One of the first FMs I've ever played, with this being I think my third playthrough of it after many years...and let me tell ya folks...it's still just as good as I remember! The team that worked on this project truly knocked it out of the park and their efforts paid off big time. If it's your first time here, you're in for a fairly large (yet deceptively linear) city mission along with a cultist lair and some large houses to explore. A lot of custom assets, scripting and voice acting are at play as well, making the mission really stand out even by today's modern standards. I don't think there's a lot of people who haven't heard of this masterpiece...and for good reason.

The story goes that Garrett received a letter from a fellow thief inviting him to team up with her for a job. There's a somewhat famous cultist throwing a party and we're tasked with stealing a relic they've recently obtained for their rituals. Naturally the story has a bunch of twists and turns in the form of fully voiced NPC conversations and scripted sequences. Which is as good of a place as any to start glazing this FM, I suppose. The voice acting is pretty solid and well done. Garrett's voice actor does a decent impression and the other cast are far from bad. Honestly very good for a project of this scale. What really surprised me is the interactivity the NPCs had during one of their conversations. A thief picking up a goblet and handing it over to another character who takes a sip from it...only for that character to place the goblet back on the table at which point you can steal it. For such an early FM that kind of interaction blew my mind since I rarely see something that impressive even in modern FMs. And speaking of the scripted sequences; pretty much all of them worked perfectly for me aside from the fight near the end. Calendra didn't go to the shrine until I went in there first, so I had to wait for her to walk over there to start up the encounter. But something like this is very easy to overlook considering the age of the mission and how entertaining the fight was to watch afterwards.

The level design, atmosphere and architecture is all on point. Purah once again knocked it out of the park, their Dromed skills improving and building up from their earlier projects. The mission very much feels like more spruced up OM quality in its execution. I'd say it looks really great even today, the polish making it not show its age as much as I thought it would. Despite it being a fairly large city mission most paths you take will get you to the main objective. And if you're still having trouble you have a fully functioning automap to help you out too. Readables are all very good and expand on the ongoing story wonderfully. I wasn't too big of a fan of the Mercedes and Garrett shipping, but everything cult related was very well done and intriguing. Another random thing I liked was that you can see every character's name once you pick up their body. I recall some other missions doing it and I always find the extra effort charming.

As for the hickups...I suppose there's the thing a fellow reviewer mentioned involving a very loud spider interrupting a conversation. I had it happen too, but I thankfully had a broadhead arrow at the time to reduce the noise level. I can see how it would be annoying since you don't get a sword until basically the very end of the mission. And speaking of which, there's a fight right at the end that either forces you to gear up with gas or very quickly pick up the sword in the guard tower to stand a chance at defending Mercedes. Thankfully the lady thief is fairly tanky, but I can see this part giving a non-seasoned player a bit of trouble.

All in all a truly excellent mission, worthy of its legendary and revered status. I am not at all surprised that Purah went on to pursue a game development career as the talent in this really shows. I can't think of anyone who hasn't heard of this mission in the FM sphere, but if you for some reason haven't played it...well...you kinda owe it to yourself to give it a gander. Especially if you're jumping right off of Thief 1-2, this feels like the perfect FM to start off your journey with. I'd say that I'm putting it on my replay list...but it's already there! Very much recommended!