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Unfortunately, Looking Glass Studios, developer of the first two Thief games, closed its doors shortly after the release of Thief II: The Metal Age, one of the best stealth games out there in my opinion. Luckily, one of the coolest things about the Thief series is that it has a strong and active modding community. There’s all kinds of mods and fan missions out there and even today, fans are still creating new stuff, keeping the games alive. In 2005, a fan group called the Dark Engineering Guild released an unofficial expansion for Thief II called Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age which features thirteen new missions, a new protagonist, new voice work, new equipment, and new textures among some other things.
Thief 2X is a free modification and you will need Thief II installed to play it. Before installing Thief II, I would recommend consulting the game’s PCGamingWiki page to see what you may need to do to get it running properly on a modern system. I did install T2Fix which comes with many fixes and I used AngelLoader to launch and play Thief 2X. AngelLoader is a standalone fan mission loader that allows you to launch and manage fan missions for Thief, Thief II, Thief: Deadly Shadows, and System Shock 2.
Thief 2X centers on a young woman named Zaya who journeys to the eponymous City to meet with her cousin, Kedar, and start a new life. But shortly after she arrives, her and Kedar are ambushed by thugs. She manages to escape but Kedar is not so lucky. With nowhere to go and seeking revenge, Zaya is mentored by a pagan named Malak who trains her to be a thief. The story is accompanied by several fully animated cut scenes that actually look pretty decent and new voice work. I can’t say the performances are the greatest but they’re not horrible, either. In the end, I thought the story was pretty good and compelling. It’s got drama, twists, and Thief’s aura of mysteriousness surrounding it.
From what I understand, the plot does take place some time during the events of Thief II. You don’t really need to play Thief II or it’s predecessor to get into this but I would recommend it because there are references to characters and events in those games. I think the tone and atmosphere of Thief 2X are not exactly on the same level as that of the Thief titles but in the end, I feel that’s alright because this tells a different story and centers on a different protagonist. A normal every day woman that transforms into a Thief and is drawn into the world of crime as opposed to Garrett who is already a thief when we first meet him.
One thing I really love about Thief 2X is that it’s actually finished and feels finished. Over the years, we’ve seen a lot of ambitious fan projects for various games that were never finished. And I’m not just talking about a single mission or new feature or audiovisual enhancements, I’m talking about projects that could be seen as expansions or overhauls. New worlds and/or locations, new characters, and new storylines along with new content and features. We’ve seen modders announce ambitious and exciting projects supposedly featuring stuff like this that are just never finished. Often times, they’re never released or updates have stopped and/or the modders will announce that development has ceased for whatever reason. Life happened. Everyone on the project was too busy or got burnt out or whatever it may be. Sometimes, an ambitious mod does get released in early states (for players to test the waters so to speak) but then never gets finished, possibly for the reasons I mentioned earlier. So players are forever stuck with the alpha or beta versions. Thief 2X is not one of those projects. It’s finished.
Despite all the new content in Thief 2X, it’s still basically more of the classic Thief gameplay. It feels like a Thief game, it plays like a Thief game and Thief’s brand of stealth is in full force here. You’ll have to sneak around areas and to avoid detection, you’ll need to remain quiet and out sight. That means sticking to the shadows and using your equipment to aid you on your quest. I am happy to say that most of the missions in this mod center on sneaking and thievery. Some do feature the undead and monsters but I can’t say I ever felt compelled to fight or forced into combat, not like some missions in The Dark Project, anyway. I’m not a big fan of the undead and monster missions in this series in general but I will admit the missions “Down Among Dead Men” and “The Cure” are designed in a way that’s really atmospheric and creepy and I did enjoy severing undead limbs and chopping off heads.
Just like in the Thief games, you are able to spend gold on equipment before starting many missions in Thief 2X. The mod does come with new equipment, some of which feel very similar to or like reskins of Garrett’s equipment. The knockout hammer is the Blackjack, Concealment Potion is similar to the Invisibility Potion, and the new lockpicks don’t actually change how lockpicking works. Regardless, I do like the new equipment because it fits with the new protagonist nicely and does make Zaya feel a bit different than Garrett. The most unique item is by far the Elemental Catalyst which turns the standard elemental arrow types into different types. So in addition to those, you’ll get to fire Flare arrows, Confusion arrows and Ice arrows. These can be a lot of fun to use and provide interesting new ways to overcome certain obstacles.
I think one of the real highlights of Thief 2X is the missions, themselves. They are exceptionally well designed and feel in line with those of the official games. Most of the maps are large and ripe for exploration with plenty of secrets to find, loot to steal, and multiple ways to approach situations. In several missions, you’ll be required not to kill or harm anyone and will often have to steal a set amount of loot so the mod does very much emphasize stealth and exploration over anything else and I prefer it that way. I enjoyed getting lost exploring the numerous large environments, coming across secrets, and acquiring keys to doors I haven’t even found yet. Discovering things is often very satisfying in Thief 2X.
You’ll get to sneak into and around a museum, brothel, hotel, cathedral, hideout, and moving train among other areas and each mission does feel distinct. One of my favorite missions is “Into The Fray” because you get to sneak around a hideout as two factions are engaged in battle. You’ll come across people fighting, explosions, the hideout in disarray – I just think the way it’s designed and presented is very cool and is one of the more memorable missions for me. I like how you have the option to sneak around the combat. Just like in the Thief games, you will want to eavesdrop on conversations and read whatever you come across otherwise you may get stuck. You will need to find specific items or know the specific ways to progress past certain points so exploration and paying attention are key.
Thief 2X comes with new textures and models that look pretty good and in my opinion, fit in nicely with the overall Thief aesthetic. I do not feel that any of the new assets compromise Thief’s unique charm. And the gameplay is accompanied by a lot of moody and ambient tunes that add to the atmosphere and tension. I did notice some visual oddities here and there like buggy textures and some kind of hideous black box in the train mission but nothing that actually hindered my experience. Other than that, Thief 2X did run smooth in my experience and I did not encounter any major technical issues.
In the end, I had a great time with Thief 2X. I think the new protagonist is refreshing. It features a new protagonist with new missions and the same great Thief gameplay. The story is pretty good in my opinion and while the atmosphere and tone don’t quite reach the same levels as that of the classic Thief titles, I do appreciate the fact this mod does feel different without actually compromising anything that makes the Thief games unique and fun. Thief 2X is a rather large mod and if you’ve never played it before, the thirteen missions on offer should take you a decent amount of time to get through. Right from the get-go, you should be able to see that a lot of care and work was put into this. It’s well made. It doesn’t feel haphazardly put together and the result is a fun experience from beginning to end.
I would absolutely recommend Thief 2X: Shadows of the Metal Age. It may not be official but it is an expansion worth playing through. As of this review, the mod’s official website is still up and it even provides a walkthrough should you get stuck or require some kind of assistance. The mod is free to download and play and is very well made. It was clearly designed by people who love the classic Thief titles and understand what makes them so great. The story is good, the gameplay is Thief, and the missions are great. Definitely check it out.