards you’ll find as well as other players. The game’s audio director also talked about the importance of sound to navigate your way around the levels safely on the way to complete your personal quests, giving the example of using emergent thunderstorms or passing trains to cover your footsteps.
The most important part of this presentation was, of course, the reveal that Spector owns a boxed copy of Games Workshop’s Dark Future – a 1988 Mad Max style vehicle combat game with adorable miniature motorbikes in it. Can I…borrow your Dark Future please, Warren? Jeremy Peel did a big interview with Greg LoPiccolo and Spector on Thick Of Thieves for us recently. Why didn’t you ask if I could borrow his Dark Future, Jeremy?
You can sign up to playtest Thick As Thieves here, and find it on Steam here.