Inside the Looking Glass-style extraction stealth game coming to PC in 2026.
Were super proud of these rooftops, says Greg LoPiccolo.
Back in 1998, LoPiccolo was the game director who sawThief: The Dark Projectto completion.
Thief has some legs, right?
People still talk about it to some degree.
Thick as Thieves may not belong to the Thief universe, but ably evokes its namesake.
Up on the rooftop, a glowing light gem indicates our master thiefs level of cover.
Its a tribute heartening in its specificity, and one that readily demonstrates the involvement of Looking Glass developers.
But whats unique about Thick as Thieves?
The answer is right there in the title, which you will have noticed is plural.
Smoke from the chimney, perhaps - until the dark blob fires a dart in the master thiefs direction.
A warning shot from a fellow player: this routes taken, bozo.
Try the sewers, and stay outta my way.
The idea of a multiplayer Thief has existed in the shadows since the turn of the millennium.
And when OtherSide Entertainment first started to conceive Thick as Thieves, they were thinking the same way.
We talked a lot about heist games with each player having a unique role, says Warren Spector.
You kind of put your head in your hands and think, wow, that would really surprise people.
It would be something utterly unique.
Ah, yes: Mr Spector.
The worlds most famous advocate for the immersive sim genre, and director of core RPS textDeus Ex.
Hes now entering his fourth decade in game development.
And solo play is great, but telling stories with your friends is even better.
This is also Spectors way into the world of live service.
Tabletop role-playing games have an ongoing life.
They dont just end when you finish a quest.
I played in one D&D campaign for 10 years.
I want players to feel like that about Thick as Thieves.
You might also recognise the influence of the extraction shooter in Thick as Thieves DNA.
Thick as Thieves is structured much the same way.
Meanwhile, other players are trying to achieve the same.
In between missions, each player will choose quests and follow the thread of a personal storyline.
And another player will hide in the rafters like a ghost, and nobody even knows theyre there.
And those two playstyles are equally valid, and will compete with each other.
This isnt the first attempt at a stealth-focused extraction game.
The only way to guarantee your survival is to improvise.
In a way, its odd that immersive sims didnt embrace multiplayer sooner.
The introduction of other live humans makes that even more exciting.
The intention of the other player is a mystery to you, LoPiccolo points out.
It’s not like Team Fortress where you’ve got a very simple agenda.
There are reasons to be wary.
We were focused on building a damn studio, Spector admits, and probably didnt pay enough attention.
Its a completely different team [working on Thick as Thieves], Spector says.
A larger team more capable of tackling the incredible challenges of making immersive sims.
And we have people who are talented enough, and enough of them, to pull it off.
Spector has said that hes likely the oldest person still involved in active game development.
I am as interested in making people as I am in making games, he says.
I probably shouldn’t have said that out loud, but there you go.
I have no filters.
Im interested in passing the torch so this kind of game continues.
How can you not want to be a part of that?
My personal mission is playstyle matters, he goes on.
And those are not just words.
I’m going to do that until people won’t let me anymore.
