The concept behind Thief is exactly what is implied in the name – you take on the role of a thief. It just so happens, however, than this particular thief tends to be called upon to save the world and the like. However, this isn’t something that is easily accomplished, and will only be done so through cunning, guile and stealth. Lots and lots of stealth. This iteration of the game utilizes many of the aspects from Deus Ex: The Invisible War, including some of the AI attributes, meaning that light is really going to be your most formidable foe – staying in the shadows may sound easy enough, but you’ll have to manipulate your environment to do it, by means of water arrows to diffuse dynamic light sources or fire arrows to create them. Alternately you can place objects in such a way that they’ll block the light, but enemies will be aware of all of the above options, as well as any dead bodies they find or even pools of blood left behind. Sounds will also work against you, as making different levels of noise will prompt different levels of response from the guards which will hinder your mission objectives.

The Havoc physics engine is once again being employed here, and if Deus Ex: IWar was any indication, it’s going to be used quite a bit. Additionally, there are literally thousands of recorded words for use in the game, meaning that verbal enemy responses to your actions will be exceptionally context sensitive, often containing a detailed report of what they’ve noticed and where they’ve noticed it. Also working against you is the fact that your enemies will be significantly stronger than you, meaning that direct confrontations are ever so discouraged. Having said that, you’ll still have the option, just don’t expect to charge into a room full of guards and then manage to come out the other side. Unless you run right through of course.

While the game won’t be nearly as open ended as DE:IW was, you’ll still be able to run around town in-between missions searching for things, places and people to loot. Treasure locations will be random, and you’ll have to find places to listen in on conversations, such as taverns, to get clues as to where you should look. Exploring isn’t mandatory, but since weapons and items will be scarce throughout the game, you’re certainly encouraged to do so.

New to the series is the option for a third-person perspective. Option being the key word, you’ll be able to seamlessly switch between views, the third person perspective naturally being the more useful of the two as is demonstrated in more or less all other stealth games as of late. This may be a disappointment to hardcore Thief fans, but it certainly makes the game more accessible to those who may not have paid it much heed otherwise.

As one has come to expect from Ion Storm the aesthetics of the game are shaping up nicely, and there’s a good chance that the frame rate dips Deus Ex took on the Xbox will be avoided to at least some degree in Thief. Thanks largely in part to the fact that many of the members of the Thief II team are around for the third installment of the series, the style and feel of the previous games should still be intact.

The game’s story is as of yet somewhat vague, but in keeping with the series and the legend that the Ion Storm team has become, there’s no doubt in my mind that it will be fantastic. There’s no multiplayer this time around, which is certainly unfortunate, but also means that the single player experience should be absolutely exquisite. The game should run you around a dozen hours assuming you don’t do too much exploring, and should you take the more leisurely route you’ll likely get around twice that time out of it.