Thief 3 will sneak onto the Xbox @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on March 01, 2004

News: The master of first person stealth sneaks onto the Xbox release list.

Press Release:

Eidos Interactive, one of the world's leading publishers and developers of entertainment software, announces that the next instalment in the Thief series is currently in development for Xbox and PC. The game is being developed by Ion Storm, creators of the award-winning Deus Ex franchise, and is due for release winter 2003.

"The opportunity to create a game in the Thief universe is a real thrill for me and the rest of the folks at Ion Storm," says Warren Spector, studio director at Ion Storm. "Thief pioneered the concept of 'stealth action' gameplay on the PC and was the game that, more than any other, inspired me to build a team to create Deus Ex. Now, Ion and the Thief team hope to take the 'sneaker' genre to new heights and, by developing for both console and PC, bring it to an even larger audience than before."

"Eidos believes that the upcoming Thief game will establish itself as a major brand for the company," says Rob Dyer, president of Eidos Interactive US. "Ion Storm possesses a firm grasp of how to create and master the open-ended, stealth-based gameplay that has reached such high demand in the consumer marketplace. And it is the primary focus of franchises like Deus Ex and Thief."

In this chapter of Thief, you once again take on the role of Garrett, a master thief who is rarely seen, never caught and capable of breaking into the most ingeniously secured places. Garrett steals from the wealthy and gives to himself, making his living in the dark and foreboding City. Although Garrett would prefer to be left alone to ply his trade, the prophecies of an impending Dark Age dictate a different plan for the thief. In his efforts to prevent the Dark Age, Garrett has inadvertently roused an ancient, hidden evil. He finds himself without allies, standing alone between the City and the forces that would crush it.

Playing as Garrett, you must use your skills to sneak throughout the City into castles, mansions, prisons, cathedrals, dungeons, and museums, past armed guards, hired muscle, angry thugs, hideous monsters, and much worse. Garrett must steal the City's oldest treasures in order to stop the darkness foretold in the prophecies. You will have a wealth of thieves' tools at your disposal, including lock picks, a variety of special arrows, wall climbing gloves, and flash bombs.

An innovative new key feature in Thief is 'body awareness', which gives you the ability to see your hands and feet while climbing walls, leaning over ledges, and picking locks. Working hand-in-hand with body awareness is Ion Storm's dynamic lighting system, Garrett can manipulate the light and shadows in real-time to his own advantage, creating entirely new stealth opportunities.

"The Thief team is poised to deliver an incredible action stealth game, featuring realistic sneaking and stealing. We want the player to feel like a real thief," said Randy Smith, project director at Ion Storm. "The game is accessible on both platforms yet sophisticated in its depth, enabling a lifetime of gameplay to explore and master. The internally developed technology that powers Thief puts control and direction of the action in the player's hands."