Garrett has a date. Thief: The Dark Project Remastered launches on December 3 for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, Switch 2, PlayStation 4, Switch and PC, Gematsu reports, with PC copies on Steam, the Epic Games Store and GOG. The game's Steam page now lists the same 3 December release and is taking pre-purchases.
Gematsu names Atari as publisher, with Nightdive Studios and Eidos Montréal developing.
What's in the box
The base package is the 1998 Looking Glass Studios game plus the additions from its 1999 Thief Gold re-release. According to the Steam page, that means all 12 missions of Thief: The Dark Project and the three extra Thief Gold missions, which "deepen the plot and add five new types of enemies". Each mission has three difficulty settings with different objectives.
The bigger surprise is new content. The Steam page says the remaster also includes a story expansion called The Tarnished Mirror, "a brand-new original 4-mission campaign" set after the events of Thief: The Dark Project. It comes from the creators of The Black Parade, a well-regarded fan-made Thief campaign. Steam's description has Garrett "shortchanged and back to small-time jobs" after the Trickster's defeat, until the theft of a Precursor hand-mirror pulls him into a conspiracy. Push Square also lists The Tarnished Mirror among the PS5 version's contents.
What Nightdive changed
The remaster runs on Nightdive's own KEX Engine. The Steam page lists:
- visuals up to 4K at 120 frames per second
- improved textures, models and animations, plus small fixes to the original level design
- modern gamepad support with rumble and motion/gyro controls, plus a weapon and item wheel for quickly picking tools and gadgets
- a mission selector for replaying any completed mission
- built-in support for custom campaigns
- achievements and a Vault of behind-the-scenes material
That custom campaign support matters more than it sounds. Thief has long been kept going by community mods, The Black Parade among them, so bringing that team in to write official missions is a nice nod to the people who never let the City go dark.
Prices and editions
Gematsu lists two digital editions:
- Standard Edition: $29.99 / £24.99 / €29.99 / ¥3,850, the game only
- Digital Deluxe Edition: $34.99 / £28.99 / €34.99 / ¥4,840, adding a diary of the remaster's artwork, the soundtrack and a preview of a novel based on the original game
Gematsu says physical copies for PS5 and Switch 2 are distributed by Clear River Games. Push Square reports PS5 pre-orders are live on the PlayStation Store and lists physical editions including a Deluxe Trapezoid edition at £49.99 / $69.99, which bundles the game with a steelbook, a booklet, a box and a printed remaster diary.
Why this one matters
The original Thief: The Dark Project is the game its developers called a "first-person sneaker", and the Steam page credits it as the first stealth game to use light and sound as mechanics for hiding and sneaking up on characters. Nightdive has spent years bringing games of that era back, with its System Shock remake), another Looking Glass game, the obvious companion piece.
Ollie's take: The part worth watching is The Tarnished Mirror. Handing official story missions to the fans who kept Thief alive is the sort of thing that usually only happens in a fan's daydream. If it's as good as their mod work, the shadows in the City are about to get a lot longer.
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