Journey through The Dark Project: Part 1
I obviously love this series for its level and systems design, yet I think I might actually love the way it handles narrative design even more. It manages to be incredibly rich with such economy; nothing serves only one purpose. Somewhat pretentious, but – film noir influences aside – there’s something literary to the way The Dark Project and The Metal Age present their story. They have a fairly rigid three act structure, but it’s used as a frame rather than a screenplay template. Compare this to some modern games whose plots feel like they came out of the same Screenwriting 101 text. Here’s the father figure, here’s the symbolic necklace/lighter/watch, here’s the moment of self doubt, etc.
“Assassins”:
As each faction has been introduced the game can now begin in earnest. “Assassins” is the point where Garrett’s actions come back to haunt him and the film noir spiral into complexity prepares to kick in.
Everything that has happened so far is a direct result of Lord Bafford going out for the night and Garrett seizing the opportunity. What happen from here on is down to forces outside Garrett’s control. Given Viktoria has already been mentioned by someone working for Bafford, I wonder if she also gave Ramirez the push to make a move on Garrett, so as to ensure the master thief felt pressured to take her job when it’s offered. But I’m getting ahead of things.
I understand logically that all AI operate using the same detection criteria, it just doesn’t feel that way, and honestly ninety percent of AI is how it feels to play against. Zombies take several seconds to wake up from being “dead”, they move slowly and don’t vocalise their internal AI state beyond a range of moans and groans. They feel sluggish and brainless. Burricks have no visible eyes (at least I’ve never got close enough to see any), they move slowly and again have no clear vocalisations of internal AI states. I assume they have the same proximity detection as human guards (?), if so it’s smaller relative to their size. Even if the Burrick’s proximity sensor is the same size relative to them as it is to human guards their sheer size makes them intimidating to approach, meaning it never really triggers. With no eyes you can’t really feel where they are looking. Are they predator or prey, what’s their vision cone like? It’s hard to parse so they seem mysterious and dangerous. (Burricks do in fact have eyes. They are hard to see in the game, to the point where I just assumed they didn’t have any.)
I’m comfortable looking through source code, or pulling apart resource files to check details, but I’m making a point of not doing that until I’ve finished. I want to experience this as cleanly as possibly.
I have only played “Assassins” once before, and I’ve never finished the “Thieves’ Guild”, so we’re getting into new territory for me. The fake-out start of “Assassins” is great, though the title of the level does somewhat spoil the surprise.
All Garrett wanted to do was buy some nice lock picks, now somebody has just tried to kill him. Shame Farkus is dead, but that does mean the contents of his shop are now at a nice 100% discount.
Thanks to the five finger discount you start with a wealth of Arrows, which I suspect is going to be useful. The initial set-up is great, trail the assassins back to their master; are they still assassins if they killed somebody, but it was the wrong person?
There’s some really nice areas in the city streets, going to have to come back and look once I’ve finished trailing the assassins; I’ve already messed that up three times by lingering too long.
Updated objectives means a new map. I am convinced Garrett drew this himself, and he did it while standing in the shadows outside Ramirez’s.
Objective “ding” obscures Garrett’s voice line when he finally determines where the assassins came from; one of the very few instances where the sound mix isn’t great.
This is a good example of what’s been annoying me about the AI. This dude saw me the moment he walked past, but in Cragscleft I was closer to two guards at the same time and neither noticed me. *Grumble*
Reload takes me back to the city streets, which are cool.
Found this door in the city that has a handle but cannot be interacted with, weird. Usually a handle is the differentiator between usable and unusable doors.
I have memories of Ramirez’s, though not very good ones. A lot of this feels new, and that’s great. My leap-mantle from the outer walls to the mansion itself felt really cool, I picked the lock and suddenly I’m in the brightest room imaginable. Whoops.
That’s a classic Thief corridor if ever there was one.
I like how this note basically tells you the counting room is in the basement without explicitly stating it.
Neither of these guards saw me, I was close enough to steal the keys off their belt; they were the same key sadly.
Look a “pet” Burrick…
Well that’s just mean-spirited.
“Hi Ramirez, you might feel a dull pain in the back of your head… and a mild loss of consciousness.”
Viktoria. There’s that name again, it’s almost like she might be important – please hold while we piss about in the “Thieves’ Guild” for an hour.
A Noisemaker Arrow, a Speed Potion, and I’m out and back on the streets… Finding that Silver Fire-Poker was a bit of a faff.
Seeing that 2000 loot requirement had me nervous, that’s a lot of loot to find in one house. Turns out everything Ramirez owns is made of fucking gold, profligate asshole. Playing through “Assassins” made me realise I’d missed Bafford’s secret counting room, which would have solidified his connection to Ramirez. Fortunately I’d been there before. Don’t have much more to say about “Assassins”, it’s good Thief. Long brightly lit corridors dotted with locked doors make for tense moments on the top floor, while the ground floor relies on right angled corners and denser patrols. Going to try and push through with the “Thieves’ Guild” tonight. Then I can talk about why placing it here was a mistake. Honestly putting it before “Assassins” would make more sense, give Ramirez a stronger motivation, and not step on the introduction of Viktoria.
“Thieves’ Guild”:
“Thieves’ Guild” Update: I have just spent 10 minutes trying to get past the first room of this fucking level. Two patrolling guards, a civilian on a hair trigger, and only one non-electric light source that I can get an angle on.
Patrol routes are so short, I can’t get past while their backs are turned. This is just a chore.
Made it finally, but that cook had to deal with a bit of minor head trauma. The idea of sneaking through an illicit casino is good, the execution could have done with being toned down a little. A half dozen guards is logical, but not pleasant to deal with.
Found the secret entrance to the Thieves’ Guild, let’s just check to see if we have a map for this area… You fucking what mate?
So… The vase I want is in the safe in Donals’ house, but the key to the safe is in Reuben’s house, but some other guy has the key to Donals’ house so even if I got Reuben’s key I’d have to find the third guy anyway. That’s assuming Ruben’s house isn’t locked too. \o/
Last time I got this far, I used a cheat to skip this level, then felt bad about it and so never played more than a minute or two of “The Sword”. I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that the “Thieves’ Guild” is not a very good level. I mean that technically as well, I think the lighting isn’t calculating correctly. There are electric lights that seem to have a throw out of proportion to their size. I’m wasting Water Arrows on torches expecting to darken an area and the light level barely changes because it was actually lit by an electric light down the hall. The sight lines are also a real cause of frustration, very short in areas frequently patrolled by multiple guards. Forcing me to keep darting between “shadows”, which aren’t really dark because of the abundance of electric lights.
The “Thieves’ Guild” plays like a first pass at a mid-game level from The Metal Age. It’d benefit from an editing pass, it’s too convoluted, too populated, and the lighting need reworking. Taking a break for now. I will finish it and move onto “The Sword”, I might have to be a bit more brazen in wielding my blackjack though.
Playing this is really making me want to play Deadly Shadows again too, I’ve only ever played through it once before, when it came out. May start that after I’ve finished The Dark Project.
“May the Trickster find you in the dark…”
“Sorry I didn’t quite catch that.”
I’m having to use Water Arrows a lot more frequently in this level. Usually I’ll wait and see which torch I need to extinguish, here I’m having to dowse at least one to even be able to watch the patrols in safety. What I think the issue is (will try and confirm as I play more), is that few of the spaces have darkness at their entry point. Meaning you are starting on the back foot and need to make a safe area immediately, which isn’t how the level design traditionally works. A case could be made that this isn’t a failing so much as a way to keep players on the back foot, by making the space hostile in an unfamiliar way.
Level is however also full of shit like this, where I’m standing in a dark corner, and the Light Gem still says I’m illuminated.
The purpose of having two guards on a patrol route is that it creates a rhythm of increasing and decreasing tension centered around the moment of their overlap. Having one guard just follow the other offers none of that dynamism.
Overlapping patrols are one of those stealth game tricks that look really secure but are incredibly exploitable. When the two guards are at their overlap point every other part of both their patrol routes is unprotected.
“Thieves’ Guild” Update: Really starting to fucking hate this level.
There are too many areas like this. Two torches and an electric light in one small room. It’d take two Water Arrows to even make it partial safe, so it’s not worth bothering, I just have to push through to the next room without anywhere to retreat to.
Alright “Thieves’ Guild” maybe you’re not all bad. Also, Lord Brosius I see what you did there.
“Erm… Hi… Eh, quiet night?”
Shh, I’m hiding.
There is always one more guard patrolling an area than I think, it’s getting ridiculous.
Those last two tell a tale…
I’ve broken into Reuben’s and stolen the key to the safe in Donal’s house, now I just need to get all the way back again, and break into Donal’s, and then escape to the streets. No idea how I’m going to hit that 2000 loot requirement though.
Of course I find this secret door after I’ve taken the long route up to Reuben’s room.
The single biggest problem with the “Thieves’ Guild” is that there are too many guards, especially too many pairs of guards walking the same path. It makes each encounter fussy and rushed because you have no viable way to deal with two people at one. Reuben’s basement is a prime example of this, two civilian NPCs who patrol close together through a space it’s all-but impossible to make dark. I’ve sworn at them a dozen times now just trying to get through a space of about 20 feet. If you’re going to have two NPCs patrolling through the same space where the player can only see a fraction of their patrol route make them look different, different outfits, different weapons, anything to let the player better determine patrol timings.
Attempt 22… This is my view right now. One of these two is on a long patrol, the other is on a short patrol. I have to work out which is on which patrol so I can then time it to get past while both of them are looking the other way. All I can see is that doorway.
Cost me two Water Arrows but…
Donal’s was locked… Fortunately I was able to find a back entrance via the sewers. I’ve got Lord Randall’s vase, now I need to find his bracelet and I’ve got a terrible feeling it’s all the way back on the other side of the level.
Donal’s house has a pair of ledgers that include another reference to Viktoria along with various ones to members of the Looking Glass Studios team: Church, Leonard, Mahk, LaMer, Lesser Hrabota (IRL: Hrabota Lesser), Pearsall. Those are the ones I can recognise, but checking MobyGames suggest every name is that of an LGS team member. Except Solus, not sure who or what that’s a reference to. Lord Randall is probably a reference to Randy Smith… Is it maybe a little weird that I can name a dozen members of a game developer that closed its doors eighteen years ago?
Saw a couple of doors like this, are these always blocked off or is this another example of the level layout changing based on the difficulty?
I’m also 520 loot short, I am never going to escape this place…
224 loot short… I’m rapidly running out of places to search for it.
Did find this though.
Woo! Found it, 2026. I very much appreciate that this is another level where the objective is to “Get back to the streets…” and it counts any area that’s outside as valid, so I didn’t have to try and sneak back through the underground casino.
I’ve now officially played the most Thief Gold that I’ve ever played. The “Thieves’ Guild” was a slog though now I’m thoroughly comfortable with the controls and core mechanics. “Thieves’ Guild” isn’t a great level, but it’s ultimately not as annoying as I may have made it out to be. It shouldn’t occur at this point in the game though, and as this is the only place it’d make any sense it probably shouldn’t be in the game; it might have been good as the second or third level of The Metal Age. Garrett has just been the victim of an assassination attempt, he needs another push down the rabbit hole not a generic thievery job. Viktoria needs to appear right after Ramirez has been dealt with, our protagonist is already shaken and then “Bang!” the femme fatale makes her appearance. An offer he can’t refuse and no time to really process what’s happening.
“The Sword”:
Here we go… “The Sword”.
“So how did you get caught?”
“Well I made too much noise walking across the door.”
“… Across the door?”
“Yes.”
It all started fairly innocuously…
And then it just kinda went places… Not pictured: creepy laughter.
When creeping Garrett’s movement is effectively a slow sine wave with the only noise being made at the peak. Knowing this you can release the key just prior to the apex, resetting the wave and therefore move without making a noise at all. This works because the noise of the footsteps is what the AI actually hear (or at least their sensory stimulus is triggered at the same time), so if you don’t hear a sound neither do they.
Speed modifiers stack, and walking up slopes introduces a speed modifier. So if you are crouched and creeping you cannot move up a slope because your speed is too low, you just stand still.
So this maybe elicited a minor squeal of fear.
Immediately something about “The Sword” feels more robust than “Thieves’ Guild”, fewer light sources and smaller rooms make for more clearly readable lighting. I don’t know if that’s something unique to “Thieves’ Guild”, specific to the Gold levels, or entirely in my head because I know the level was created later.
All these “we recreated our favourite old game with the latest Unreal Engine” projects and nobody’s done that for Thief? Weirdly even The Dark Mod was never really used to recreate old The Dark Project or The Metal Age levels. I know, I know, it’s practically heresy but I just keep thinking of what The Dark Project would look like if faithfully recreated to a modern standard. Like fuck, it’s got such a strong aesthetic that the Dark Engine never quite feels powerful enough for it.
Anyway, not going to be able to finish “The Sword” tonight. It feels great to finally be pushing forward into parts of this game I’d never seen before. Just to be clear Sara Verrilli was the credited designer for both “Thieves’ Guild” and “The Sword” I don’t think she’s at fault regarding my issues with the former. Sometimes things just don’t quite work out, game dev is hard.
Coming from Dishonored that you can’t interact with anything when you’re carrying a body is hard to get used to. I like it here as it forces you to worry about body management beyond just where to dump it; Dishonored would probably feel too slow if it did the same.
I tried to use a door and it wouldn’t let me so I assumed it disabled all interactions.
But you can climb ladders and ropes, and mantle, all while carrying a body! – Andy Durdin.
I found the sword…
Closer…
I now have the sword, and am completely lost on the third floor… And loving it. Those last two are a great effect, it’s a shame the correct passage doesn’t quite look like the other three.
I was going to talk about how interesting it is that all of the weird architectural gags are actually physically possible, and then…
Found my way back to the gardens… I think…
Wait, if that room is the one I think it is, then wasn’t this room I’m standing in previously above that one, when I was upstairs? Erm… My head hurts.
I mean sure, physics can work like that, I guess.
That was the type of shit I loved doing in the Build editor back in the day. Vertical columns of water, or a roof made of water. I still love seeing it.
I’m surprised there’s no voice line when Garrett discovers the incriminating evidence about Constantine. I’m sure he has some particularly specific views on this whole job.
Woo… Made it, and no damage. I was expecting the traps and tricks to be much more annoying, but all of them are detectable if you’re paying attention.
The specific wording on the objectives changes between the introduction and once you are actually in game. The explicit loot requirement makes sense, but “incriminating information” sort of spoils part of the reveal doesn’t it?
Some general thoughts on “The Sword”… The progression of weirdness between each floor is great. The first floor (ground floor) is a bit odd but not more than you’d expect from the home of a rich eccentric. The top floor is a fucking trip. It makes sense that there are no guards in the weirdest parts of the mansion, but how much of a mind fuck would it be if there were? (Sadly, some of the illusion would be broken if you could see other people moving through those spaces.) Given how I influential “The Sword” has been on the level design of the type of game I like I’m a little surprised how grounded most of it is. It relies more on tricks of architecture than tricks of the engine.
With every other level there’s been a sense of decreasing size as I got more comfortable with its layout. Even the “Thieves’ Guild” felt manageable by the end. That never happened with “The Sword”, it still feels huge and weird.
Much of what makes “The Sword” tense is down to the sound design and the way audio detection works. The surfeit of tiled floors make exploring the mansion exhausting even without the weird architecture. You have to move slowly, everything feels drawn out, deliberate.
In case you doubted that this game was film noir as fuck…
So, Viktoria hired Garrett to steal a sword from Constantine, except it was actually Constantine himself who hired Garrett as a test. Now Constantine wants Garrett to steal the Eye from an abandoned Hammerite Cathedral, what could possibly go wrong?
Garrett: “What exactly IS this… item?”
Constantine: “It is the gemstone called The Eye, for it’s unusual-”
Viktoria: “Appearance.”
Alright Viktoria, we both know that wasn’t how he was going to finish that sentence.
Further down the rabbit hole Garrett falls, and he’s still not technically been paid for stealing the sword in the first place. If you ever needed any indication that The Dark Project conforms cleanly to a three act structure just look at the placement of the animated cutscenes. Each one happens at the start of an act.
We are now entering Act 2.
“The Haunted Cathedral”:
Avoiding information about “The Sword” is next to impossible if you’re a fan of the genre, and I know the general plot of The Dark Project because I played the later games. In terms of specifics though everything from here on is brand new.
I am totally here for bureaucratic minutiae.
I found the Broken Sword… Wait, wrong series.
Thought I was being clever: “I’ll lure that zombie into this house and then close the door on it, that’ll stymie them.” Nope, zombie just fucking opens the door and walks out.
I do love those moments when even the map is like: “Well shit buddy I don’t know where you are either.”
Sometimes you take fall damage if you drop from an upper floor, and sometimes if you crouch and sorta half lower yourself over the edge you don’t.
So I just exploded… No idea why.
Well shit, there was a fucking mine on the floor, because I’m not tense enough already.
Because dark game is dark…
I’ll be honest, I hadn’t expected the zombie to win that fight.
The physics engine strikes again? I had a dozen attempts at mantling up through that first hole (still couldn’t), but was able to leap and mantle across to that window ledge on my first try.
Erm…
Screw you… I have Rope Arrows.
Well I’m fucked.
Bit of a brown trousers moment this one.
Not superstitious at all is our Garrett, no sire.
And now I’m hearing something that sounds like a Cyborg Assassin from System Shock 2… This isn’t going to end well is it?
So my attempt to take no damage during this playthrough is over… Also I have discovered the powerful utility of running the fuck away.
Ah ha… I have found The Haunted Cathedral.
Of course it’s locked…
Oh, so the gem is talking to me now… Right, sure, no problem. And The Keepers have sealed the cathedral, that’s fine I’ll just find out how to open it and I’m sure I’ll make a return to the cathedral. ;)
Wait, I’m going to have to go back through Burrick Avenue again aren’t I?
Silly Burrick, you can’t swim.
So the cathedral is locked by four secret elemental talismans, and everything just got four times more complicated.
The most consistent problems I’m having right now are finding enough loot and completing the Expert objectives. There’s often so little information on where they are that I’m just running around hoping to stumble onto them.
“Don’t look this way, don’t look this way…”
This might not be the best plan I’ve ever had.
And we’re back here again… Running around the level trying to remember where I’ve looked for loot and where I haven’t, trying to get those last few items just to complete a level I already technically finished.
I was never against loot glint in Deadly Shadows, and levels like this are reaffirming my belief that it’s a smart way to draw the eye. There is no fun in running past everything squinting in corners trying to work out if something is loot or a piece of generic debris.
You alright down there? Just chilling? Cool, cool.
I admitted defeat and resorted to a guide just to find the last pieces of loot… I have no fucking clue how I would have found some of these. I guess I will literally have to look in every conceivable nook from here on. I appreciate that given the objective changes you no longer have to escape, therefore it automatically completes the mission when you have finished all the objectives. That does mean if you leave the loot objective until last you can never find all the loot.
I just spent 20 minutes hunting down loot in a level I’d technically finished. Most of it was on roof beams and other places I could not see from the ground, the challenge should be in reaching such loot, not knowing it’s there in the first place.
Loot glint is awful. But I wouldn’t mind if Thief had had a multidimensional difficulty setting like System Shock, so that you could e.g. turn down the loot-hunt difficulty while keeping the stealth and combat difficulty high. – Andy Durdin.
It’s telling that the two level where I’ve struggled to meet the loot requirement are “Thieves’ Guild” and “The Haunted Cathedral”. Loot placement is at its most frustrating and obtuse in the levels where there are few logical places for it. I finished The Metal Age on Expert and never felt this frustrated. In fact most of the time I was able to complete the loot objective (some levels didn’t even have one now I think about it) before I completed the main objectives.
I’m really starting to see why there’s such a divide between fans of The Dark Project and The Metal Age. I love the idea of organically arranged levels like “The Haunted Cathedral” I’m just not a fan of their execution. When you call your game “Thief” I guess I’m not really expecting to be running away from zombies and other creatures. I didn’t really feel like I was being a smart capable thief during “The Haunted Cathedral”, rather a clumsy grave robbing idiot.
What I think is happening with the more organically laid out levels is I’m not mentally parsing them as spaces of human habitation. I only start to look for loot once I’ve made that switch to “oh somebody might hide something here”. So a room with some wooden beams above it isn’t reading as “collapsed house” so much as “connective space between two important areas”, I’m writing it off as non-important so not searching it. This doesn’t happen with the urban levels, or those like “Down in the Bonehoard” that are contextualised as areas that would contain “treasure”. In those instances I’m preconditioned to consider everywhere as a potential hiding place. Combined with the relatively low object density, any space that doesn’t have something to contextualise it, to give it some sense of function, gets glossed over. Even just a door is enough to make me view the room beyond as something to pay attention to. I was also a little rushed as the sun was coming up and I wanted to keep to my “one level a night” rate.
I need to slow down and view every room as one that might potentially hold something important. Not every space will be as easily parsable as corridor/bedroom/kitchen etc. This is probably why the more supernatural levels have been frustrating me despite usually being a big fan of such elements (ala Dishonored’s DLC), their layouts are frequently more organic and less readable as spaces where people once hid loot.
Next: “The Mage Towers”