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Thief: Deadly Shadows PC
Thief: Deadly Shadows Image
Metascore
85 out of 100

Generally favorable reviews - based on 45 Critics What's this?

User Score
8.2 out of 10

Generally favorable reviews- based on 95 Ratings

Your Score
10 out of 10
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  • Summary: In Thief: Deadly Shadows, gamers once again take on the role of Garrett, a master thief. Garrett is rarely seen, never caught and capable of breaking into the most ingeniously secured places. Garrett steals from the wealthy and gives to himself, making his living in the dark and foreboding City. Preferring to be left alone to ply his trade, prophecies of an impending Dark Age dictate a different plan for the thief. In Garrett?s efforts to prevent this approaching Dark Age, he has inadvertently roused an ancient hidden evil. Without allies, Garrett finds himself standing alone between the City and the forces that would crush it. [Eidos Interactive]… Expand

Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 41 out of 45
  2. Mixed: 4 out of 45
  3. Negative: 0 out of 45
  1. Four Fat Chicks
    100
    I have never seen a game use light the way Deadly Shadows does, nor have I seen such realistic environments rendered on the fly. For those who can get it to work well on their systems, this is an astounding visual experience.
  2. GamePro
    100
    The true wonder of the game isn't in normal mapping or Havok physics, but rather in the low-tech ways in which the game turns skulking in the dark into tons of fun. There's still room in this business for loving craftsmanship and intelligent design, and Deadly Shadows has both.
  3. PC Gamer
    74
    Not everything it should've been, but sporadically brilliant and usually fun. [July 2004, p.56]
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See all 45 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 31 out of 42
  2. Mixed: 6 out of 42
  3. Negative: 5 out of 42
  1. CatNight
    10
    I love all of the thief games they are entertaining with interesting stories. This is a good game if you like to use strategy and be naughty. :p Not a run up and kill stuff and make everything explode sort of game. Hours of fun and glory.… Expand
    • 3 of 3 users said yes
  2. BlakeM
    6
    It's a great basic engine, and I always had heaps of fun running around the city robbing people and places, but about a quarter way through the plotline goes pants-on-head stupid and the game suffers for it. I wanted the game to be like the first two or three levels, but once you've robbed the Hammerite cathedral the game apparently feels the need to include strange monsters and the like, none of whom respond well to a whack on the back of the head. It would have been one of my very favorite games - and is in my imagination, regardless - but, sheesh... The game starts off as nothing short of revolutionary, but unfortunately goes downhill fast as soon as the zombies pop up.… Expand
    • 1 of 1 users said yes
  3. Yekrats
    4
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Thief: Deadly Shadows is truly the weakest game in the series, partially due to it being produced for the XBox. The levels are small, and the mini-maps are linked by this unexplained purple gas to connect them. Thus, you don't go through any of the city gates, but actually go around them through the purple gas. Other characters don't travel through the purple gas. As a result of the small levels, I found the cities somewhat boring. Further, some of the fun features of previous Thief games were removed (i.e. rope arrows) and were replaced with a wall-climbing ability, but it just wasn't as interesting. They really missed out on the opportunity to create a much more complex map (utilizing the "Thieves' highway" of the rooftops. Travel through water and flooded areas - once an interesting puzzle - has been disallowed. If you accidentally fall into water, you sink like a rock. No swimming, as in past games! A voice comes through and says you've been captured and taken to prison, which is fun to escape from -- once. Going through the city and picking pockets is an interesting diversion for a while, but having to sell your stuff at a fence can get tedious. You can befriend the Pagans and the Hammerites by doing things for them to increase your friendliness ranking. (Okay, that could be interesting... but...) But this just prevents them from attacking you later, and possibly defending you, and if you steal from them, your status goes down. Whether the faction noticed you stealing or not, they still lose respect for you. Also, the favors you do for them are pretty odd. Pagans, for example, like you to shoot moss arrows at green cornerstones to increase your status with them. Hammerites like you to shoot at dog-sized bugs which explode when you shoot them. (Huh?) To make matters worse, I encountered a few annoying bugs. Occasionally, the protagonist would get stuck in a jump and not descend until I exited the level. Occasionally, you could lean just right an look through an object to the horizon. Expect a few little screwball errors like this. The storyline, as opposed to Thief: The Dark Project, was lacking as well. You don't want to think about it too hard. The villain of the story uses inconsistent resources throughout the story, as if the level designers did not consult with each other when designing the characters or levels. So sloppy all around. So, yes, Thief 3 is a little disappointing, but possibly worth playing if you can get it cheaply and keep your expectations low. The game was obviously rushed to market, and could really have used another month or two of play-testing.… Expand
    • 2 of 3 users said yes

See all 42 User Reviews