Precious Cargo is nice. It has a creative setting and good enough level design. Yet, aside from one story element that made me somewhat tear up, I feel like there's rather little to write about. The pirate treasure contains a cool surprise, and the submarine looks pretty cool, even though it's really cramped to traverse in place (which honestly ...

The strength of this mission lies in its variety. There is so much to see in Life of the Party. I remember being disappointed with the linearity of the first half, four years ago. However, while it is linear, there's much to explore and to find here.

There are many nooks and crannies to stumble upon, and they all provide something meaningful...

A good and relatively small mission but it requires some tricky ropework at the beginning. Apart from that it is pretty rewarding (for a horse lover).

The Maw of Chaos, though in a slightly less hostile fashion, makes its return to Thief. After all the orderly environments of stone and iron, this natural, chaotic domain is very refreshing. An impeccable atmosphere pervades the mission: mystery is combined with sorrow. This blends into the story. Even though the Pagans were your enemy in the la...

"Trace the Courier" is interesting in some sense. On a pure gameplay level, this mission is either a bore (if you save a lot) or a chore (if you do little saving). The layout is the one from "Ambush!", so nothing new there. That said, there's little focus on the actual level, since you're wasting time trailing whomever is carrying the mysterious...

Truart's mansion feels quite a bit easier to traverse than the bank from the previous mission. However, in Blackmail, the story ramps up. This story is told excellently, and keeps you guessing. The abandoned house with the strange tramp inside, near the beginning, scared me. It gave me some theories on what happened during this mission.

The ...

This mission is pretty tough compared to both the previous ones and a few later ones. The mechanical elements put in Thief II are used a lot in the bank. The bank itself has many points of entry, and is a huge structure. It's very hard to navigate with all the marble floors, security cams, robots, and, of course, the guards. Yet this adds a tens...

Thief II hit players with Framed, and soon after they hit them with Eavesdropping. This mission has its scary bits. Funnily, they aren't the Haunts that patrol the old catacombs. Thief II provides us with an entirely new threat: The Mechanist Order. Their scary touch lies in their mechanical constructs, some of which look offputtingly human.

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"Ambush!" sure isn't as bad as the similarly titled "Escape!" The level has a lot more detail, isn't as cramped, and the first half (getting to Garrett's home) actually works just fine. The few citizens out there at night talk about things, adding a bit more life. Sneaking past the guards is fun.

However, when Garrett reaches his home, he ha...

Framed is just amazing. It shows that having a different atmosphere from the first game does not mean it has a worse one. The station is beautifully oppressive, and visually provides the player with insight on just how corrupt Sheriff Truart and his band of cops are. The prison below the complex is filled with people; seems the City Watch is at ...

The second mission of The Metal Age shows what Thief II is good at: building great, complex, detailed levels with a lot of routes to take, secrets to find and stories to figure out. The warehouse complex is occupied by various tenants, each providing their own flavor to the halls they're renting. Though these sections feel cozily separated, they...

A mansion heist with an added side of detective work, and a fun card game as well!

What really sets this FM apart is that apparently the murderer is randomized each time you play, as are the clues/murder weapons. The work that must have gone into it! Well done Nick!!

I thoroughly enjoyed my 4 hours here, and had the culprit narrowed down ...

Running Interference feels extremely simple, yet hides one pretty obtuse objective in the Expert difficulty mode. The main objective only takes you through the mansion's basement. This means that on Normal, you don't even have to enter the place proper. On Expert, you're given a 200 gem value requirement. Finding the gems requires explicit disco...

A two mission campaign, the first a well made city, with lots of exploration, in combination with verticality. Within the City there's an immense Hammerite Cathedral, again superbly done, but the FM really comes into it's own after you get into the titular Catacombs.

There are shades of the Bonehoard here with many (many!) undead enemies, and...