Dec. 10, 2023, 3:28 p.m.   (Last edited: 11 months, 1 week ago)

Imagine a mission that gets you hooked from the first moment and then tears you about that you cannot give it a higher rating. Or in other words: a mission that excels bar none in one specific area though all else is just OKish. Lorgan's Web shows specifically what can be done with NPC behaviour and NPC interactivity that can and should be part of every good thief mission. There are things that I thought not possible in these regards in Dark Engine but here they are: NPCs that call you from afar by name in the middle of the city (and so point you to a key location) and then chit-chat with you (voice acting here that is both top quality and stays within the tone of the originals also deserves a special mention); NPCs with fluent and natural sitting down, getting up and laying down for sleep animations that combined I have never seen anywhere else for some Hallelujah moments; NPCs that offer and can help you out in their own nasty way but will get for that their weapon first; NPCs that freely percolate from one city part to other and do their own things so that you never know what to expect from thus freely changing locations that get thereby their lively touch. If one would to go by the criterion of what can be done with NPCs alone in a mission this one clearly deserves a 10. Only then you look at the year or release and so understand why, on the flipside, many especially newly added and extended areas of the town look somewhat basic (for the most part this mission uses the map from Assassins, with some changes and additions). And the ending is somewhat abrupt and some ideas remain unused (I would like to see and heartily invite e.g. a spider invasion for once, or at least some additional areas), but overall a (not just) classic that reminds one of what progress used to be, and a must-play for everyone. PS If you have played CoSaS: Gathering at the Inn (one of the best and most charming small missions), this author is apparently responsible for some cool NPC behaviour ideas there that carried over from here.

*Insert the tone of Stansfield in Léon