You must use your skills to sneak throughout the City into castles, mansions, prisons, cathedrals, dungeons, and museums, past armed guards, hired muscle, angry thugs, hideous monsters, and much worse
Similar to Metal Gear Solid, Eidos' renowned Thief series demonstrates just how well the stealth-em-up game can work. But there are differences between the two, both in terms of gameplay and style. Metal Gear is almost futuristic in its approach, focusing its efforts on super-human stealth gadgets and military shenanigans, whereas Thief is more traditional and almost medieval at heart. And the third in the series, one of 2004's biggest games, is no exception.In the third chapter of Thief, players once again assume control of Garrett, a super-thief who makes a living in a dark and foreboding city by preying on the wealthy. But he's not all bad, and in this particular outing, he's seeking a means to prevent a new Dark Age. But his attempts to do so inadvertently give way to a new evil, and so a new adventure begins.It's a good tale, but as a hardcore stealth adventure, gameplay is paramount. And truthfully speaking, Deadly Shadows excels in its ability to deliver a thoroughly involving and mentally taxing adventure. From the very beginning, Deadly Shadows sets players in a dark and moody game world, littered with seemingly impossible objectives and myriad guards that must be avoided at all costs. Even the game's tutorial is something of a challenge, but it's one that needs to be completed if players are to stand a chance in the game proper.The premise of Deadly Shadows is actually rather simple: to reach various destinations and steal numerous valuables without getting caught. Throughout the game, players are required to spend a large amount of time lurking in shadows as they attempt to avoid nearby enemies. But this isn't nearly as tedious as it sounds. There's a certain satisfaction to be gained from fooling your foes, and players are also free to stay put whilst they determine their next - and hopefully successful - course of action.Natural shadow proves extremely useful in Deadly Shadows, but there are instances where players must shoot out lamps with arrows to gain extra cover, making the game as a whole much more strategic. However, some areas provide little or no cover whatsoever. In cases such as this, players must either create distractions for some of the more awkward guards, or learn how to sneak up behind unwitting characters and beat them to a pulp before you get caught.Deadly Shadows is a very, very strategic game, and trial and error often comes into play during the latter stages of the game. The game is hard, but rarely frustrating, and is arguably the best in the series yet.