Thief: Deadly Shadows

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Thief: Deadly Shadows

Developer(s) Ion Storm Inc.
Publisher(s) Eidos Interactive
Designer(s) Randy Smith; Jordan Thomas
Series Thief
Engine Heavily-modified Unreal Engine 2 (with flash renderer)
Version 1.1
Platform(s) Microsoft Windows, Xbox, Mobile phone
Release date United States:
May 25, 2004
Europe:
June 11, 2004
Genre(s) Stealth
Mode(s) Single-player
Rating(s) ESRB: M (Mature)
USK: 12+
PEGI: 12+
Media CD-ROM (3), DVD-ROM (1), Steam
System requirements 1.5 GHz CPU, 256 MB RAM, 64 MB video card RAM, 4X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 9.0b, 3.0 GB available hard disk space, Windows XP (WIN)
Input methods Keyboard, Mouse or Gamepad

Thief: Deadly Shadows is a 2004 stealth game developed by Ion Storm Austin rather than Looking Glass Studios, the original developer of the first two Thief games, (albeit with many of the same people, including the same voice actor, Stephen Russell for the lead character, Garrett), and is a relative departure from the first two games in the series. The game is powered by the Unreal Engine used in Deus Ex: Invisible War engine and unlike the original two titles, Deadly Shadows was developed simultaneously for Microsoft Windows and the Xbox.

One of the game's major new features is the ability to explore the City. While previous games (Thief: The Dark Project and Thief II: The Metal Age) sent Garrett straight from mission to mission, Thief: Deadly Shadows allows him to walk the city streets between missions where he can steal from passersby, spy on the townspeople, and complete the occasional side quest in addition to major story missions. Unlike games such as Grand Theft Auto III, the city is not one large continuous map, but rather several small neighborhood maps connected by load zones (similar to Postal²).

Contents

[edit] Characters

For more details on this topic, see Thief (series).
Garrett
Garrett
  • Garrett: Protagonist and master thief, Garrett received extensive training from the ancient sect known as The Keepers before rebelling against their secretive and hierarchical nature and leaving the order. Garrett's vision is augmented by a mechanical eye, given to him by the Hammerites after his natural eye was plucked out by Constantine the Trickster (The Woodsie Lord of the Pagans) and his consort Viktoria. Garrett has attained a fearsome reputation through his prodigious skills and his habit of becoming involved in the epic events portrayed in the Thief series. He remains silent throughout the game apart from his lines during cutscenes, and comments he makes under his breath.
  • The Hag: A mythical serial killer who purportedly stalks the night slaying victims and stealing their skin. Even the Pagans who deal regularly with monstrous creatures, regard her as an abomination. The Hag appears to be the Boogeyman of the Thief world and is featured in a variety of children's rhymes and night-time tales. However few believe she actually exists except Garrett and a Hammerite inspector named Drept. According to Drept the Hag "wears death upon her as a cloak. Some who meet her doth vanish. Others perished with bloody work upon their bodies". There are hints spoken of creatures made of stone. The tale of a Hag, a bent old woman, who is ever old but grows no older. She has connections to the prophecy that states: "When the progress of the time ceases, the evil one will be pointed out for all to see".
  • Robert Moira: The captain of the ship 'Abysmal Gale' in Thief: Deadly Shadows, living in an overlook mansion on an island not far away from the city. The ship came into to the dock one day but Moira and all his crew were missing. According to his log, he had found a strange golden slab in a cave and has brought back to his mansion. The ship is battered and occupied by zombies. The City Watch has sent at least two people including one named Reggy on board to investigate but they never come back, so it is assumed that Moira and his crew are either killed or turned to zombies. According to a sailor's log, Moira had been acting strange one day suddenly, turning over everything, and shouting "where have you hidden it" and had not eaten anything. The crew had planned to rebel but the log ends here and thus nothing else can be known.
  • Edwina Moira: The wife of captain Moira. She sits in a room facing the sea, murmuring, and seems to have lost her mind, probably due to the shock from hearing of her husband's death.
  • Lord Julian: A nobleman who has sworn revenge over his cousin, Lord Ember, and resides in Rutherford Castle. He has vowed to find the Bloodline Opal, but in the End of the Bloodline mission Garrett beats him to it and the opal is sold on the black market.
  • Inspector Drept: A Hammerite bent on tracing and finding the Hag due to his childhood experience. When he was a young child, he lived in the Shalebridge Cradle, an orphanage/insane asylum. One day he was playing hide-and-seek in the attic with his friend Lauryl. During the game while Lauryl was searching for the hidden Drept, the Hag appeared and killed her. Drept was frozen with fear and could do nothing. Afterward he informed the Cradle staff that it was done by a hag and not an insane patient, although no one believed him. When he grew up he joined the Hammerites and began searching for the Hag. His working desk in St. Edgar's Temple has a small monument plaque hanging on the wall above in memorial of Lauryl.
  • Lauryl: Originally an orphan who lived in the Shalebridge Cradle as did the eventual Inspector Drept but was killed and skinned by the Hag. Her body was buried in a secret room in the catacombs in Fort Ironwood with a spell marked on the tomb. Since her death her ghost haunted the attic in the now-abandoned Cradle. During the events of Thief: Deadly Shadows, Garrett will manage to liberate her spirit.
  • First Keeper Orland: The elected leader of the secretive faction of guardians known as the Keepers, who quietly watch over the City and attempt to maintain 'the balance,' i.e the permanent near-equilibrium of power in the City. Orland held a life-long distrust of Garrett, believing him to be too unpredictable, and retaining bad feeling toward him after he left their order.
  • Keeper Artemus: Artemus is the Keeper who Garrett attempted to steal from in the beginning of the first game, and was the one who introduced him to the Keepers. He was sent to find Garrett, and inform him about two lost artifacts (Namely the Jacknall's Paw and The Builder's Chalice). Near the end of the game, however, he is murdered by The Hag, who steals his skin and wears it as a disguise. Though Garrett doesn't show it, he seems to like Keeper Artemus the most out of all the other Keepers.

[edit] Enemies

[edit] Humans

  • Peasants: These normal unarmed townspeople cannot fight, but they are quick to alert the nearest City Watch guards if they catch Garrett intruding or get attacked by him.
  • Thugs: Similar to the peasants, but with weapons and can fight. They will only attack Garrett if he attacks them first, but it is also possible to trick them into fighting you, if for some reason you wish for them to do so.
  • Armed Guards: They come in many varieties (City Watch, Hammerite, Pagan, Keeper, etc.) and for most part will attack Garrett on sight.
  • Priests/Shamans/Elders: These are wand-wielding spell-casters that can cause Garrett a lot of damage if the spell connects. Garrett can intercept the spells they cast on their allies and gain the benefits for himself, if he's quick enough. The spells also kill zombies.

[edit] Undead

  • Zombies/Hammer Haunts: They attack anyone on sight, but can be taken down fairly easily by Garrett.
  • Asylum Haunts: The Shalebridge Cradle's resurrection of the insane inmates. They can be killed like regular zombies but are harder to kill. On expert difficulty everything except Holy Water only stuns them, whereas Holy Water kills them. They are most commonly called "puppets" or "residents."
  • Shades: The "ghosts" of the Shalebridge Cradle's past, but classified as undead. They patrol the entire Cradle (in the Cradle's memory) but can be taken down easier than the Asylum Haunts. You can't harm them and they can't harm you while in the patient's memory phase, they can only "catch" you (realize you're there) and they will immediately send you back to the present. When you enter the memory as yourself they act like regular armed guards.

[edit] Other Enemies

  • Treants: These are tree beasts only seen in the Into the Pagan Sanctuary mission. They are extremely tough but are vulnerable to fire.
  • Living Stone Statues: These are ordinary stone statues granted living form (by The Hag), to search for Garrett and kill him. Like Treants, they are amazingly strong, but can be defeated with heavy firepower (albeit a great amount of it) or by the Blackjack when Garrett acquires the Glyph of Unbinding.
  • Keeper Enforcers: Unnaturally strong and agile assassins, they communicate telepathically and hurl victim-seeking glyph-enhanced blades at their enemies. These glyph-altered beings are hard to kill once provoked, but can be fairly easily taken down when caught unawares.

[edit] Weapons and Support Items

  • Blackjack: A simple club for knocking opponents unconscious, though it does not work on all opponents, it is the stealthiest way to incapacitate an enemy.
  • Dagger: Basic close up combo weapon, can perform a backstab if behind an unsuspecting enemy. Unlike the sword in previous games, the dagger cannot block incoming blows.
  • Broadhead Arrow: The "standard" arrow in Garrett's arsenal, which can take down un-alerted human enemies with one hit to the head or torso.
  • Water Arrow: Tipped with a water crystal, they yield no damage but can put out torches, chandeliers, candles and other flaming light sources. They have no effect on electrical lighting, but can be used to wash away blood stains.
  • Moss Arrow: Earth enchanted arrows which can choke an unsuspecting opponent, leaving them distracted for an amount of time. Also the moss may be used as stepping stones over surfaces that would make a loud sound to walk upon. If enchanted, these arrows can also be used to strike Pagan Cornerstones.
  • Fire Arrow: Light unlit torches, chandeliers, and candles, as well as doing a hefty amount of damage to your opponents. The fire arrow gives off a large amount of light even when nocked, and it makes a lot of noise.
  • Gas Arrow: Douse fire or create an area of knockout gas, these are one of the rarest arrows to find, and one of the most expensive. You don't have to shoot an enemy in the face to knock them out, even if you shoot them in the heel it works.
  • Noisemaker Arrow: These arrows are mechanically designed to make suspicious noises where they strike. The enemy will run over to them to investigate, being distracted for a short period of time, useful for finding out if an enemy is near (at the cost of putting them on alert), or getting them away from a place you need to be but cannot enter by stealth.
  • Flashbomb: Will temporarily blind living enemies in the vicinity. At close range they can also injure or kill undead.
  • Explosive Mine: A basic mine with a contact fuse, powerful enough to kill almost anything instantly but very noisy and expensive.
  • Oil Flask: This glass bottle shatters upon impact with the ground, and unsuspecting enemies will slide across the floor upon stepping on it; even off cliffs, railings, or anything else that could lead them to their doom. Can also be ignited to create a wall of fire.
  • Holy Water: Even more effective than fire at destroying the undead, utterly ineffective for anything else. Scoring a direct hit on an undead opponent with a Holy Water container also works.
  • Gas Bomb: This bomb explodes in a green vapor, which instantly knocks out most opponents who come in contact with it.
  • Health Potion: Drinking this potion will restore eight of Garrett's life crystals instantly.

[edit] Garrett's Passive Abilities

  • Mechanical Eye: Zoom in and out to get a better view of what is going on near you. This replaces a limited-use tool from Thief 2 but does not offer the same remote-viewing capability; it also offers limited light amplification. EDIT: It doesn't replace anything from Thief 2, as Garrett has the Mechanical Eye in the Metal Age as well.
  • Lock Picks: Use the action button on a locked door, and start a lockpicking sub-game. The objective is to find the sweet spot in the lock, and pick each row, one-by-one. By moving your pick with your mouse, you're able to probe the row you need to solve in search of the sweet spot. You'll know when you have almost found it, as you'll hear a rapid, metallic clicking, and Garrett will move his arm up. You can also use WASD (Or whatever bindings you've set for "Move Forward, Move Backward, Strafe Left, Strafe Right) to control the pick, and doing this while rapidly clicking the mouse button will give you the ability to solve a lock in 5 seconds, while using the mouse it would have taken 15.
  • Keeper Glyph: In the game, when you encounter the keeper's secret hideout, you obtain the ability to open areas marked with a keeper glyph symbol on it. Some of these doors allow the game to progress, while others provide access to secret areas.
  • Pagan Blessing: Upon reading Dyan's note in the docks, you receive the ability to use your moss arrows to enchant Pagan Cornerstones (They are on the corners of some parts of the town, they are small, dark, on the bottom, and have a tree symbol on them); doing so increases your Faction standing with the Pagans.
  • Hammer Blessing: Upon reading Drept's note in the library of the Keeper Compound, you obtain the ability to destroy Rust Mites (The golden beetles strewn about the city) with your broadhead arrows. Killing Rust Mites increases your faction standing with the Hammerites.
  • Climbing Gloves: Purchased for 2000 gold in the shop in the Docks, these gloves enable you to scale sheer vertical surfaces with ease. Having this tool is necessary to progress through later stages of the game, and can also optionally be utilized to access treasure and tools previously inaccessible.
  • Glyph of Unbinding: Find this Glyph in the final area, this enables Garrett to kill the living statues with his blackjack (one sneak attack, or four frontal attacks).

[edit] Mission Overview

Checking Inn, Cashing out
This is a training mission added to allow new players to familiarize themselves with the new interface and general stealth gameplay. Garrett has got a tip from his fence, Heartless Perry, that a nobleman named Lord Julian has had some sort of quarrel and showed up at Blue Heron Inn, in a foul mood. He is carrying a velvet bag and he never takes his eyes off it. Garrett thinks that may contain something valuable, so decides to steal it. The player is then taken through a series of linear objectives, however this is very dissimilar to the later missions.
End of the Bloodline
The bag contains a bronze medallion stamped with a griffin. It belongs to the Rutherfords who own a castle in South Quarter. It also has some connection with a huge opal locked in the castle vault. Garrett would hate to have anyone but him get a stone like that.
St. Edgar's Eve
Garrett sells the opal at Black Market Bertha's and gets a letter from Artemus. The Keepers need him to obtain two objects for further study: The Builder's Chalice from the Hammerites and the Jacknall's Paw from the Pagans. In return Garrett can listen to their prophecies.
St. Edgar's Church is where the Hammerites keep the Chalice. The temple holds the crypt of some long-ago Hammerite hero St. Edgar. This day is his holy day and there is an all-night service. Hopefully the Hammerites will sit down praying rather than looking for Garrett.
Into the Pagan Sanctuary
The Jacknall's Paw is a mummified hand, hidden deep inside the underground Pagan territory. The entrance to the Pagan territory is the South Quarter well.
House of the Widow Moira
First Keeper Orland welcomes Garrett very reluctantly. From the books Garrett learns that a Dark Age is coming. The Keepers have been looking for a lost book called the Compendium of Reproach, which can give more information about the Dark Age. A ship called Abysmal Gale has recently arrived at the Dock and it appears that this is connected to the prophecies. The local authority has warned all curious citizens not to go near this cursed ship. Garrett goes in and finds that the ship is battered and filled with undead. The former captain Moira's log talks about a golden slab in his seaside mansion. Garrett steals a rowboat in the Dock area and goes to the mansion to steal it back.
The Sunken Citadel
The Compendium needs the Glyph Key to be opened. The Key has disappeared underground some time too long ago to think about. According to the missing Keeper Rafe, the Key is hidden in a "Sunken Citadel" and the entrance to it is in the underground drainage in the Dock area, sealed by a glyph. Rafe also mentioned that the place 'swarms with strange creatures', which are some fish-like people called Kurshok.
Killing Time
'When the progress of the time ceases, the evil one will be pointed out for all to see.' First Keeper Orland responds by 'we must wait and watch', but Garrett responds by 'I could break into the clocktower in Stonemarket, find some way to stop the clock from running', in order to force the prophecy to be fulfilled. The clocktower is a very old and high building, run by Hammerites. The ground floor main door is locked, so Garrett breaks into the clocktower via the pipes outside the building.
Of Brethren... And Betrayers
Sabotaging the gigantic mechanism stops the clock, but also causes the entire clocktower to collapse. Meanwhile Interpreter Caduca is found murdered. Orland points his finger at Garrett and fixes up a trial at the Keeper Compound. After Garrett is found guilty and is taken away, Orland arranges his escape as an excuse to send the Keeper Enforcers, an elite unit of telepathically connected assassins, after him. While on the run, Garrett is contacted by a group of friendly Keepers. They mention that 'the rubble (of the clocktower) forms an arrow, and it points directly at the Keeper Library'. Until Garrett is found, no one is allowed to enter nor leave the Compound. Orland has used a 'Binding Glyph' to seal every glyph door in the whole city until the Enforcers bring him Garrett's corpse. To replace Caduca, he plans to promote Gamall to the position of Interpreter. Garrett believes that Orland is the 'Brethren and Betrayer', so he returns to the Compound to seek evidence of Orland's guilt. In Orland's office in the Keeper Library, there is a secret tunnel connecting it and the Compound.
Robbing the Cradle
In the deserted lower library of the Compound, Garrett finds a note addressed to him, despite the fact that no one should know that he is there. At the Hall of Statues, Garrett sees a hideous old woman, or a hag, who knows magic and activates stone statues to look for him. He escapes the ambush and finds Inspector Drept for help. Drept advises Garrett to search the abandoned Shalebridge Cradle for clues as that was where he first saw the hag. The Cradle had been an insane asylum, but before that it was an orphanage. What most don't know is that, for a short time, it was both. One night a fire broke out. No one knew why, and the place was abandoned. It grew to be a dark and haunted place, and now none dare enter. According to a note, nine years ago a man claimed that he dared to sleep one night in the Cradle, and he was not seen again since then. In the Cradle Garrett inexplicably finds a picture, at least as old as the building has lain empty, of the Keeper Translator in the attic. At this moment, a glowing white spirit appears and introduces herself as Lauryl, who beckons Garrett to help her leave. It turns out that the Cradle has the ability to 'remember' people's presence in the Cradle territory to trap them inside forever. Soon Garrett discovers that the previously unblocked storm cellar entrance where he used to get in is somehow blocked by a wooden grate. Now Garrett has to get rid of all Lauryl's things (a bottle of her blood which is still warm in the storm cellar, her nightgown in one of the patient cells, her diary in the nursery tower and her blood stain in the attic) in the building, so that the Cradle cannot remember her. For some of the items, he is required to use an old possession of one of the Cradle's old inmates to enter the Cradle's memory in heir form. However, once this is complete, Garrett is no longer able to leave, as the Cradle now remembers him. Garrett must enter the past as himself and trick the Cradle into thinking he commits suicide by jumping out of the highest tower. Once he does this, Lauryl leads Garrett to the nearby Hammerite Fort, Ironwood, where her body is buried. Garrett washes away the marks on the grave with Lauryl's blood and Lauryl gets her appearance back: Gamall's. The false Gamall, who is just being promoted to the position of interpreter, is revealed to be the Hag. Compare this mission to Return to the Cathedral in Thief: The Dark Project.
Still Life with Blackjack
Gamall has ruined the Keeper Library. She has found the 'Final Glyph' and stolen the Chalice and the Paw. A Keeper Elder guesses that she must have a hidden lair, and Orland wants Garrett to find it, learn what she wants the two things for, kill her, and find and destroy the Final Glyph. The lair is located in Audale's underground. Inside Garrett steals back the Chalice and the Paw, and finds the "Glyph of Unbinding," which allows him to defeat Gamall's statues with his blackjack. He meets Artemus and from a map they figure out that the Artifacts - the Eye, the Heart, the Crown, the Chalice and the Paw - have to be placed in specific locations in the city to activate the Final Glyph, which acts as a safeguard in case the Keeper Glyphs are used for evil. Once activated, all glyph magic and all Keepers' power will be destroyed. Artemus tells Garrett that Gamall does not want to activate but to destroy the Final Glyph, which contradicts what the Keepers have told Garrett to do. Artemus goes back to Orland to get the truth while Garrett goes to the Wieldstrom Museum to steal the remaining three Artifacts (two if the Kurshok crown is not sold) before Gamall gets to them. They shall meet again at Stonemarket Plaza. The front gate of the museum is barred and guarded, but there is a secret underground tunnel dug by previous thieves that leads into it.
The End
It turns out Gamall does not show up in the museum. When Garrett comes out, Artemus is outside waiting for him, asking Garrett to give him the Artifacts. Orland comes at that moment and decides to tell Garrett the truth - he is the one to use the Artifacts, but not to destroy the Final Glyph. At this moment 'Artemus' grabs Orland in the neck and transforms back to Gamall's monstrous appearance. Orland is killed but Garrett sneaks away during the process. He has to put all the Artifacts into the corresponding positions to activate the Final Glyph. Finally when he places the Eye at South Quarter Fountain, the glyph activates and all Keeper glyph magic is destroyed, at the same time leaving a key symbol on Garrett's left hand. The stone statues freeze and become ordinary ones. Gamall has changed back to her normal old woman appearance with all her power lost. The Keeper Library is now seen by citizens. All the Keepers have gone. The Chalice and the Paw are returned to the Hammerites and the Pagans respectively.

When Garrett is walking down a street one night, a young girl tries to pickpocket him but fails. This conversation originates in the briefing to his original The Dark Project training, but excludes the line "Follow me, and I will show you a different way." The voice of Garrett and the voice of the keeper (Artemus) in the briefing and training in the first game are identical.

[edit] External links

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