My initial hours with Thick as Thieves were genuinely delightful. This first-person stealth title features tactile lean buttons and maps that look like they were hand-drawn by a shady street merchant named "Fingers." The world blends technology and magic, featuring guards with Scottish accents who mutter about whether a light source is electric or fey. While exploring the Elway Manor basement, I even encountered entire sections of the map simply labeled with a question mark.
The gameplay loop initially felt like a classic stealth experience infused with fresh ideas. I spent my time clambering onto rooftops and through vents, impressed by how guards reacted to snuffed candles or left-open doors. There are unique elements, such as "ghost guards" that glide through walls and into the sky during patrols, though they still cough like living entities to alert you of their presence.
The Search for a Thief Successor
By ignoring the friends list in the thieves' den—which is used for starting co-op sessions—Thick as Thieves almost felt like the true Thief successor I had been craving. The game even leans into its pedigree with an "electrogram" contract system set to 0451, a legendary door code from Looking Glass Studios that has become a staple easter egg in the immersive sim genre.
At first, the limited scope of the game didn't bother me. With only two main maps—the police station and Elway Manor—the multi-level environments offered various entrance points and shifting objectives. I found myself upgrading abilities, such as:
- A pickpocket fairy capable of grabbing keys and flipping switches from a distance.
- An insult fairy used to distract patrolling guards.
Much like returning to Sapienza in Hitman, there was a satisfying sense of growing mastery over the environment. However, that feeling eventually soured due to the aggressive time limits.
Pacing Issues and Mechanical Friction
The core tension of the game stems from its strict timers. Most missions grant you 30 to 45 minutes before a "magic door" appears; once it pops up randomly, you have only eight minutes to reach it and escape. It is clear that Thick as Thieves intends to be a pacey stealth game rather than a methodical one, especially since there are no manual saves.
While these timers make sense for co-op play, they create significant frustration in a solo context. The eight-minute countdown triggers the moment you complete any objective. If a mission requires stealing three items, picking up the first one starts the clock immediately. This mechanic led to several broken experiences:
- Picking up an item only to realize I didn't know where the others were located.
- Returning for remaining items only to have my objectives reset entirely.
- The "escape door" spawning in unreachable locations due to the random nature of its appearance.
Is Thick as Thieves Worth It?
It appears that at some point during development, the game pivoted from a PvPvE model to a singleplayer/co-op hybrid. This shift likely explains why we are left with an immersive sim that lacks basic features like key rebinding and relies on only two primary maps. While Otherside calls this the "first chapter," it feels much more like an early access build.
Ultimately, the game is a mixed bag. At a $5 price point, it is an easy impulse buy, and if the timer waited until every contract step was completed, I would likely be hooked. As it stands, while the mechanics are interesting, the current state of play makes me hesitant to recommend it for a co-op session just yet.
