SO... going into this mission, my first impressions were actually pretty good. Garrett arrives at a small house to rob some hammers who are delving into some catacombs underneath. A great premise, and the house is pretty well built. While the outer wall is a disappointing box, the houses interior is high effort design from this era. The layout is also cramped, but fair, with hiding places where the player needs them to be. Very fortunate given the fact that on expert, you must ghost this mission.

Unfortunately, the high effort design disappears in the catacombs. Aside from a chapel at the far end, it's mostly just long corridors, far oversized for the scope of the mission. Loot is present on some of the sarcophagi down there, but thankfully you don't need all of it to complete the mission.

All in all, it's a bold attempt, and if the catacombs were as well designed as the house, it would likely be fondly remembered. As It stands, Friends in shadow is just kinda... average. With an good first half, and a lousy second half.

Also, it would have been nice if stealing the seal changed something elsewhere in the mission. Though I understand that as this comes before T1, it is more lore friendly to not do anything too extreme.