Thief of Thieves: Season One

My Playtime: 6.9h (100% achievement, finished the game)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (46 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Thief of Thieves: Season One is a story-driven, stealth game about Celia, a thief who is doing several heists. In doing so, you are free to do it however you want and choose any option in the dialogues that might or might not impact the future.
Pros:
- Your choice matters
- Multiple ways to solve a level
- Unique storytelling concept that makes you like reading a comic book
Cons:
- Bugs: autosave can randomly corrupt, random softlock
- It's hard to see where the enemies are sometimes due to the camera
- It is sometimes hard to see and walk to the location you want
Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Should you buy this game?
Yes.
If you like story-driven games with a lot of freedom and don't mind the bugs, buy this game on sale. Don't buy it for the stealth element because it's lackluster.
In-Depth Review
Visuals
Thief of Thieves: Season One has two types of visuals. The story cutscenes look like an animated comic book, while the in-game visuals use top-down, 3D models. The in-game dialogues still use dialogue balloons, though, to preserve the comic book feel. Since the models aren't shown in close range that often, they are hardly noticeable, but I can see them using outlines just like how it was drawn in comic books. Most of the NPCs don't have the liberty to be drawn that way, although the cell shading technique still works well to conceal them.
Story
The story is about Celia, a young thief apprentice who is stealing some objects with the help of her teammates. There are 4 volumes that tell about her 4 heists. All volumes can stand on their own, except the last one which incorporates part of the first 3 volumes in it. The game is full of dialogues at the beginning and the end of the volume, where you can influence the result to some extent.
Your choice matters. You can answer the dialogues from several answers, which can influence minor things like your relationship with people, which in turn might impact their future decisions. Your response also can affect the minor part of the heist part, giving you more or fewer options to work with. The heist will always work as planned, but the details will be up to you. I like how the game does this; it seems as if there is no limit to your choices.
The approach of using a comic book style gives a unique take on the story. I felt like I was reading a comic book, and it helped to capture the expression or even show cool scenes for the event. However, the dialogue will proceed automatically, and there is no way to go back or even pause it. You can only fast-forward a dialogue to show the next one, and you'll be doomed if you press that when the next dialogue shows up. That being said, there is no actual fast-forward option for a second playthrough - you are forced to rewatch the whole cutscene again with a bit of fast-forwarding by mashing either the A or space button in some dialogues.
The Game
Gameplay
As I said before, the game is split into two parts: the story-heavy part and the action part. In the story-heavy one, you can express your feelings by responding from several options. I believe silence is also an option since there is a time limit for your response, but I never try to do that. Your response might or might not change something, which will help you in the action part.
The heist itself is usually broken down into several sections. You need to do some preliminary research before you do the actual thing, after all, or maybe you just need to set up some things beforehand. These heists usually have several objectives that you can do, with some optional ones in between. These optional ones usually affect minor things in the story later on.
You are free to do the heist however you want. There is usually more than one way to do it, and you need to figure it out on your own. You'll find more options that you can take as you explore and gather intel from people. I like how they are doing it like this since I could do a trial and error to see what works and not.
Some QTE and minigames are also available. They are not hard, but the QTE might catch you off guard if you are not prepared.
Stealth
The stealth part isn't that clear, though. I thought I had to avoid from getting seen by everyone, but it turns out that you only need to avoid being seen by some guards. Other people might take notice if you do certain actions, but I didn't know that at first and tried to not be seen at all. That being said, it was hard to avoid being seen by someone.
First of all, your camera angle sucks. You can only change into two different angles, and sometimes, it's not enough to see where the guards are. There might be a marker indicating where they are and whether they have seen you, but it's often not helpful since the marker is too big for their actual location.
Second, sometimes it's hard to walk where you want. I sometimes couldn't see where I was when I was in dark areas - I had to move around randomly until I saw where I was. Walking on a narrow bridge or container that acts as a bridge also feels weird since you can fall off if you are not careful, and the camera angle doesn't help with that.
Third, the surveillance cameras seem to be bugged. I had the most issues with them because I sometimes couldn't see their cone light. The cone would suddenly show up when I came into their range, but there was no way I could know that there was a camera there without me remembering it beforehand. I did spot the cameras in the preliminary tasks before the actual heist, which might have affected them not showing up if I hadn't spotted it beforehand.
Luckily, the guards are mostly dumb. They can hardly see you in the dark unless you are very close to them, provided that they are not on alert. Heck, there was a guard standing to guard a gate and I could pass the gate from the corner without him noticing.
Length and Difficulty
Steam says that I finished it in 6.9h, but I believe my playtime was longer. I was disconnected and lost 4h of playtime stat from my Steam Client after I was connected again and I think that playtime wasn't reflected in Steam. As for the difficulty, the game is fairly easy to do. Checkpoints are abundant and you can try finding an alternative if you are stuck in one section. When I had an issue with those cameras, I found that I could disable them, and that solved all of my problems.
Issues
There was one instance when I lost my autosave. The save was gone when I restarted the game, although luckily, I still can replay from the volume select. I also experience a softlock where a cutscene won't trigger and I can't move since the game thinks I'm still on the cutscene.
Conclusion
Thief of Thieves: Season One has potential, but it was bogged down by its poor stealth mechanic. I like how you are free to do whatever you want in the heist and how your choice affects a lot of things. If you like these kinds of games that promote your freedom, I could recommend this but do buy it on a sale because it was bugged and the stealth mechanic ruins the game.

Steam User 13

Reviewed last year

My Playtime: 6.9h (100% achievement, finished the game)
Grindy Achievement(s): No.
Optional Achievement(s): Yes (46 achievements).
Difficult Achievement(s): No.
Intro
Thief of Thieves: Season One is a story-driven, stealth game about Celia, a thief who is doing several heists. In doing so, you are free to do it however you want and choose any option in the dialogues that might or might not impact the future.
Pros:
- Your choice matters
- Multiple ways to solve a level
- Unique storytelling concept that makes you like reading a comic book
Cons:
- Bugs: autosave can randomly corrupt, random softlock
- It's hard to see where the enemies are sometimes due to the camera
- It is sometimes hard to see and walk to the location you want
Specs
Intel Core i5-9300H 2.40GHz, 8GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650
Should you buy this game?
Yes.
If you like story-driven games with a lot of freedom and don't mind the bugs, buy this game on sale. Don't buy it for the stealth element because it's lackluster.
In-Depth Review
Visuals
Thief of Thieves: Season One has two types of visuals. The story cutscenes look like an animated comic book, while the in-game visuals use top-down, 3D models. The in-game dialogues still use dialogue balloons, though, to preserve the comic book feel. Since the models aren't shown in close range that often, they are hardly noticeable, but I can see them using outlines just like how it was drawn in comic books. Most of the NPCs don't have the liberty to be drawn that way, although the cell shading technique still works well to conceal them.
Story
The story is about Celia, a young thief apprentice who is stealing some objects with the help of her teammates. There are 4 volumes that tell about her 4 heists. All volumes can stand on their own, except the last one which incorporates part of the first 3 volumes in it. The game is full of dialogues at the beginning and the end of the volume, where you can influence the result to some extent.
Your choice matters. You can answer the dialogues from several answers, which can influence minor things like your relationship with people, which in turn might impact their future decisions. Your response also can affect the minor part of the heist part, giving you more or fewer options to work with. The heist will always work as planned, but the details will be up to you. I like how the game does this; it seems as if there is no limit to your choices.
The approach of using a comic book style gives a unique take on the story. I felt like I was reading a comic book, and it helped to capture the expression or even show cool scenes for the event. However, the dialogue will proceed automatically, and there is no way to go back or even pause it. You can only fast-forward a dialogue to show the next one, and you'll be doomed if you press that when the next dialogue shows up. That being said, there is no actual fast-forward option for a second playthrough - you are forced to rewatch the whole cutscene again with a bit of fast-forwarding by mashing either the A or space button in some dialogues.
The Game
Gameplay
As I said before, the game is split into two parts: the story-heavy part and the action part. In the story-heavy one, you can express your feelings by responding from several options. I believe silence is also an option since there is a time limit for your response, but I never try to do that. Your response might or might not change something, which will help you in the action part.
The heist itself is usually broken down into several sections. You need to do some preliminary research before you do the actual thing, after all, or maybe you just need to set up some things beforehand. These heists usually have several objectives that you can do, with some optional ones in between. These optional ones usually affect minor things in the story later on.
You are free to do the heist however you want. There is usually more than one way to do it, and you need to figure it out on your own. You'll find more options that you can take as you explore and gather intel from people. I like how they are doing it like this since I could do a trial and error to see what works and not.
Some QTE and minigames are also available. They are not hard, but the QTE might catch you off guard if you are not prepared.
Stealth
The stealth part isn't that clear, though. I thought I had to avoid from getting seen by everyone, but it turns out that you only need to avoid being seen by some guards. Other people might take notice if you do certain actions, but I didn't know that at first and tried to not be seen at all. That being said, it was hard to avoid being seen by someone.
First of all, your camera angle sucks. You can only change into two different angles, and sometimes, it's not enough to see where the guards are. There might be a marker indicating where they are and whether they have seen you, but it's often not helpful since the marker is too big for their actual location.
Second, sometimes it's hard to walk where you want. I sometimes couldn't see where I was when I was in dark areas - I had to move around randomly until I saw where I was. Walking on a narrow bridge or container that acts as a bridge also feels weird since you can fall off if you are not careful, and the camera angle doesn't help with that.
Third, the surveillance cameras seem to be bugged. I had the most issues with them because I sometimes couldn't see their cone light. The cone would suddenly show up when I came into their range, but there was no way I could know that there was a camera there without me remembering it beforehand. I did spot the cameras in the preliminary tasks before the actual heist, which might have affected them not showing up if I hadn't spotted it beforehand.
Luckily, the guards are mostly dumb. They can hardly see you in the dark unless you are very close to them, provided that they are not on alert. Heck, there was a guard standing to guard a gate and I could pass the gate from the corner without him noticing.
Length and Difficulty
Steam says that I finished it in 6.9h, but I believe my playtime was longer. I was disconnected and lost 4h of playtime stat from my Steam Client after I was connected again and I think that playtime wasn't reflected in Steam. As for the difficulty, the game is fairly easy to do. Checkpoints are abundant and you can try finding an alternative if you are stuck in one section. When I had an issue with those cameras, I found that I could disable them, and that solved all of my problems.
Issues
There was one instance when I lost my autosave. The save was gone when I restarted the game, although luckily, I still can replay from the volume select. I also experience a softlock where a cutscene won't trigger and I can't move since the game thinks I'm still on the cutscene.
Conclusion
Thief of Thieves: Season One has potential, but it was bogged down by its poor stealth mechanic. I like how you are free to do whatever you want in the heist and how your choice affects a lot of things. If you like these kinds of games that promote your freedom, I could recommend this but do buy it on a sale because it was bugged and the stealth mechanic ruins the game.
Steam User 1

Reviewed last year

Nice but buggy
Steam User 1

Reviewed last year

The experience is nice.It is annoyingly buggy sometimes.I played it a second time after some time to finish the story because of a game breaking bug at the beginning of volume 4.I would really like to see a sequel with new stealth elements.The movement animations were quite enjoyable in my opinion and the choices seemed fine.It needs work, still I enjoyed the story and the gameplay quite a lot.

Thief of Thieves: Season One

Game Discussion

Anonymous

Steam User 13

Steam User 1

Steam User 1