Thick as Thieves, the co-operative first-person stealth adventure from OtherSide Entertainment, helmed by industry veterans Warren Spector and Paul Neurath, has launched in a state that is both conspicuously incomplete and surprisingly enjoyable. Despite a late-stage pivot away from its originally announced PvPvE focus to a strictly solo and co-op experience, the game delivers a fun, albeit wonky, heist adventure.
The game is set in Kilcairn, an alternate-history 1910s Scottish metropolis with a steampunk-infused, yet magical, aesthetic. This world, rendered in an attractively cartoonish style, features gloomy cobblestone alleyways, tall buildings, and overhead suspension trains. However, the scope of Thick as Thieves is modest, reflected in its budget price point. It features only two of its three announced classes—the Spider and the Chameleon—a limited selection of tools, and a small variety of enemy types. These limitations are most apparent in its roster of just two maps: the Constables Guildhall and Elway Mansion.
Despite the scant level design, these maps are surprisingly large and labyrinthine, offering ample stealth opportunities. Their convoluted layouts, filled with doors, windows, air ducts, and secret passages, create a pleasing sense of flow, allowing for multiple approaches to objectives. The game introduces unpredictability by scrambling certain elements and even the atmospheric weather with each playthrough. While the main campaign objectives are fixed and conveyed entirely through text, they are paired with randomized broader mission goals. These can range from stealing a specific high-value item to looting maps until a certain value threshold is met, or finding scattered items. Critical items and their locations can also shift, encouraging exploration and the use of randomized clues to guide players.
The core gameplay loop will feel familiar to fans of classic stealth titles. Players will crouch in shadows, disable security systems, perform takedowns, and dodge lasers and pressure plates. The pressure to keep moving is amplified by an ever-ticking clock, a mechanic that becomes even more intense during the game's signature eight-minute countdown. This countdown is triggered when an objective is completed or when only eight minutes remain, initiating an escape sequence. This feature, likely a remnant of the game's earlier PvP-focused design, effectively focuses the player's attention and can transform leisurely stealth into a frantic scramble for extraction.
However, the transition from its original vision has left some lingering elements that feel out of place. Mission selections are still referred to as 'matches,' and death results in unnecessary spawn timers and awkward relocations to safe rooms. The Chameleon class's ability to disguise itself, for instance, makes more sense in a competitive context than against the rudimentary AI. Similarly, the progression system, built around an XP grind for unlocking tools and cosmetics, feels more suited to a multiplayer game designed for long-term player retention. These aspects suggest that the game's mechanical underpinnings might not have been fully adjusted to suit its new direction.
While initial play sessions can feel somewhat saggy in tension, particularly before the final countdown, the experience improves significantly with familiarity and by unlocking more challenging difficulties. These higher settings introduce more guards, randomized security systems, and punishing time limits, demanding greater planning and problem-solving skills. This increased challenge tightens the gameplay, making it faster, tenser, more engaging, and ultimately more rewarding.
Despite the limited number of levels, the game offers a decent value proposition for its price. OtherSide Entertainment has indicated plans to expand the game's setting and stories through future content. The foundation laid by Thick as Thieves, with its unique blend of stealth, heists, and a dramatic countdown, is strong enough to warrant curiosity about further developments, and perhaps even a return to a competitive multiplayer mode should the studio consider it.