Thief (video games)

Thief is a series of stealth video games in which the player takes the role of Garrett, a master thief in a fantasy steampunk world resembling a cross between the Late Middle Ages and the Victorian era, with more advanced technologies interspersed.
The series consists of Thief: The Dark Project (1998), Thief II: The Metal Age (2000), Thief: Deadly Shadows (2004) and Thief (2014). An expanded version of Thief: The Dark Project, titled Thief Gold, was released in 1999 and features three extra maps and several bug fixes.
Looking Glass Studios developed both The Dark Project and The Metal Age. After the studio had gone out of business in 2000, many former employees moved to Ion Storm and began developing the third part of the series, Deadly Shadows. Eidos Montréal was subsequently given the reins for Thief. The series has been highly acclaimed by both gamers and critics, with praise aimed at the innovative gameplay, atmosphere, sound design, the refreshingly dark and mature tone and direction, distinctiveness from other video games at the time of its release, voice acting and storylines, with the series now being considered as a pioneer of the modern-day stealth game genre, serving as a major influence to numerous other video games in the stealth genre.
==Fandom==
As the former is a reboot featuring re-imagined versions of the characters and setting, Thief (2014) and the original trilogy fandoms are somewhat divorced. 
=== Fanfiction ===
Thief (2014) is often crossed over with Dishonored, likely due to both series having a steampunk setting and a focus on stealth gameplay. The protagonists both series game, Garrett and Corvo, form a common ship. Assassin's Creed crossovers are also common.
=== Modding ===
==== Fan Missions ====
Over the years, an active community has created over one thousand fan missions (content mods) for the original trilogy, primarily the first two games. New fan missions are still being released as of 2023.
After the release of Thief: The Dark Project, fans petitioned Looking Glass Studios to make the level editor, DromEd, available. In response, Looking Glass Studios gave the level editor first to two people, including Trimfect, whose mission Gathering at the Bar convinced Looking Glass to make the level editor freely available in 1999. DromEd was included with the updated release of the first game, Thief: Gold, in 1999. Thief: The Metal Age, which like the first game used The Dark Engine, also came packaged with its version of DromEd.
The fan mission community periodically hosts competitions to produce missions, often centering around a certain theme. A list of past contests can be found at the Thief Guild; current contests are often announced on Through the Looking Glass Forums.
===== NewDark =====
In 2012, an updated version of The Dark Engine called NewDark was posted by user "Le Corbeau" on French language forum Ariane4ever without clearly taking credit for its creation.https://www.ttlg.com/forums/showthread.php?t=140085http://ariane4ever.free.fr/ariane4ever/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=4287 Despite its mysterious origins, it was quickly adopted and iterated on by the community. The new engine allowed for more complicated levels than were previously possible due to the highly increased polygon limit.
==== The Dark Mod ====
The third game was not originally released with an editor. This inspired The Dark Mod, a total conversion mod of Doom 3. Originally released in 2009, it was later released as a standalone game in 2013, when the Doom 3 engine, id Tech 4, became free and open source.https://www.moddb.com/mods/the-dark-mod/news/the-dark-mod-20-standalone For legal reasons, the setting of The Dark Mod is only heavily inspired by Thief; it is technically not a fangame.
=== Memes and In-Jokes ===
===== Taffers =====
Fans may call themselves "taffers," after the fictional insult that appears often throughout the games. In universe, "taff" serves as a generic curse word such as in phrases like "taffing around" and "taff off." To fans, it can mean playing the games or otherwise participating in the fandom.
===== Dewdrop =====
In the fan mission community, it is common to include a doll called "Dewdrop" from the second game somewhere within a mission as an Easter egg. Players attempt to find Dewdrop in new releases and to be the first to announce their success.
==Fannish Links==
*Thief (Video Games) works on AO3
*Thief fics and Thief crossovers on Fanfiction.net
*Thief Universe group and The Thieves Guild group on DeviantArt
*Thief: The Circle, a fansite last active in 2010 hosting content such as fanfiction, fanart, fan missions, and walkthroughs.
*Fan mission listings and reviews at Thief Guild
*Thief Fan Missions and The Editors' Guild at Through the Looking Glass Forums
==References==