Thick As Thieves pits you against both other players in a competition for riches, but against a cast of NPCs that will put your thieving skills to the test. The wealthy elite aren’t going to just hand over their possessions without a fight. Whether you choose to use shadows and silently slip by a guard, distract them with your tools and stroll on by, or knock them out from an advantageous position, you should always expect formidable opposition.
As an immersive stealth game, it’s important that Thick As Thieves have NPCs like real people inhabiting their world (rather than waiting for the player to give their existence purpose). We seek to create a rich world with interesting characters that make it feel alive the moment you step into the game. Different individual NPCs with unique behaviors pair with a beautiful environment to create a living world that reacts to the player’s actions.
How NPCs react to you comes from the options at your disposal and how you choose to wield them. A simple club is great for dealing damage, but it can also be used to make noises that will attract nearby guards into your traps, leaving the riches they’re protecting unguarded. That same strategy might cause a nobleman to flee for the nearest guard, leaving a small window for you to slip in, grab the goods, and slip back out. How you go about your larcenous activities is very important to us, and a pillar of the AI team’s effort to create a world that respects Thick As Thieves’ roots.
From simple weapons to mechanical noise-makers, your gear empowers you to approach the world in the way you find best, fitting your particular playstyle. Don’t forget that the other players you compete against will have their own tools and techniques, and that a clever thief can wield NPCs as yet another means to an end by means of drawing the attention of a nearby guard to a rival thief’s efforts to sneak up on them. The NPCs don’t just help populate the world of Thick As Thieves, but will be another tool in your arsenal.