Motion Picture Shaman here to report on a grave injustice that has been committed. The injustice in question is the fact that this fan mission is not considered a masterpiece. Bear with me, my night-loving friends! In the past couple of years I have had the honor to experience the best custom maps created by Thief fans. The Black Parade surprised me with its incredibly expansive cities and buildings, Lady Rowena brought me the most intricate stories about pain and survival, and I marveled at the vertical-ity of DirkBogan's or Melan's maps. In short, I played some of the best FMs the fans have created and I believe Down in the Old Vault is up there with the best of them because, in my humble opinion, the one element that truly matters in a Fan Mission is: ATMOSPHERE!

If you take a look at other fan communities, you'll find some, like the Celeste community, where fans have created maps that mostly expand on difficulty and skill. Celeste is an insanely hard platformer and many fans seem to like to play the hardest maps ever. Thief is also a hard game and our fans could've gone on the same road, making the FMs tough and hard and relentless. But many were wise and they did realize where Thief's gold lies: the atmosphere, the feeling that you truly are a thief breathing in the nightly air of a medieval town as torches illuminate the darkness. Down in the Old Vault made me feel that I am truly am a thief trying to prepare for a bank heist. The town is small and claustrophobic but it does feel like real medieval peasants and nobility inhabit it.

Between the bank and the mansion of the nobleman who owns it lies an enchanted garden. I have spent many minutes simply sitting in this garden, and taking in the fountains, the flowers, and, of course, the moon and stars. There are several locations such as these that bring that sort of calmness offered by the night.

The district the Fan Mission explores is called Mossgate and, though it seems like a regular town, something strange is brewing in its depths. A Keeper symbol adorns a statue on one of the main boulevards. In the bank, a book tells of a long forgotten Pagan past that had been wiped by gentrification. And why, oh why, is there strange laughter in the basement?

The creator of this FM understands what made the original Thief levels set in human society special: the night in a medieval town might seem habitual, regular, ordinary, but somewhere in the shadows, mysterious forces are gathering. Everything seems in its place but then, you climb into an attic and find a mural of the Trickster glowing onto the wooden frames.

Another mark of a great map is whether you can play it several times and find completely different locations. The first time I played this FM, I jumped from apartment building to apartment building via the rooftops. In a couple of minutes, I already had some information about the bank. I took a break from the FM and, when I came back to it, I realized that I had forgotten a lot about its location, so I decided to play it again from scratch. The second time around, I didn't even see the rooftops of my prior run for at least a few hours. Instead, I used the sewer system to go from place to place. In other words, you can play this mission in several ways and the trajectories you take rarely overlap. This makes each run of the mission unique.

After playing this FM, I started to question how relevant the rating system on this website actually is. I mean, of course I won't play an FM with a rating of four stars out of ten (maybe just for a goof). But then again, does it really matter if a mission has an 8 or a 9.7? Apparently, it's a matter of taste. What is it, dear taffers, that this map does not do well? It doesn't have shiny details like horses, like in Black Parade? Well, it actually does! They're just very subtle. For example, there's loot in a bookshelf used as a counterweight to keep the books together and, when you pick up the loot, all the books fall like dominoes. There's also a broadhead arrow keeping an apple pinned against a wall (would love to hear the story behind that one!). Lastly, I found a statue holding a bag of gold in its hands -- though I won't tell you where! Perhaps these details are not as obvious as a fully-automated horse or a moving train like in T2X: Shadows of the Metal Age, but they are subtle and hint at the fact that yes, someone had an apple on their head and someone else shot an arrow through that apple. This is good visual storytelling!

Without giving spoilers about the story, I wanted to mention that there is a strange place hidden somewhere on the map and, once you enter its gates, the atmosphere changes drastically. Without giving it away, I simply want to point out that this nice and subtle FM has a moral in its story: a darkness hides in the heart of money, both metaphorically and literally, as the people running the bank are rotten but also, the bank itself hides a dark past. Garrett is, in his own selfish way, a balancing force that enacts poetic revenge on the noblemen who run the bank.

There are some small flaws and omissions that must be mentioned. Some rooms have no light sources or sparse furniture, while all the windows seem lit from the outside, but inside you'll find some that are not. Also, there's no cutscene. That's it. Aside from that this mission is superb.

Look, I played a lot of FMs and there is a lot of gold out there and I'm telling you this is one of the best. A mission does not have to be flashy and colossal in scale and story to delight us. Instead, it must make the best out of its atmosphere and apply great visual storytelling. I liked Down in the Old Vault so much that I tried two other missions from Vegetables (Hank Muller), the creator: Cold Hands, Cold Heart, and Rogue's Lair, and both are oozing with atmosphere.

Mr. Vegetables, your FMs are truly delicious! I don't care if the other kids don't dig broccoli, I've always liked it.

In all honesty, I thank thee for creating these atmospheric greats, your art is appreciated, I hope you are content that you have delighted another person with your creation.

Sincerely,
Motion Picture Shaman