I grew up with Thief, taking control of sarcastic master thief Garrett, invading Victoria era-ish mansions and uncovering the world’s dark twisted secrets was truly the first first person anything I enjoyed.
It was nice then to see via The Art of Thief that the team responsible for creating the game wanted to honor the original Garrett and his world as much as possible. The book gives a lot of insights into his development, from the overall look that wanted to keep Garret fresh, current and relevant while staying true to his older keyed down designs, to the minute details of his movements and hand motions.
The Art of Thief is a lovely book, among one of the best artbooks I’ve gotten the pleasure to add to my collection, with 192 pages of large glossy images, a nice solid weight, and tons of developer insights. One quirk I found interesting was how much modern Garrett was inspired by G.I. Joe’s Storm Shadow.
The art appears to line up with the game world rather closely, without too much variation from the characters, gear and architecture in the book compared to how it ended up on screen. Keeping the world familiar while also infusing it with more personality is what this artbook seems to be all about. From the down trodden and slightly freakish citizens, to the ladies of the night that mesh Victorian and Japanese fashions, to the subtle hints of steampunk. While the game world itself sometimes appears a bit too muted, the artwork at least succeeded in creating a unique fantasy world that edges out just on the other side of original while keeping it all familiar.
A big theme in Thief is the image of “smoke”, giving stylized visuals to magic and weapons through out the game. This is kept consistent through out, where even character designs and speed paintings of the world incorporate this smokey element. It’s a nice touch that adds to the visual style of Thief’s art book, crafting a personality all its own.
If you’re a fan of artbooks, and especially a fan of Thief, this is a pretty solid purchase.
