Gloomwood, the new steampunk-themed indie sim game now in Steam Early Access, consciously evokes the classic Thief PC games so much, the publisher Newblood Games even got a special URL to promote it: ThiefWithGuns.com.
It is very much Thief with steampunky guns -- but as with the original Thief games from the early 2000s, the whole point is not to use noisy weapons unless you have to. And instead, to stealthily stay in darkness, using the light meter (yes, there's a Thief-style light meter!) to check how visible you are, and also, avoid stepping on noisy surfaces. The overall experience is incredibly immersive, making you constantly aware of your virtual environment.
I played an earlier version of Gloomwood last month and instantly adored it; the visuals, the emerging story, and above all, the stealthy gameplay and the sense of truly being immersed in the world of the game. It's what got me into immersive games two decades ago, including (eventually) the Metaverse.
As it happens, Newblood's Dave Oshry tells me, veterans of late-lamented Thief creator Looking Glass Studios are very much aware of Gloomwood, and even advised on it -- including acclaimed designer Warren Spector (Deus Ex/System Shock), who did some early work on Thief:
"I think we did a pretty good job in Deus Ex," Spector told him, "but we still saw the majority of the players killing everything that moved. (I caught a lot of flak during development for even bothering to support stealth)!"
Spector's design advice, as Oshry recalls it: "Are you doing anything to encourage players to take a stealthy route? Are there downsides to fighting? That's critical in a game that offers both options. Everything has to offer benefits but also costs."
Even in early access, Gloomwood already has a very rare Overwhelmingly Positive status on Steam. Oshry thinks this speaks to an unquenched thirst for games in the vein of Thief.
"Stealth games are an unserved market, especially in the indie space. they're very hard to make, but if you manage to do it right, people love them!"
But that also means gamers who aren't used to immersive stealth sims like these will need to adjust how they play:
"Don't get greedy," Oshry advises, "stay in the shadows."
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