Eidos Montreal's 2014 release of "Thief" has the misfortune (arguably) to arrive after the well-received "Dishonored," a game whose look and feel was inspired by the Eidos franchise and is fresher in gamers' minds. And look, conceptually, I've admired the stealth game more than I've actually wanted to play it. Give me a game like Ubisoft's first few "Splinter Cell" games, and I'll politely acknowledge the intricacies of the level design which are driven by deliberate, cautious encounters (or non-encounters) with trigger-happy, heavily-scripted enemies. Looking at something like "Tenchu" it was about limited input for an over-matched player character in tightly-controlled game worlds of trial-and-error survival and typically, I've hated every minute of them.
But 2012 saw the release of four titles that took the lessons of their predecessors and evolved the genre in smart ways. Consider the exquisite art and sound design of Klei's "Mark of the Ninja" which made its world one of the deliberate, clever audio/visual feedback, which the game's Lead Designer Nels Anderson described to me as "player-centric."
Anderson joined IO Interactive Game Director Tore Blystad ("Hitman Absolution), along with "Hotline Miami" co-creators Jonatan Soderstrom and Dennis Wedin, and Arkane Studios' ("Dishonored") Creative Co-directors Raphael Colantonio and Harvey Smith to talk about keeping the tension, empowering the player, and building a better stealth game--concepts I hope the next "Thief" takes to heart.
Read More...
Tags arkane studios, Dennaton, dishonored, eidos montreal, hitman: absolution, Hotline Miami, io interactive, klei entertainment, Mark of the Ninja, MTV Multiplayer Best of 2012, thief
