Jan. 22, 2021, 2:59 a.m.   (Last edited: 3 years, 10 months ago)

Replayed this and was impressed all over again, and am still missing plenty of loot. It's a sign of a truly great mission when you replay it, and not only discover new areas and routes (some of which may have not been intentional) but are still left with the feeling there's much you still haven't seen. What sets this above the earlier Disorientation (Melan's other essential mission) is the consistent level of detail; the way the storytelling, with and without words, feels truly unified, providing you with many clues about the larger picture without ever spelling it out or indulging in cute but unnecessary tangents; and finally the variety and challenge of the gameplay. Any big sandboxy city mission that doesn't include an automap will challenge your ability to orient yourself, plan ahead, and memorize routes and previously visited locations, but this one is remarkably dynamic in a way few missions are (Midnight in Murkbell from Calendra's Legacy comes to mind albeit in a different manner).

From the very beginning the mission challenges your powers of observation, and if you let it it can feel like an impossibly tough nut to crack. The first time I played this mission I felt I was stuck at least two or three times, but over time I rose to the challenge, or perhaps I should say the mission trained me to rise to its level. I felt the same way about the first mission of Chalice of Souls back when I played it, but this one is even more rewarding.

But the mission doesn't end there. Once you crack open the puzzle box and reach your first objective, the box splits wide open, giving you the run of the whole city and freeing you to explore it a bit more freely, as well as giving you a whole new objective. This is another aspect I felt was improved over the already staggeringly excellent Disorientation: in my review of that mission, I complained that its final objective was kind of underwhelming compared to the mission that contained it—easier than it could have been, and over a bit too quickly. In this mission, both the initial and final objective areas provide distinct and satisfying challenges in terms of sneaking around. If you save the final objective for last (like me, combing the city before wrapping it up), there's no sense of the mission petering out or ending in an afterthought. Getting through that last bit of mansion is as tough as getting out of the first few areas the first time you do it, and the second time as well.

While I would recommend all of Melan's missions for Thief: Gold and Thief II, this one is the crown jewel in that body of work—so far....

(I did find one way to get outside the playable area, though. Shame, Melan!)