Take what you can get ...

I've been an absolute Hour 1 Thief fan. Rarely has a game so I cast a spell, as it did Thief: The Dark Project. Unbeaten was the atmosphere and the brilliant gameplay in conjunction with the open level design.
Accordingly, I have to "Thief", the new reboot of the franchise, happy. I have pre-ordered via Steam.
Then came the first devastating reviews but quite sobering.
No free jumping? Gingerbread and characterless city? Stupid, linear missions?
That sounds but not at all to the Thief, which I already knew ... Now I had it Coming soon, so I wanted to get an idea for yourself. I knew then that it will be a reboot and not a sequel or prequel, I first went with no great expectations for the game.

Perhaps too much of a good thing? - The options

So now I'm in the main menu and also the massive soundtrack is me hewn around the ears. Quite clear increase compared to its predecessors! So I start a new game and try me on their own options for the difficulty straight. And there is really adjust much. Cynics would stake now a lack of consistency aka "The game can not decide what it wants to be" accused. I can see that but not like that. The developers have taken care of these options ensure that every player can personalize their game experience as it always like him.
Since I am now accustomed to very Thief 1 and 2, I have decided for the following options:
Basic Difficulty Master, No focus, just stealth knock-outs, no sighting, only special arrows, expensive resources and slowed movement. In addition, I have the mini map, the ammunition counters and the marker on the screen that show you where you should go off.
If anyone wants to experience more of a gaming experience like Dishonored, it is hereby my opinion anyway fundamentally wrong advice (Corvo is an assassin, a thief). Nevertheless, there are similar functions, such as for example., The focus-ability. So if you absolutely have want, you can also use the I guess. Of this, but I would advise against it makes the game incredibly easy.

New Garret, new Basso, new city, same name - the story

Have I done so through the dozens of options gewuselt.
And the same in the prologue is clear: this is not the Garret, who he once was. But he does not pretend to be. As I said: Reboot! Everything is being redefined. So to speak, a start at zero.
Here, then, a new image of Garret painted showing him as responsible thief (now that's a combo), the actually not really want to help save the city, but it still does in the end. He is a bit more uncertain than in the previous games, probably because he has lost his "student" Erin in a strange ritual. Basso, Garret (still) only friend, now wearing a hat, has a bird (literally!) And acts as a job generator for him. Even supporting characters like the queen of beggars or the antagonist Baron Northcrest were beautifully characterized, even if they badly disappear from time to time to something in the background. Generally understands the story to entertain, so they followed tense until the end. But let's be honest: In Deadly Shadows or The Metal Age, the story was not particularly brilliant. Both knew how to entertain, but to the narrative of BioShock class they most certainly do not ran.

What's yours is mine - the gameplay

After linear prologue (which is yet to forgive, the Prolog functions as a tutorial and that is always linear, see Dark Project) the game continues seamlessly into the slightly less linear Chapter 1, which plays a year later. And I say here deliberately "little less linear".
The level structure in Thief works roughly in the following steps:
1. A small sandbox area in which you can turn off guards and loot, there's no tomorrow
2. you are done (or not), it's usually over an obstacle like a wall (seamless) continue in
3. the next small sandbox area, a Back to previous areas there is not however
4. Repeat steps 1-3 a few times
That may now listen to some ears bad, but it plays surprisingly well.
Thanks to the "No focus" option so I really need to look for the familiar glint of prey, scour every corner and best guard every turn (but "Stealth Only knock-outs"). And there really is hell of a lot to see. Thanks to the option "Expensive resources" I can not shoot like crazy with water arrows to me, but has the arrows that I have considered to use, save at best. Along with "Slow Motion" comes back exactly the old tactics behind it, which I loved even then. The "scurrying" feels despite initial concern good and fits well in the gameplay.
That you can not jump freely, calls intended for most concern forth, just like me. But seriously, in a game that actually falls on not particularly, also the fact that you can climb on any nonsense such as desks or similar
After the 1st chapter to unlock the city, which has always been known as just "The City". Between missions you can here in great spirits sandbox-style through the town and liberate all sorts of people and dwellings of their worldly burdens. The side quests are written wonderful and tell a nice subplot. The further you progress sneaks into the main missions, the more areas in the city you will unlock and the area will be even bigger.
If you lose the Überischt times, and may well happen, you can open by pressing F1 a large map that shows all important one.
The AI ​​is playing very angenehem, something even better than in Deadly Shadows. Torches are lit again, the search for the intruder is not abandoned so quickly, even in cabinets is sought. She's not well straw stupid not too intelligent. When you stand two meters in front of a guard in the dark, and she sees a directly, it may well happen that they get suspicious, if there is not someone.

Gears and magic - the technology

Thief used as a framework the Unreal Engine and it's amazing what the developers have since sponsored a-days - at least on the PC. The only graphics mistake I could make out so far, was in the benchmark; A poster on a wall on the right has flickered. Graphically therefore absolutely worth seeing! Achieved No Crysis 3 level, yet considerable.
Unfortunately, the sound has since more quirks. It occurs more often times that lips and voice are asynchronous. In general, the tone in some places is bad mixed: voices are loud, although the accompanying persons are further away, then from time to time voices are too quiet or be played twice. But a patch may fix this.
One can say that here is really a chunk Games was delivered, the dripping with atmosphere, despite the problems that arise from time to time with the sound. More than once I get caught by guards, just because I'm stopped again in order to look at me.

Take what you can get ... - the Conclusion

Oh Thief ... you care anywhere for split opinions. And I also see some of the criticisms. Every now and then I wish I could, to put in a chapter a little back tracking again everything upside down. So I am forced again to play a chapter completely, if I want to see everything. A bit annoying, but a just punishment, if one is a master thief spoils by the greedy stylus. The technical side, in terms of the sound, especially, still leaves room.
But then there are the points that make this game so great: The atmosphere, the entertaining story, exciting side quests, a free-roaming city, personalizing the difficulty, not to mention the well-known Thief tactics.
I see that you can make this game naught with mismatched settings or basic, false expectations. But I also see that the opposite is very good and I hope I could give you with the review a little insight into the life of a master thief.

On a rating scale of 0-10 this game would be an 8 for me.