Venomous Ambition sets the player on a discreet mission to a rival gang leader’s mansion, with the goal of averting a potentially consequential assassination attempt - and a golden opportunity to take care of some side business and grab a bit of nice loot along the way.

As usual with Ripped_Phreak’s work, the visuals are top-notch. The brushwork leaves a personal stamp, and the color palette – slightly darker than the usual –adds a grim, atmospheric feel. All locations are built with attention to detail, but I think the residences we visit deserve particular praise. These are among the best-looking apartments I’ve seen in a non-mansion Thief mission. Especially the apothecary’s house left a strong impression with me. Amazing work making these spaces vibrant and exciting!

Unfortunately, Venomous Ambition does not avoid the most annoying trait of many contemporary “vertical” missions: forcing the player to look for detours to reach any of their targets just for the sake of it, whether it makes sense or not. Luckily, this particular city still has a semi-open structure and allows enough freedom to make it work much better than Endless Rain or Rose Garden did for me. I even managed to find the items for a bonus objective, so it couldn’t have been that bad :P Some loot placements, though, I would describe as ranging from eyebrow-raising to completely bogus, like the single coin worth 1 tucked away on a distant balcony. Not a completionist, though, so I won’t be raging about it.

I had no trouble whatsoever with the AI. That said, many open windows, low fences, and the vertical difference in general mean that you need to be extra careful when outdoors, since those first alerts from random guards passing near a window or an opening in the wall are going to happen. In my playthrough, the AI seemed to have worked well enough to leave their patrol routes to relight gas lamps, which opened some nice gameplay opportunities.

As for the story, the briefing material paints a really compelling picture, and it definitely made me want to dig deeper sneaking around, reading diaries and documents to uncover more. Unfortunately, there’s not that much depth to find. Don’t get me wrong, what we do find is decent and relevant, but with such a strong intro, I see it as a missed opportunity to really make this universe deep and alive with distinct, developed characters and more intricate, interwoven dynamics between the factions in the city.

All in all, Venomous Ambition delivers 2-3 hours of solid exploration in an appealing, atmospheric city environment, with (mostly) rewarding outcomes. It’s a good recommendation for anyone who doesn’t mind a reasonable challenge.

Definitely fair, the readables were literally afterthoughts....