Thief has suddenly become a... I can't even explain it. It strays away from actual stealth completely, it strays away from complex level design as well. On Normal, this was pretty bad already (was planning on giving the gameplay a 2 or 3), but having to look for Constantine's plans, which could be anywhere, is just plain trash. I spent about 50 minutes on this mission, most of it going back and forth through the entire level in search of the plans, or to reach my "save point."

The story is just Garrett escaping, so that's pretty nothing-y too. God, it's hard to even write about this mission. The enemies are cool, but the rest sucks. EDIT: Yes, of course stealth is possible, but is it really this hard for people to see the massive drop in quality compared to earlier missions? The execution is terrible, mainly because of the level almost being a straight line, and the complete lack of detail.

This mission may be a guilty pleasure of mine but I respectfully disagree. The level itself is actually pretty complex and I discovered that it's best (and probably meant to be given Garrett's situation and the slightly soured relationship with his principal) played entirely "revenge style", ie using the means you get that are actually very accurately dosed to be just enough (on Expert) to dispose of ALL enemies in the level in any ways imaginable in the Original Ghosting ((C) Civvie) style (ie turning everything into ghost, not what some later taffers made it out to be). May be not for orthodox thiefers but I love it precisely for that. Best for creating chaos in the huge caverns with noisemakers and have everything roasted by the roaring fire elementals. PS I already completely forgot but either way this is imo one of (if not THE) hardest OM so that may add a lot to new player frustrations.

This mission does not stray away from stealth. It can be completed without directly confronting any enemy. Abandoning stealth a choice borne out of personal view of the mission (which you're free to have, but try not to misrepresent what the mission is).

My reply was aimed at the review itself. There is a difference in my mind between voluntarily choosing an aggressive playstyle and complaining that the mission forces you to abandon stealth when it's not the case.

One of my least favorite missions of the original campaign as well. This, and The Sword. I just don't like them. The architecture of Constantine's mansion, lots of noisy surfaces, hard enemies, which are placed almost unfairly in some places, and the fact that it's not a typical loot mission. Not my cup of tea.

Not that I really dislike any of the mission of the original campaign, but, this is surely the one I least like. 4/10 or 5/10, probably.

Stealth is possible, just not viable or enjoyable.