OtherSide Leisure and Megabit introduced Thick As Thieves, an immersive stealth-action multiplayer sport set for launch in 2026.
The sport is popping out on the PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X|S. Led by gaming veterans Warren Spector, Greg LoPiccolo and Paul Neurath, Thick As Thieves invitations gamers to navigate a 1910s metropolis the place each shadow conceals new challenges, from rival thieves and watchful guards, to a richly detailed metropolis that modifications with every heist.
Unveiled at The Sport Awards, the Thick As Thieves trailer reveals the motion between rival thieves — 4 of whom are all making an attempt to return away with the lion’s share of the loot in an enormous heist.
Warren Spector, cofounder of OtherSide Leisure, mentioned in an interview with GamesBeat that the sport is sort of subsequent technology of the work he began with the sport Thief. Now, there are new emergent components and methods that seem when you could have human minds behind the 4 main participant rivals.
“OtherSide Leisure’s co-founders helped pioneer the stealth motion style with the unique Thief and Deus Ex video games,” mentioned Benjie Clarke, managing director of world publishing at Megabit, in a press release. “Their collaboration at OtherSide has rekindled this imaginative and prescient, now centered on pushing boundaries with contemporary views. Thick As Thieves marks the subsequent step for what an immersive motion sport can accomplish and the way sharing this expertise with different gamers results in unimaginable player-driven storytelling.”
Set in an alternate historical past metropolis the place expertise clashes with magic, Thick As Thieves immerses you in a posh, detailed world of glittering wealth, a thriving prison underclass, and a contact of magic. Because the higher class amasses wealth and energy whereas the decrease class struggles to outlive, you weave your approach by way of each worlds, pursuing treasure and glory with stealth and crafty.
Gamers have interaction in a singular aggressive multiplayer expertise, the place infiltration, theft, and escape drive success. The sport rewards intelligent techniques, planning, and improvisation. Thick As Thieves exemplifies OtherSide’s dedication to player-driven company, creating an expertise the place every playstyle can unfold uniquely in a vibrant world.
“Thick As Thieves captures the imaginative and prescient of immersive gameplay that OtherSide was based on” mentioned Spector. “With this sport, we’re empowering gamers to create their very own tales in a world that values statement, craftiness, and inventive problem-solving.”
“OtherSide was constructed to take the immersive sim style to the subsequent step. And what which means is multiplayer, campaign-oriented, not simply dwell providers. It’s a artistic choice for us as a lot as a enterprise mannequin,” Spector mentioned. “We wished to go along with what we name stealth motion with a capital S and a capital A and put collectively a group of skilled and new individuals.”
Along with Spector, I spoke with Greg Lapiccolo, who was the sport director on the unique Thief and understands stealth and Thief rather well. And David McDonough, who was the lead designer, got here from Firaxis, the place he labored on RTS video games.
The small print of Thick as Thieves
Replayable emergent stealth motion PvPvE gameplay: Navigate a realm the place each shadow and nook might conceal a contemporary problem—from watchful guards to devious rivals to the ever-shifting, treacherous metropolis itself. Arm your self with eager consciousness and artful abilities to thrive on this unpredictable world.
Be the thief you wish to be: Each mission is a chance, and each alternative will be approached creatively. Commentary, intelligent planning, and crisp execution are important, however with different thieves round it’ll by no means be that straightforward. Improvisation and inventiveness will likely be key in case you are to outlive and thrive.
Town with countless secrets and techniques: Delve into the town, a world wealthy in characters, tales, and thriller. Be taught concerning the highly effective, the prison, and the craven as you break into their strongholds and steal each their gold and their secrets and techniques. Discover your personal private storyline, mission by mission, shaping your future and your journey from a no person to a legend of crime.
A thieves software package: Your rise by way of the ranks will open doorways – actually. Decide locks, hijack alarms, bamboozle guards, silence civilians, conceal your presence, and escape together with your loot bag full. Whether or not you favor to play gradual and quiet or quick and loud, all of the instruments are at your disposal. Mastering them will likely be your problem as you match wits in opposition to numerous hazards and adversaries.
Dwelling world alternate historical past setting: Step right into a vibrant alternate-history metropolis on the daybreak of the twentieth century, the place the glow of fuel lamps, neon, and magic mild the way in which. Maintaining a tally of its inhabitants and their day by day habits may simply make it easier to….perhaps the housemaid has spoken to her husband, who has spoken to the barmaid after a number of drinks…. Understanding the world and its mysteries is important. The smart thief is the superior thief.
OtherSide Leisure was shaped in 2016 by co-founders Paul Neurath and Warren Spector, who first began working collectively within the 1990’s, offering artistic route on video games that pioneered the “Immersive Simulation” style.
The studio’s imaginative and prescient is to create deeply immersive video games that problem the traditional method and supply a contemporary perspective, whereas empowering gamers to decide on their very own play fashion for a really distinctive expertise. OtherSide Leisure is presently in growth with tentpole titles together with Argos: Riders On The Storm and Thick As Thieves.
The sport is constructed for systemic replayability. Matches can take 20 to half-hour. The panorama, the goal of the heist and the adversaries can add totally different dimensions to the sport. However the sport units 4 rival thieves in opposition to one another in a mission to steal loot and to return out with the largest haul. You’ll be able to select to spend your time outwitting the non-player characters or go after your fellow human gamers by setting traps that may trigger them to lose their loot or simply get knocked out of the match.
“It’s all systemically pushed, which implies every little thing you do is affecting your complete panorama and every little thing the opposite thieves do impacts you as nicely,” Spector mentioned. “So that you’re competing with different thieves by way of all of those intricate methods.”
You possibly can play the identical map a 100 instances and the matches would by no means come out the identical due to the human ingredient.
There’s nothing to cease human gamers from forming alliances and ganging up on different gamers. However there’s just one winner in a match. Every character is totally different and has a special story arc.
Spector mentioned the title Thick as Thieves rolls off the tongue and it tells you that multiple thief is within the sport.
There’s loads of fight and aggressive play kinds that work rather well. You’ll be able to ambush different thieves or stalk them and attempt to knock them out of the match.
“You must assume creatively and improvisationally about every little thing that’s occurring,” Spector mentioned.
In comparison with prior Thief video games, Spector mentioned, “The most important delta is is the introduction of different gamers. Most of what we’ve labored on up to now was single participant, which have been nice experiences and we’re happy with and so forth however the introduction to the opposite people with their very own agendas in an immersive simulation has a totally totally different context if you’ve bought different individuals in there. It’s far more intense.”
The sport has mild and shadow gameplay. You’ll be able to disguise in the dead of night from AI identical to you would in any title. However are you able to disguise from one other participant, trying with their very own eyes?
