So… The City Watch attempted to kill Garrett on the orders of Sheriff Gorman Truart, orders given at the behest of the Mechanist leader Karras. Garrett escaped this ambush and managed to acquire incriminating evidence against the Sheriff. Before Garrett was able to do anything with that evidence Truart was murdered. Killed by the Pagans who now serve the wood nymph Viktoria – former right hand of the Woodsie Lord himself. Bound together by a common foe, Garrett and Viktoria worked to discover the Mechanist’s plans. This led them to The Cetus Project and Markham’s Isle in search of one Brother Cavador. No longer there, Cavador was now sequestered at the mysterious “KD site”.
Kidnap:
After an underwater journey aboard the Cetus Amicus – the Mechanist’s new submarine – Garrett arrives, somewhere. It’s time to locate Cavador, then find some way to get him back to Viktoria, alive.
Objectives are fairly straightforward, lack of a map is at this point unsurprising.
Apparently I’m back at the Lost City, though I don’t recognise any of this. One of the Mechanist’s refers to this place as Karath-din, I’ve think I’ve heard that name before.
All my equipment has carried over from the previous mission, except my Vine Arrows have mysteriously changed into Rope Arrows.
At least now I should be able to work out where Brother Cavador is…
Oh, these fucking weird crystal light sources again, this is going to be so much fun.
Garrett over here with his 8 foot arms.
This area looks more familiar, these two Mechanists are discussing their success in wiping out all the Burricks. Also one of these two is a good foot taller than the other, did they just scale his model up?
According to them Brother Cavador still wears his mask for fear of Burrick attacks, so I guess no sneaky Gas Arrows then. I remembered there being a restriction on how you could subdue him but not what it was. Can’t say I miss these streets being wall-to-wall Burricks.
I certainly remember this area, the walls were covered in jewels that I handily cleared away for the Mechanists.
Last time I was here I found a bunch of precursor masks for some guy called Lord Gervaisius, wonder what he did with them…
Found another chapter of “The New Scripture of the Master Builder”, I appreciate this as an in-context way of having the villain break down his plans.
So… Just bumbling about minding my own business and around the corner comes mother-fucking Brother Cavador.
I’m sitting on 4 Gas Arrows at this point, so a quick one into the servant at the back dispatches them – wasn’t actually sure that was going to work. Another for the guy in front, and before Cavador can react he gets a boink on the noggin. Job done. Stashed the two unconscious Mechanists in a dark room, and here we are, having accidentally completed most of this mission.
I’m not a fan of the Watcher placement in this level. Some seemed designed for “gotcha” moments where you walk straight around a corner into one.
It does feel like the Lost City, but the scale is wrong. The spaces are right but the contents of them is off. The obelisks especially seem too wide and too short. I think what’s happening is that the roof is lower making everything seem out of proportion.
Sleep tight Cavador, I’ve got some things to do before we can get out of here.
Last time I was here I found a reference to “N’lahotep”, Karath-din is suspiciously close to Kadath, and now we have a pretty obvious Cthulhu statue.
Diamond you say? Well then, I guess we’ll have to do something about that. I’ve become quite good at recovering lost things – and by “recovering” I mean stealing, and by “lost things” I mean everything I can find.
I’m not as able to rely on my previous knowledge of this level as I thought I might be. Instead it’s like returning to a place I visited briefly years ago. The KD site is dull and washed out in a way that the Lost City never was. Markham’s Isle had the same feeling, drab and lifeless. The Trickster is dead, nature is fading and what’s replacing it is uniform and largely colourless. Both of these first two games peak early. It doesn’t help that in both there’s at least one more level than there needs to be between the start of Act 3 and the denouement. The intersection of luck and systems design mean I’d be able to finish “Kidnap” in a little under thirty minutes if I wanted. There are other areas to explore and some bonus objectives, but it’s not really a level I’m invested in. You could strip out four or five levels from across these two games and they’d be better for it.
The coloured lighting is throwing off my ability to recognise some of these spaces. Wherever there’s lava there’s a red glow, which wasn’t there before and it changes how an area looks. I think I remember this little corner though.
If I’m remembering correctly this little courtyard was inaccessible before? There were some Fire Elementals around but this gate was locked in place.
I’m encountering a lot of irritating edges cases of the detection systems here. Surfaces where any movement at all will create noise, sleeping NPCs positioned next to locked chests who’ll wake if you attempt to pick them, etc. That’s on top of the already challenging Watcher placement. I wonder if the expectation was that players would already know this space so they could risk increasing the difficulty of the enemy placement?
Things I remember feel like they are in completely the wrong part of the map. I assume the layout of “Kidnap” broadly conforms to that of “The Lost City”, so it must be me that’s confused. I was expecting these tombs to be in the south-west not the east.
I remember hopping across the tops of these to reach a tomb being excavated by Mages of the Hand Brotherhood. I was sure that was the bottom left of “The Lost City”, so the south-west corner. If that wasn’t there what was in that corner? I can usually remember level layouts incredibly clearly, so this is a real surprise.
So you go through the back of the theatre, across the tops of the tombs and reach the larger tomb that in TDP has the Water Talisman. That’s south east? So what’s in the south west? As in what’s below where the tower was? I can mentally map out the connections between different areas and they match up, but I didn’t really use the compass last time so I managed to mirror everything in my mind it seems.
The Mechanists have drained the lava from large parts of Karath-Din. This might be what has caused the earth to shift and bury some areas, or that might have happened naturally since Garrett was last here. Alongside the drainage, the Mechanists have built up and around the various sites, adding platforms and even a rail system to move materials. The most activity appears to be around the tombs and the theatre. The residential areas have gone largely untouched.
There’s a fair amount of activity at Site 7 as well, though I can’t quite work out what area that is. It also serves as a nexus for the tunnels that cut through the space, so it might be well occupied simply because of that.
It’s hard to remember the layout of the more organic structures like cave networks, but I think a lot of the tunnels are new. Potentially made by the Mechanists themselves.
Last time I was here there was a Hand Brotherhood Mage just chilling in the lava.
Hmm… Is Site 7 meant to be this place that was entirely flooded with lava the last time I was here?
Brother Cavador has a private area in Site 5, this Mechanist is standing in a room I remember very clearly from The Dark Project. He’s basically standing where I was when I took the second image.
Found another entry from “The New Scripture of the Master Builder”, but it’s a duplicate of the one I found before. I wonder if there are several places you can find it in this level? Found Cavador’s diary, which confirms that the most intense activity is around the theatre. It’s also clear that Cavador is an archaeologist first and a Mechanist second. The focus on the theatre makes sense given what Karras is interested in: Precursor masks.
The indicator that there is a second page to books is subtle enough that I occasionally miss it. Time to return to where I deposited Cavador and get out of here
I believe this is what used to be the library (?), it was through here that I entered Karath-Din originally.
Pictured: one asshole of a Watcher. This is indicative of the annoying placement of these security devices throughout the level. Fortunately I have a trick…
Haha… Fuck you, I’m just out of your line-of-sight when I’m this close. From here I have enough time to get past while you’re looking the other way. Going straight from the entrance to the exit is doable but the timing is much tighter.
This just looks wrong… Is this supposed to be the entrance from the canal? Why can I see the sky from here? I get that it signifies the “outside” and “escape”, but it doesn’t look like the area I remembered at all. And who lit those torches?
That said, one of the Mechanists below was trying to convince her companion that she’d seen somebody sneaking around, and Garrett has only just arrived. Maybe others have been using the canal entrance to explore the Lost City.
That’s “Kidnap” done. Having now played “The Lost City” it’s a more meaningful return. Unfortunately playing the level and dealing with the Mechanists and their security systems is the least fun it has been so far. Encountered too many detection edge cases.
I generally like levels that see you return to a location you already know after some dramatic change, it’s something I love about the Dishonored games. Not feeling it here. It’s more like revisiting the idea of “The Lost City” rather than returning to the location itself.
Casing The Joint:
“Casing the joint” should have been the game’s first level, and “Masks” should have come much later.
Quite.
Viktoria – “Our guest, Cavador, just spilled his guts.”
Garrett – “Not literally?”
Viktoria – “It wasn’t necessary…” Having read his diary I wouldn’t be surprised if Cavador just offered up the information.
The Mechanists are after Precursor masks, and something called a cultivator. Lord Gervasius has long been known to have an interest in masks, and the Mechanists an interest in him. If Garrett wants to secure one then that’s the place to look.
The problem is Garrett already knows what the masks do, because he overheard Karras’ demonstration for Truart. Acquiring a mask makes sense insofar as trying to find out how they work, but not what they do.
Locating secrets, filling out the map, preparing for a later attempt. All of these would have been better served as objectives in a much earlier level.
Here’s the thing though, for all the issues that come from “Casing the Joint” and “Masks” being the same level. I really fucking love the layout and design of Gervasius’ mansion.
Doors in this level close by themselves, that hasn’t happened since “Return to the Cathedral”.
It’s just possible that “Casing the Joint” is a bad level. I’m really not sure how I finished this last time, the way to figure out the secret passage is basically trial and error. Unless I’ve missed something major.
The chanting mixed into the ambient audio here really evokes memories of Super Metroid, which I wasn’t expecting.
These curtains are never used outside of Gervasius’ mansion which is a shame. A soft barrier like this offers a bunch of possibilities. A version that was somehow one-sided (you could see out, NPCs couldn’t see in), could have made for even more interesting encounters.
These recessed security stations both look good visually and provide a clear indication of what space is and isn’t “guarded”.
There are a couple of neat little details like this in the level: crates and furniture stacked haphazardly in the storage room.
Almost all the loot you can steal in this level takes the form of loose stacks of coins, the loss of which is unlikely to be noticed. This fits the conceit that you’re not supposed to leave any indication that you were there.
This texture alignment is making me twitch.
Each wing of the mansion has two security stations made up of a Watcher and a turret (Face?). These all have an associated control panel somewhere in that wing that will allow them to be disabled. The bottom switch makes the turrets autonomous, which is a bad idea.
Easily the most fleshed out part of this entire level is the library. Haunted by ghosts, the woman seems desperate for you to do something.
“Nobody reads books these days.”
“Terrible secrets, terrible secrets.”
Exploring the library I find notes hidden in various books… I have a bad feeling about what might have happened to poor Lorna and Giles.
Ah shit…
Reading the last note causes the ghosts to disappear with a final wail, leaving these last two notes behind.
“Ash, you are a bastard.”
The other note is the correspondence between between Gervasius and Karras that I was looking for. Sadly it appears to be bugged and is missing the final paragraph… Had to check the wiki for that. https://thief.fandom.com/wiki/Casing_the_Joint:_In-game_text#M12B06
Noooo…. My trusted tactic of checking behind obvious banners has failed me.
RIP Barne- Ahem…
This place has more secret passages than actual hallways I think.
As much as I love the layout the whole building feels empty, there’s barely even a dozen NPCs in the entire level. Several of them are just standing around outside.
Sergeant Porter – “So we have a clock that doesn’t tell time? Won’t be the first time in this place. I’m still amazed you got all those metal eyes working.”
Foreman Hobart- “No, thou does not understand, ’tis that clock.”
That’s the only clue I get… I like that I’m free to explore the level in any order I choose. As long as I find enough secrets and fill out over half the map it doesn’t matter where I go or when.
Ah ha! This banner was hiding something!
There aren’t so many clocks around that finding the right one is a significant challenge. It still feels weird that there’s so little guidance toward the right one, or what to do when you find it. This is not the right one.
Rather unsurprisingly the correct clock is the one next to the obvious secret door. Clock itself is directly to my left.
Now to get out. The objective says “Get out to the streets”, which is worryingly specific.
Most challenging encounter in the entire level, getting past the security station to the left of this door that I couldn’t find a switch for. A pair of Moss Arrows, a Water Arrow, and a Speed Potion get me from here to the far corner without being detected.
I get to the other side and realise that I didn’t need to use the Moss Arrows because Watchers can’t hear me.
As expected getting back to the starting point isn’t enough to end the mission. The only way onto the streets is going to be the front door isn’t it?
Front door is locked, and guarded. I didn’t expect a Noisemaker Arrow to distract the guard for long enough for me to pick the lock but it does. His behaviour almost feels like it was fudged to allow that.
“Casing the Joint” done. I still like the general layout, but it’s so sparse as to feel unfinished. That does at least fit with the notion that Gervasius’ exhibition isn’t complete yet.
Oddly, the dialogue suggests it won’t be ready for another two weeks, which is far longer than fits the plot. Narratively there’s no time, Garrett has to go back immediately for it to make sense, there’s certainly not time to hang around for two weeks. This is why I think “Casing the Joint” should have occurred much earlier, even potentially as the first level. There’s only vague references to the masks, it could just be Garrett preparing for a later job. Which suddenly becomes more important as events unfold. Then you have your penultimate level be a return to an extended, more populated, and more challenging version of the very first level. Which would be a better use of repetition than going straight back into the same level again; which is what happens.
Better yet, combine “Running Interference” and “Casing the Joint”, Jenivere is Gervasius’ servant, the exhibition you’re building is background colour. Then when you return you know where the secret entrance is because Jenivere told Basso and he told you. Then the woman you overhear giving a statement in “Framed” could be Lady Gervasius. If people remember his name form “The Lost City” then you’re now foreshadowing events later on it a way that’ll make those players feel smart. A throwaway line about how “Gervasius hired more security after Jenivere’s escape”, to justify some changes to “Masks” to make it more challenging and it’s done. Plot is tighter, repetition isn’t as obvious, and you get some nice foreshadowing.
While we’re at it, remove the part of “Eavesdropping” that has Karras demonstrate to Truart what the servants can do. It’s unnecessary to the scene and provides too much information too early, making the later discovery of the truth about the “rust gas” redundant.
I’d also remove both “Thieves Guild” and “Strange Bedfellows” from The Dark Project, or at the very least completely rework the latter to better connect it to the portal to the Maw.
As it stands I’ve just completed a level and there has been zero forward progress in the plot. That’s really hard to justify, especially when you’re three levels from the end of the game. The more I think about it the more I like the idea of merging “Running Interference” and “Casing the Joint”, you’d get the nice visual of Jenivere, Basso, and Garrett escaping through the secret passages.
Next: “Masks”