Thick as Thieves Redefines the Immersive Sim Genre with Co op Stealth Extraction Gameplay in a Dark Victorian Punk Setting Offering High Replayability and Amazing Value
People have often thought the immersive sim genre was dying out, mostly because it costs so much to create detailed worlds with so many choices for players. But what if game makers just removed all the extra stuff and focused instead on a really good, core gameplay loop that players could do over and over. That is where Thick as Thieves comes in. This new game is creating a whole new kind of game: a player versus environment, co op stealth extraction game.
The game takes place in a rainy, Scottish inspired city from the 1910s, and it is full of atmosphere. Its look and feel immediately remind you of classic games like Dishonored and Thief, mixing old fashioned industrial tech with dark magic. You will be moving past mechanical turrets, avoiding tricky tripwires, and hiding from ghostly police officers, who people call hauntstables.
Everything in the game world feels carefully put together. The sound is particularly good, with excellent voice acting that has strong Scottish accents, the constant sound of rain, and audio clues that are directly part of how you play the game. Here, how much noise you make is just as important as where you hide in the shadows.
The main gameplay puts you (and ideally a co op partner) into a huge, multi story mansion or building. Your job is to finish a specific task, like taking a well guarded relic or stealing important papers, then get to the magical exit portal safely.
But you can not just fight your way out of trouble in this game. Using violence is not an option at all. Instead, you will use a belt full of non deadly tools. Things like grappling hooks, ziplines, smoke bombs, and even magical pickpocketing fairies are all part of your gear, meant to help you escape and cause diversions. While you can knock guards out, they will not stay down forever, so you have to keep moving.
The game is highly replayable because it uses procedural generation. Even though the maps themselves do not change, things like where guards are, camera spots, traps, vault keys, and even your main goal all move around for each new attempt. For instance, one time you might find a vault key right on a guard belt, but the next time it could be locked in a basement safe, needing its own code. Because of this, every heist feels like a fresh puzzle.
While you can definitely play this game by yourself, and it becomes a genuinely tense, almost horror like experience where you are always checking your surroundings, it really stands out when played with a partner. Working together with someone changes the game completely. One player might use a smoke bomb to draw a guard attention, while the other sneaks past to pick a lock. And if you get caught, your partner can step in, bring you back if you are knocked out, and help get the loot to safety.
One of the most surprising things about Thick as Thieves is its price. The game only costs $5. Instead of making people pay $70 for a large game packed with content that feels unnecessary, the developers chose an episodic, focused approach.
When the game first came out, it offered a campaign that lasts about four to five hours. This takes place across two very detailed maps, and you can play as two different characters, though you will need to unlock the second one as you progress through the game. Whatever loot you manage to take out of a mission turns into currency. You can then use this currency to unlock new difficulty levels, upgrades that improve the overall experience, and cosmetic items to customize your home base. It is a brave approach that seems to value both players time and money, and it strongly suggests that more affordable content will be released later on.
Pc Version Tested.
Disclosure: We received a free review copy of this product from Devs
