New Thief game on the way?

[Flawless]

Eurogamer

Rumours are swirling that a fourth instalment in the Thief series is in development.

It's all thanks to a new image appearing on the Eidos Montreal website. A big question mark appears next to the message, "Eidos-Montreal's second project to be revealed soon."

Nothing particularly Thiefy about that - until you realise, as some eagle-eyed forum posters did, that the font used looks familiar. Yes, it's the same one used in previous Thief games.

Just to add extra intrigue the text above the image reads, "The two games [Eidos Montreal has] in development will resurrect successful franchises like Deus Ex and our next project soon to be revealed..." Gosh.

Eidos has yet to confirm or deny whether all this hintiness does indeed point towards a new Thief title, but we'll keep you posted.

[Skyboxer]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Man I hope so.....

[Lordcledus]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Bring it on.

[Salhus]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

I really hope it is

[Flawless]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Eidos Montreal heading for May 11 announcement

If this image of the latest issue of Edge is to be believed, Eidos Montreal is to announce its second game on May 11.

Yes, it’s Thief. Honestly, it is. Not long to wait now, then.

[Village Idiot]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Sweet.

[Holic]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

It's about time for a new Thief game. Kind of interesting that they seem to be going with a more modern game.

[Salhus]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Anyone know the status of the game development process?

[Flawless]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

Thief 4 confirmed, logoed

Eidos Montreal has confirmed its second title, and, as everyone apart from the deaf, blind, simple man sitting outside the baker’s knew, it’s Thief 4.

The official site’s here.

“Were in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly ambitious project and a very exciting one,” said general manager Stephane D’Astous.

“It’s too early for us to offer any specific game details, right now we are focused on recruiting the very best talent to join the core team at the studio and help us make, what we believe will be one of the most exciting games on the market.”

So there we are. No other detail as yet.

[Wet Bandit]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

A '4' doesn't really look like an 'E'. Maybe it's supposed to be pronounced Thifourf? I think that's what I'll call it for now.

Anyway, hopefully it's good. Gonna be interesting with the same studio handling the new Deus Ex game and Thifourf. That's a lot on the plate for a new studio.

[Flawless]

Re: New Thief game on the way?

This game is years away.


GDC Canada: Eidos Montreal Talks Thief 4

And while the company is still refusing to cough up details this early (the title just passed the proof-of-concept phase three weeks ago), D'Astous did talk with IGN about the team's general approach for the game and its overall philosophy as a studio.

The Thief franchise got its start on the PC and saw most of its success there, although the third Thief title also ended up on the original Xbox. And while it seems likely that a PC version of Thief 4 is in the works, the fledgling title's console future is a bit hazier.

"As for platforms and consoles, things are moving so fast. There's some contradictory noise on when there's going to be the next generation, so we're going to be prudent on that one," said D'Astous. "So we're going to wait a couple of months to announce more about that. It's going to be cutting edge technology, that's for sure. It would be imprudent for us to say which console because, first of all, we don't know exactly the window of release and we don't know the first-party strategy.

Does that mean Microsoft, Nintendo or Sony is planning to introduce a new console sooner rather than later? D'Astous wouldn't say anything further on the topic. But he did confirm that neither Thief 4 nor Deus Ex 3 would be on display at this year's E3 convention in Los Angeles. That leaves plenty of time for Eidos Montreal to get an earful from fans.

We asked D'Astous all of the above questions and were politely refused answers, although he did assure us that the game would stay true to its stealth roots, even while attempting to broaden the series' horizons.

"It's safe to say that there's an association of stealth games being boring and slow-paced. And we're fully aware of that. I think we'll try to repeat what the first game did, which is to really break ground on the traditional way of playing. And I think if we want to do a fully stealth game, it's going to be, I hope, very innovative and bring a lot of new things to the table," D'Astous said.

For Eidos, that seems to mean hardcore-focused games that also draw in more mainstream gamers, ones who may not have played games like Thief previously but are curious and willing to try a new series.

"We want to bring something new to the table, because these games sold respectably [in the past], but we want to bring it to another level. We want to have a larger audience without diluting the content," said D'Astous. "That is the real challenge, to bring it to a larger audience but without making it too easy or too thin on content. We're going to bring certainly a lot of innovation to both [Thief 4 and Deus Ex 3]."

Exactly what that means is open to interpretation at this stage, although D'Astous hinted that story, choice and RPG elements will play a large role in Thief 4, rather than the instant gratification that comes with twitch combat.

"I think shooters are fine – it's an adrenaline rush. But I think the RPGs in recent years are really gaining a lot of momentum," said D'Astous. "People want to have a richer experience. They want to have choices in their gameplay and I think games are getting more and more sophisticated with storytelling, and I think we can certainly do something with that with Thief."