Post by: whilhorst on September 03, 2026, 11:20:00 AM
Might Steal Your Heart All Over Again
Among the pantheon of ‘must-play-classics’ I have yet to fully experience Thief: The Dark Project. Looking Glass Studios magnum opus, according to many, was groundbreaking in both the stealth and immersive sim genre. So who else to entrust with a full remaster than Nightdive Studios? Having played around with it for about half an hour I can say that I’m so excited to finally experience this game later this year on Switch 2. Because from what I’ve played I can tell that this game still holds up wonderfully nearly 30 years later.
As master thief Garrett you are tasked with infiltrating and stealing valuable objects from noblemen for your own personal gain. While there is a lot of story going on, my time with the demo really focused on the gameplay. A first-person stealth game is still pretty unique to this day and Thief really builds on the idea of being an immersive experience. As you sneak through towns and buildings, stealing keys and taking out guards silently, you will need to account for the environment to not get spotted. Noisy floors, lights and line of sight need to be carefully avoided if you want to be a true thief. It feels like the world of Thief lives and breathes. Guards make their rounds in distinct patterns but are easily distracted or may hunt you down if they notice something out of place. While you have a pretty big toolset of arrows and tricks at your disposal it is always better to avoid a fight if you can.
The Thief Remaster has been approached with great care by Nightdive. The basis for the title has been the Gold Edition of the game with all content being here. Elements that didn’t need any touching up have been left alone, like the stealth mechanics and the original scripts. Rather the focus has been on accessibility through a new controller-focused layout that works wonders. Using radial menus for quick interactions, triggers for combat and dedicated buttons for leaning and sneaking around, the game is in line with modern stealth games. Given how much the games industry has evolved over the decades I was astonished how quickly I managed to grasp the systems at play here. Especially as a newcomer.
Visually the textures and lighting have been reworked to feel like you remember them. Don’t expect environments to be fully reworked materials, but textures have an appropriate look. At any time you can swap between the classic and the modern visuals if you want, but I liked the look that Nightdive has gone with quite a bit. It helps to set expectations as well and lets the gameplay speak for itself. The care and attention to detail is really what sets Nightdive’s remasters apart and Thief truly is shaping up to be another notch in their belt. Small quality of life improvements like saving at any time and having fast restarts are welcome given the trickiness of getting past some of the guards. Given its PC legacy I suspect that the Switch 2 will probably include some welcome features like mouse controls, but that remains to be seen.
As someone who’s been eyeing Thief: The Dark Project for the longest time on their steam wishlist, I am so happy that I can now look forward to actually playing it in 2026. The controls feel great, the original intent of the design seems to have been kept in place and the gameplay still feels in line with modern stealth titles. I’m of course very curious to see how the game will run on Switch and Switch 2 but I have confidence in Nightdive. As a fledgling thief I can’t wait to break-in my copy this winter.
