This month marked the 25th birthday ofThief: The Dark Project.
Notable: After a quarter-century, stealth fans were gifted a new, 10-mission Thief campaign calledThe Black Parade.
Holy gaming ouroboros, Batman!
How ever did we arrive at this glorious glut of sneaky goodness?
These mods, called fan missions (or FMs), nownumber in the many hundreds.
So theres an entire mythos that has been built by fan mission authors.
It’s like a new canon within the canon, so to speak.
Thief has such a rich universe and such cool mechanics that it was a no-brainer.
The team became a whos-who of the mod scene, all with predictably, delightfully eclectic handles.
(Thesolomissionsmadebyeachofthesefolks are all extremely worth your time, too.)
To be clear, the code itself is still from 1998.
But thats a major part of the appeal.
I hadn’t encountered anything like it.
In other words: The vibes, man.
Twenty-five years on, the vibes of Thief remain immaculate.
And its all great.
Like, truly S-tier quality stuff.
Even if it werent free, the cost-benefit ratio of playing this thing would still be asymptotic.
It is the deep end.
You may drown in its luxuriant abyss.
The response has been overwhelmingly positive, Romain confesses happily.
I just hope the release encourages newcomers to try their hand at Thiefs editor, too.
Its a small community, but it is quite welcoming.
This atmosphere of a welcoming, collaborative community is a hallmark of Thiefs legacy.
Its also how this ouroboros really chomped on its tail and brought it all full circle.
During The Black Parades production, Barrilliot was recording the Thief podcastInside At Last.
This episodes guest happened to be Daniel Thron one of Thiefs original writers and designers.
And Thron naturally obliged.
And The Black Parade looked amazing.
100% like the old vibe.
It felt exactly right.
Players may know Thron best as the voice of Thiefs blustery guards.
(The vibes, man.)
Unsurprisingly, it features Looking Glass alumni, notably writer-designer (and SHODAN voice actor) Terri Brosius.
To me, the entire Thief community is so creative and they’re all so free with their ideas.
It reminds me of working at Looking Glass.
It’s an extension of that same vibe.
The culture at Looking Glass was rare.
It was a really special group of people, incredibly creative, open, kind folks.
And something about that culture was encoded into what we did; it seems to communicate with like-minded people.
And thats what makes me really happy.
Because every fan culture has its own vibe and style, but something about the Thief crew is unique.
Every time I talk to them, it’s like going back in a time machine.
It is incredibly gratifying.
you could download The Black Parade from the Thief fansiteThrough The Looking Glassor fromMod DB.
