Thief: The Dark Project is 20 years old, and you should play it today
As with so much else about Thief: The Dark Project, its legacy is wreathed in shadow. Thief's footprint is barely visible today, a world away from the fame of Grand Theft Auto or Metal Gear Solid or even Deus Ex. That's not to say it doesn't have its fair share of fans lurking in dark corners of the Internet. But even if you found them, they'd probably say you're better off playing Thief 2.
Yet just because you can't see something doesn't mean it isn't there, and if you know where to look, you'll see traces of Thief's legacy everywhere. It's in the shadows of Splinter Cell, the air of Amnesia, the DNA of Dishonored. It's in any game where darkness is your friend, where you can lean around corners, or as a former Thief designer once explained to me, where you save the world "by looking evil squarely in the crotch".
There are countless ways in which Thief could lay claim to being of the most important and influential games ever made. But I don't want to talk about legacy. Instead, I want to tell you why you should play Thief right now. Many games owe a debt to it, but there's still nothing like the original.
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