I'm really glad you've opened our eyes, this mission is indeed a completely different subgenre that has absolutely never been done before. No matter how hard I try, I just... really can't think of any other mission that is set in a city section with optional hidden areas, occasional supernatural elements, lots of loot we can collect, and a vertically rich, non-linear, open design that supports the player's urge to explore all this.

Hm anyway, I wonder how we should call this brand new subg...

@Thirteen1355: There is a pretty much hidden, optional area with a lot of loot. You'll find at least 1k worth of loot there if not more.

SPOILER: you can enter it by shooting a rope arrow through a hole, and then finding a very long ladder. It's a spooky area, and unless I missed some readable(s) mentioning it, it doesn't have anything to do with the rest of the mission, so it's pretty easy to accidentally skip.

Well, the humour thing is really subjective thing. I like what you don't and you like what I don't. In my opinion this mission is more or less challenging as stealth mission - partly since water is deadly here and Hanover Aldercash built lots of really nasty traps around this. That's in my opinion the biggest achivement here. Perhaps will replay it later with ghost/no blackjack in mind. As for parody/TDS mocking - well, I'm also not in his camp entirely, but sometimes itmanaged to put a sm...

I don´t mind humor, quite the contrary, but it should be good.
Therefore my comparison with the movie "Meet the Spartans". Like this mission, this movie is full of unfunny jokes - not just because they are just not unfunny, but also because they wear out their welcome. E.G. there is a parody of Britney Spears. I found it a bit funny for the first 30 seconds. But then it dragged on for several minutes, when it already had become annoying.

Fair point of course. Not gonna argue with anyone's personal preferences :) I'll just leave my 2 cents and say that sometimes humorous (or satire) projects are a good break from monotonous and "proper" missions :)

@Matt: Don´t worry, if a mission is really that bad, I will give it the deserved review. Although I hope that there aren´t too much duds left.

@Konrad: TBH I can´t see how anybody with a basic taste can see good in this mission...
I don´t share their opinion but I can accept if people like missions I gave tough ratings like Feast of Pilgrims or OM Cradle.
But this one? Nah.

At this point, I unironically think that Udo's uncompromising 1/10 reviews are one of the most fundamental parts of the Thief Guild experience. Please, never stop posting them, man.

It is... a One Man's Trash in the end...? ;)

Incidentality... You mean plot twists? ;)

I agree that the mission lengths lead to fatigue! Some stuff goes on too long, despite being amazing in its own right all the way through. This can be exacerbated by the order of the missions, like going from the labyrinthine Death's Dominion to the equally winding The Brand.

I wouldn't say the mission goals lack variety - yes, pretty much every mission is a robbery, but 2 of them are tomb raiding, there's breaking into an abandoned mansion, recovering an item you lost, a mission that star...