Thief Gold
My game time this weekend was split between this and Killing Floor 2, and unfortunately I didn't get to play either as much as I would have liked. It was a much busier weekend than I had anticipated. Oh well, I still beat a few levels.
The first required a break into a casino operated by a local thieves guild and swipe a vase. The only problem is that the vase is the cause of a dispute between the two leaders of this particular guild chapter, so to get it, I have to search one's area for the key to the safe and the other's area for the safe itself. That wouldn't be so bad, but once I managed to make my way through the casino, I discovered that this place is MASSIVE. I wasn't expecting level design this sprawling, so as I was slowly making my way through and taking everyone out, I was also marveling at the enormity of this sewer complex. This place had secrets within secrets and hidden mansions located within other hidden sewers. To add to it, there are secret tunnels leading to other sewers with a variety of entrances, many of which I never figured out how to use. Some of the hardest parts I faced were also completely unnecessary to explore.
Eventually I cleared out both of the complexes that I needed to search. While going for the key, I realized that the notes I had found provided all of the necessary hints to locate what I needed. Getting the key was easy enough, though it ended with a mad dash to avoid a team of guards patrolling in a group. After I recovered the key, I headed back to the first underground mansion I had cleared and then realized that a note complaining about the maid not going into a particular room was all I needed. The safe was actually hidden behind a painting, so I basically just walked around the room spamming the interact button. Soon enough, I found the safe, along with another hidden safe behind a tapestry nearby. I ran out and finished the level. Ended up having knocked out nearly 50 people. 50 people! I even left some up and walking around, so this level had over 50 folks wandering about! Good God, how did they do it?
Anyway, next level: I break into Constantine's mansion to steal a sword. Sounds easy enough, right? I spawn in, take out the first patrolling guard outside, and then survey the landscape to see what I can do to sneak in all quietlike. That's when I notice a window on the second story at an odd angle. Suddenly it hits me: this is going to get weird. Turns out Constantine's a wizard. Robbing from wizards is universally considered a bad idea. Wizards are weird. This house is going to be weird. I climb up through the balcony, break in, start to explore and...yes. I was right. This house is weird. Rooms are upside down, sideways, curving. There are doors in the floor and ceiling. Trees grow on the inside through open holes that seem more like awkward portals to ancient jungles. One area simply opens into space. Admittedly, I kind of like the vibe, but man, who the hell put in so much tile flooring?!
Tile sucks. After multiple guards hearing me try to sneak up on them, I eventually just mad dashed the damn thing. Got the cash I needed in the easier rooms and booked it for the sword so I could get out. Thankfully I had cleared enough of the front areas to provide an easy way out, so once I had the sword, escaping was a simple affair. After that came the level I'd heard so much about over the years...
...the haunted chapel.
It's nice. It's more my speed. There are secrets and hidden passages all over this level and strange, scurrying things that I only spied from afar. At one point I think I spotted a fire elemental. At least I think it was a fire elemental. At another I heard something that sounded like clockwork and had a vaguely tentacled appearance. I'm not sure. Listening to the chittering of some of them is maddening, and the innumerable voices they cry out in bores into the mind like a thumbscrew for the brain. I felt right at home.
I slunk my way through this level, gathering up all I could of weapons and equipment, fighting only the zombies, spiders, and belching dino midgets, avoiding everything else. Whenever I could, I kept the power off. The darkness makes things much easier for me, even if it makes portions much harder. At one point one of the garbling ghosts caught wind and followed me, so I had to hide in a sewer entrance and wait for it to eventually slog off while still muttering in its maddening cacophony of voices and screeches. Another time I managed to climb onto a lit streetlight to avoid one. Despite being bathed in bright light, it walked beneath me with never a notice or care I was there. I immediately threw myself through a nearby window the instant it was gone. I did not want to be around if it decided to come back.
Eventually I reached the final summit and crawled my way up the chapel stairs to find the doors sealed to protect the rest of us from whatever is inside. At the rear I received my orders from disembodied voices which scratched and clawed at the mind like rats after paper. I was sent to seek out the Keepers lair, which I thankfully already had an idea about. Once inside I navigated the tricks and traps to find the locations of the magical talismans needed to break open the seal.
Only problem is, the first one is guarded by wizards again. God, I hate stealing from wizards. This whole thing seems like a very bad idea.
