Episode 47: Thief 2: The Metal Age

Retro Spectives

The first Thief game was widely beloved, and critically acclaimed, but not entirely free of criticism. The gawking masses loved sneaking around the mansions of the wealthy, but were not too hot on the descending into caves filled with Zombies and Burricks. For the 2000 release of Thief 2, Looking Glass Studios decided to make some changes.

Thief 2 takes place in the metal age, a steampunk inspired transformation that sees The City covered in factories, security cameras and ever vigilant automatons, patrolling back and forth. Gone are the monsters, pushed to the outskirts of society or hunted to extinction. Gone are the long and confusing tomb robbing missions, replaced with more mansions and other more mundane locations where nobility dwell. The world has changed.

But is it ultimately for the better? Or has Thief 2 lost the magic that made Thief 1 so special?

On our very first sequel episode, we discuss:

• How does Thief 2’s level design compare to Thief 1’s? Do it's more grounded and realistic locations lead to more enjoyable sneaking?
• How does Thief 2 tell its story? Can small pieces of incidental story telling add up to something just as meaningful as a central thread?
• Does the game ever sink into repetitiveness? Are there enough tools at your disposal as a Thief to keep the game interesting? Or is the level design doing all the heavy lifting?

We answer these questions and many more on the 47th episode of the Retro Spectives Podcast!

Intro Music: KieLoBot - Tanzen K

Outro Music: Rockit Maxx - One point to another

Thief 2 OST: Eric Brosius

We highly recommend you listen to our episode on Thief Gold here before listening to our episode on Thief 2! We draw a lot of comparisons and assume that you know the basics of what the game is like!

When you play Thief 2 should you install t2fix, which you can find here. This fixes a lot of bug and scripting issues while keeping the fundamental gameplay intact.

Did you enjoy Thief 1 more than Thief 2? Should we play Deadly Shadows or The Dark Mod? Are there any other secret stealth gems that we’ve neglected and should check out? Come let us know on our text based community discord server!