Motion Picture Shaman here and may I say that on one particular night I found myself unable to sleep. I was battling a cold, my sinuses more stuffed than Garrett’s arrow quiver, or a well-packed Burrick bean burrito, and I could hardly breathe. I needed something to ease my mind from the torment of breathlessness, fatigue and the badly-timed hangover I was battling. Tea didn’t work, and the medicine somewhat eased the lethargy. Yet it was DirkBogan’s atmospheric masterpiece ‘Compulsory Egress’ which finally brought peace and a perfectly timed sleep.

The mission started in a hovel, and, in a fever-daze, I began to climb a tall apartment building, passing two guards, one sleeping, the other drunk. I reached the apartment of someone with wealth and interest in interior design. The large, L-shaped bedroom was molded from a very fine wood as an Art Nouveau-style assortment of shapes dressed the wall where the bed rested. Strange acoustic vibrations bounced around the room, like the spectral whirring of subatomic particles.

I called that precise moment, via a save game file, 'eepy' because eepy it did make me! And thus I fell asleep. DirkBogan’s Fan Mission is filled with moments which evoke an oneiric meditation, a trance-like state of serenity. The night shines brighter than the moon and the desolation of the City only adds to the bewilderment.

The City of Navenvolk has been mysteriously evacuated and guards and bandits roam the streets, attacking all those left behind. We must bring praise to this location and its great design, as there are several large areas – such as a descending town square shaped like an inverted pyramid – all zones seemingly far apart and unrelated. Yet, after playing for a couple of hours, I found so many obscure paths that connect everything. It’s that strange illusion you feel in a large but tightly-packed city: things seem further apart than they are.

Also, there’s finally affordable housing (in the Cyric Style), represented by a gigantic apartment complex. Never thought I’d find something as rare and unexpected as cheap housing in a Thief fan-made level (instead of in the ‘real’ world), yet, here we are, as a species. Great social humor and quirkiness resides in each nook. My only criticism of this work of art is that there aren’t enough readables peppered throughout, and the ones that are present, are much too short. You’re telling me that my eyes have been rewarded with the beauty that is the three-storey-tall library of City Hall, its shelves oriented around a mandala-like pattern painted on its marble ceiling, but my seeing orbs cannot peruse even a third of the myriad books overtaking my line of sight?

On the other hand, I have only played Fan Missions, and have never made one myself, so I cannot even begin to comprehend the amount of work the author has put into it. Readbles aside, which are great but short, the mission is oozing with atmosphere, intrigue, and secrets. It has helped me fall asleep on that fateful night, and has cradled my girlfriend into peaceful dreams many nights with its haunting soundscape (Thief sounds act like sleeping pills for her). Mister DirkBogan, you are a great artist; I have also enjoyed Ascend the Dim Valley, and The Black Parade, of course, and was delighted by your approach to level design. These down-to-earth places hide a sort of psychedelic and soothing tone within. Excellent Fan Mission that I must play again and again to find what I’ve missed.

May the magic materialize in many massive Missions, Mister DirkBogan!

-Motion Picture Shaman