Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Morbid Curiosity,
Truly excellent debut:
What a treat! Starts as a challenging, claustrophobic sneaker before opening up into a well-designed town, and finally a wild ride through a deeply spooky final locale. Wonderful custom audio, mixed with tracks and effects from Deadly Shadows. The town itself is very reminiscent of DS: tall stucco buildings, narrow alleys, Elizabethan thatch, purple fog. Distinctly European. Attention to detail abounds. Sharp sense of dark humor, with increasingly macabre riffs on classic Thief tropes. Fun pu..., Nov. 8, 2022, 3:29 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Fables of The Penitent Thief,
A...perfect mission? A perfect mission.:
What an absolute JOY. A total conversion of the Dark Engine into a cell-shaded, animated wonderland, highlighting sharp writing and clever puzzles. This is very much not Thief: no City, no Garrett, no steampunk anything. But that is precisely the point. It’s an experiment to push a narrow engine into new shapes, and it succeeds fabulously. Strongly reminiscent in tone of classic Lucasarts games, with cheeky characters and a wacky but consistent logic. And the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

B..., Oct. 10, 2022, 2:53 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Lorgan's Web,
A Fun, Nostalgic Romp:
Ambitious, dated, and charming: A heist interrupted, with a number of objectives and non-linear ways to complete them. So much fun scripting that I haven’t seen before (AI sitting down and then going to sleep! And a painting that actually tracks you with its eyes). The City map is very hit or miss – the difference between the author’s sections and the repurposed LGS areas is stark (much of it is lifted from the original 'Assassins' map.) But the voice acting and writing are surprisingly grea..., Oct. 9, 2022, 7:35 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about A Night In Rocksbourg 3 - Ink & Dust,
Here we go!:
After a pair of promising but rough prequels, Rocksbourg really hits its stride here. Ink & Dust is just a far more coherent experience than the first two missions. Again, the author excels at pushing the engine to its limits: spectacular architecture, scripting, custom AI, and perhaps the best and most frightening soundscape in any FM. The readables are frequently still janky in translation, but not enough to derail. The level feels massive and has no map, but is smartly enough designed that..., Oct. 5, 2022, 4:13 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about A Night in Rocksbourg 2 - Discovery,
Refined but still rough:
A more polished iteration than its prequel, but it's still got a lot of rough edges. Again, it’s too much info crammed into one mission: an undead invasion, a secret wizard sect, a mysterious “beast” we never meet, an underground crime ring, Mechanist drama, Keeper drama, Hammerite drama, and a lot of unfair hidden switches, several of which are necessary to complete the mission. The TTLG forum has a thread on these FMs a billion pages long because of how many people get stuck. The atmosphere..., Oct. 5, 2022, 4:11 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about A Night in Rocksbourg 1 - A New Beginning,
Influential but infuriating:
A landmark series in FM design, but one that's tough to recommend in 2022. Sound design overall is incredible. Distinctly European feel to it all, and not just because of the charmingly janky English translation. Loads of custom textures and fab architecture make every street corner worth a screenshot. But sound bugs (everything is *so loud*) and ultra-sensitive AI make getting around a pain, and a truly unfair key-hunt ultimately ruins the fun. Everything is over-written, including the brief..., Oct. 5, 2022, 4:07 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about The Saint of Redmound,
Solid Hammerite sneaker:
A no-frills Hammerite infiltration mission. Old school in the best way: as one of the earlier FMs, it is less ostentatious than more recent fare, with simple yet satisfying puzzles and a solid Hammer compound to explore. Not too big, not too small. Some drab set dressing and odd lighting choices (many areas are weirdly bright), but if you're looking for a cozy way to spend an hour sneaking about, Redmound will do you just fine., Oct. 5, 2022, 3:36 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about The Sound of a Burrick in a Room,
A big, nostalgic romp:
Really enjoyed this one. A grand City-scape, one that shares part of the map with a mission from the original game, which is a cool, nostalgic twist. Reminiscent of Disorientation (big river cutting through dense, multi-tiered Cityscape), with excellent non-linear exploration – it’s possible to reach your primary goal within minutes of starting the mission, if you’re clever. Otherwise, there’s a great amount of satisfaction to be found, with all the classic touchstones: a hidden Keeper sanctu..., Sept. 12, 2022, 5:23 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Compulsory Egress,
A good slab of the "uncanny spooktown" subgenre:
Dense, weird, spooky mission – a district under evacuation for unclear reasons. Feels like a blend of Thief 1 &2 aesthetically. Strong writing throughout, with subtle touches of humor and a flair for the surreal. Not outright horror, but uncanny to the max. Lots of silent deaths hidden away in secret chambers. Very enjoyable, and pretty incredible as a debut, though the author eclipsed it with "Ascend the Dim Valley."

Best bit: An affordable housing complex with increasingly weird and dark..., Sept. 12, 2022, 2:57 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about The Inverted Manse,
A seminal spookfest:
A classic horror mission that holds up remarkably well 20 years on. Garrett sets off to investigate an abandoned Hammerite factory in the mountains, and what he finds there was so compelling that Ion Storm hired this mission’s author to work on Deadly Shadows. Playing it even now, one can see why: it showcased what a true auteur could do with the Dark engine. Drenched in atmosphere, bookended with high-quality briefing (and debriefing) videos, featuring a custom anti-undead arsenal to play wi..., Feb. 25, 2022, 4:51 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins commented a topic about Dracula Reloaded,
A "classic" that didn't hold together for me:
Getting lost isn't as much of an issue - more a lack of understanding what was intentional and what was glitches, or just bad design. Especially in the first mission: lots of empty areas, some scripting wonkiness, and the protagonist talking to himself constantly in ways that didn't always make sense. "One down, one to go" he says at the start of the first mission...for some reason? And then we're chased by a werewolf with no explanation or context, until we find a note written by the werewol..., Feb. 22, 2022, 10:25 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Dracula Reloaded,
A "classic" that didn't hold together for me:
Bloody hell. Didn’t finish this campaign, which I understand many people have enjoyed since its release 15-ish years ago. A riff on Stoker’s Dracula, at least at first, it features huge, atmospheric Transylvanian maps with loads of custom assets, lush briefing videos, and an appropriately bleak Black Metal soundtrack. Ambition is huge, but the execution is lacking, largely in part to the janky English translation, and an overall lack of clarity, with much of the level design feeling arbitrar..., Feb. 22, 2022, 4:36 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about The Tower,
Short, spooky fun:
A compact, creepy contest-winning mission. Despite the tiny size, filled with Rowena’s trademark flair: secret passages, personalized characters, and strong writing abound, with room for multiple macabre twists - and hidden bonus objectives. Nothing groundbreaking here, but a great way to spend 30-45 min thieving., Feb. 22, 2022, 4:19 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Home Sweet Home,
A wonderful, bittersweet mission:
Knowing this would be Lady Rowena's final mission makes playing it all the more bittersweet. Her talents were tremendous, and by all accounts she was a beloved member of the community. What I admire most about her work is the depth of feeling she clearly had for her characters,; she never let easy tropes get the best of complexity. Just a short exchange of letters found here, covering a clandestine adoption, has better characterization than many other missions manage in their entirety.

As..., Feb. 14, 2022, 7:50 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins commented a topic about Calendra's Legacy,
I really wanted to love it but...:
I'm with you on the final mission's weirdness - it really does feel like a disconnected idea that was grafted on to the other two late in the process. And yeah, the romantic/sexual story beats are pretty cringe throughout.

But the first two missions, for me, remain a high bar of atmosphere, storytelling, and customization in FMs, even coming up on its 20th anniversary., Feb. 13, 2022, 6:08 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about Rose Cottage,
A haunted house for the ages:
A departure from Garrett, but a worthwhile one: Step into the shoes of a paranormal investigator hired to de-haunt a troubled mortuary. Released in 2009, this remains one of the best, most frightening uses of the Dark Engine to date, taking full advantage of its lighting and sound propagation systems to create a proper haunted house. No real thievery here (though there is an optional scavenger hunt for masochists) – it’s more akin to a point and click adventure game, encouraging deductive rea..., Feb. 13, 2022, 6:03 p.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about What Lies Below,
Infuriating! (Because it's *mostly* great!):
I'm SO ANNOYED by this mission! Wonderful idea, some great tech feats, lovely puzzles/atmosphere. A haunted sewer that ties into the OM lore and brings TDS assets into the mix - what could be better?

But these goddamn hidden switches and glyphs! Every time I'm starting to enjoy myself I grind to a halt to scope out every dark corner possible to see/hear whether or not there's a secret hidden wall to frob. And sometimes within those hidden rooms there's ANOTHER glyph that won't appear unle..., Feb. 12, 2022, 5:36 a.m.

Brodo Swaggins created a new topic about The Turning of the Leaves,
Spooky forests? In my Thief game? It's more likely than you think:
A contest winner, and deserves it; a great, professional caliber mission. Drenched in atmosphere. Jammed with custom content, from spectacular sound design to creepy new enemies, all wrapped in one of the best forests in any FM. Touches of clever humor lighten up the proceedings. And a terrific automap, to boot! If you’re into spooky forests and eerie mysteries, you can’t miss this mission.

Best bit: The attention to detail throughout, including a functional inventor’s workshop players can..., Feb. 11, 2022, 4:52 p.m.