Gloomwood - Thief-ish stealth horror game from New Blood Interactive - now available on Early Access

[Bad Sector]

Harder to balance? Maybe - but again, it's been done very successfully with other games, and at least speaking for myself I find it really fun gameplay to have to treat each enemy as an unpredictable individual. I don't know what point the other nameless person was making, but in any case it's certainly not a good argument against having multiple different AI enemies.

Balance in SP games is overrated anyway :-P in a game where NPC behavior is essentially randomized a designed should just go with the assumption that any NPC can do anything that is possible for the AI system to do.

 

[onemananadhisdroid]

Just finished the demo of this, and whilst I overall enjoyed the experience, it's hard for me to tell where they (or rather he) is actually going with this.

There are claims of heavy Deus Ex/LGS games influences here, but the demo area isn't all that open.

Likewise, the bulk of the demo consists of a "key hunt", only that it's more of a kind you'd find in a retro FPS game harking back to the glory days of 1990s FPS, where keys and key cards would be just placed on the map wherever it was a challenge to get there rather than anywhere particularly "logical". Either I missed a few cues of information here (but then I'd read all the in-game text I could find), but still it seems odd that one such "key" for a mansion would be just "randomly" tossed away in a sewer area underneath the game's city -- that is, until you consider that it just happens to be a dark area full of the demo's most dangerous enemies.

Granted, the demo is lacking context in general. You find a letter in your inventory, which is an invitation that you should come to a house to meet some guy. Who you are? What your story is? What this guy's up to? No idea.

Will be keeping an eye on the game's further development though.

 

[Curratum]

Just finished the demo of this, and whilst I overall enjoyed the experience, it's hard for me to tell where they (or rather he) is actually going with this.

There are claims of heavy Deus Ex/LGS games influences here, but the demo area isn't all that open.

Likewise, the bulk of the demo consists of a "key hunt", only that it's more of a kind you'd find in a retro FPS game harking back to the glory days of 1990s FPS, where keys and key cards would be just placed on the map wherever it was a challenge to get there rather than anywhere particularly "logical". Either I missed a few cues of information here (but then I'd read all the in-game text I could find), but still it seems odd that one such "key" for a mansion would be just "randomly" tossed away in a sewer area underneath the game's city -- that is, until you consider that it just happens to be a dark area full of the demo's most dangerous enemies.

Granted, the demo is lacking context in general. You find a note in your inventory that you should come to a house to meet him there. Who you are? What your story is? What this guy's up to? No idea.

Will be keeping an eye on the game's further development though.

Lucky you, coming to this just now, when most people interested in this have been blueballed for 2 years since the demo with early access still missing. But stay tuned for the full release in late 2026!

 

[Tweed]

I didn't care much for this when I tried the demo, just seemed like a poor man's thief. Guess that's a good thing since it's never coming out.

 

[markec]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

 

[kangaxx]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

 

[ciox]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

Uhhhhhh dudes don't you know Gloomwood is ACKSHUALLY a survival horror game?

"Thief with Guns" was just a silly joke. I mean sure the hype and the search engine hits are all nice and good, but all this Thief stuff is uhhhhhh just a joke or something, yeah...

 

[Curratum]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

Uhhhhhh dudes don't you know Gloomwood is ACKSHUALLY a survival horror game?

"Thief with Guns" was just a silly joke. I mean sure the hype and the search engine hits are all nice and good, but all this Thief stuff is uhhhhhh just a joke or something, yeah...

Don't you mean Gloomwood is a BRAVE, EXPLORATORY AND GENRE-DEFYING GAME, which at the same time attempts to mix all your favorite buzzwords from your favorite genres, in the vain hopes that it will not be one huge directionless mess when it comes out?

 

[ciox]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

Uhhhhhh dudes don't you know Gloomwood is ACKSHUALLY a survival horror game?

"Thief with Guns" was just a silly joke. I mean sure the hype and the search engine hits are all nice and good, but all this Thief stuff is uhhhhhh just a joke or something, yeah...

Don't you mean Gloomwood is a BRAVE, EXPLORATORY AND GENRE-DEFYING GAME, which at the same time attempts to mix all your favorite buzzwords from your favorite genres, in the vain hopes that it will not be one huge directionless mess when it comes out?

 

[Wunderbar]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

Uhhhhhh dudes don't you know Gloomwood is ACKSHUALLY a survival horror game?

"Thief with Guns" was just a silly joke. I mean sure the hype and the search engine hits are all nice and good, but all this Thief stuff is uhhhhhh just a joke or something, yeah...

Don't you mean Gloomwood is a BRAVE, EXPLORATORY AND GENRE-DEFYING GAME, which at the same time attempts to mix all your favorite buzzwords from your favorite genres, in the vain hopes that it will not be one huge directionless mess when it comes out?

I don't see how Gloomwood is a buzzword game.

You've seen all the little snippets the dev posted on youtube. This game:
- has a linear level progression where you go from A to B while avoiding enemies;
- saving on save points
- grid-based inventory tetris;
- resource scarcity;
- dangerous enemies, high letality combat, optional stealth.

This is a bona fide survival horror, it has more in common with resident evil games. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Thief is still alive and there's a ton of quality fanmissions to play, no reason to be upset that an indie game with lo-fi graphics turned out different from Thief despite looking like it.

 

[markec]

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

I remember playing the demo and feeling disappointed since I thought I was getting something like Thief. But beside visuals there is little of Thief in the gameplay, overall I wasnt very much impressed.

Same here. It was too easy to run around hacking and shooting all the enemies with no regard for stealth, although granted they may have changed it since I played.

Uhhhhhh dudes don't you know Gloomwood is ACKSHUALLY a survival horror game?

"Thief with Guns" was just a silly joke. I mean sure the hype and the search engine hits are all nice and good, but all this Thief stuff is uhhhhhh just a joke or something, yeah...

Don't you mean Gloomwood is a BRAVE, EXPLORATORY AND GENRE-DEFYING GAME, which at the same time attempts to mix all your favorite buzzwords from your favorite genres, in the vain hopes that it will not be one huge directionless mess when it comes out?

I don't see how Gloomwood is a buzzword game.

You've seen all the little snippets the dev posted on youtube. This game:
- has a linear level progression where you go from A to B while avoiding enemies;
- saving on save points
- grid-based inventory tetris;
- resource scarcity;
- dangerous enemies, high letality combat, optional stealth.

This is a bona fide survival horror, it has more in common with resident evil games. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Thief is still alive and there's a ton of quality fanmissions to play, no reason to be upset that an indie game with lo-fi graphics turned out different from Thief despite looking like it.

There is nothing wrong with being its own thing and taking some inspiration from Thief while not actually being anything like that game. While I was disappointed at start since I really wanted a game like Thief I did try enjoying it for what it is, and it just didnt click with me.

Maybe the demo level is not a good representation of the entire game, and the full version will be different, but as it is I just didnt find the game interesting.

 

[Netch]

I don't see how Gloomwood is a buzzword game.

You've seen all the little snippets the dev posted on youtube. This game:
- has a linear level progression where you go from A to B while avoiding enemies;
- saving on save points
- grid-based inventory tetris;
- resource scarcity;
- dangerous enemies, high letality combat, optional stealth.

This is a bona fide survival horror, it has more in common with resident evil games. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Thief is still alive and there's a ton of quality fanmissions to play, no reason to be upset that an indie game with lo-fi graphics turned out different from Thief despite looking like it.

Is all this accurate? I haven't followed it much and haven't played the demo but back when it was announced I was under the impression that it was going to be a stealth-based immersive sim with open levels. I've seen some snippets of the game and could tell the stealth would not be anywhere near as developed as thief's but I still thought it was aiming to be something in that vein.

 

[Wunderbar]

I don't see how Gloomwood is a buzzword game.

You've seen all the little snippets the dev posted on youtube. This game:
- has a linear level progression where you go from A to B while avoiding enemies;
- saving on save points
- grid-based inventory tetris;
- resource scarcity;
- dangerous enemies, high letality combat, optional stealth.

This is a bona fide survival horror, it has more in common with resident evil games. And there's nothing wrong with that.
Thief is still alive and there's a ton of quality fanmissions to play, no reason to be upset that an indie game with lo-fi graphics turned out different from Thief despite looking like it.

Is all this accurate? I haven't followed it much and haven't played the demo but back when it was announced I was under the impression that it was going to be a stealth-based immersive sim with open levels. I've seen some snippets of the game and could tell the stealth would not be anywhere near as developed as thief's but I still thought it was aiming to be something in that vein.

if the demo and short videos developer was putting on his youtube channel are any indication, the game won't be focused on open-ended exploration like thievery-focused levels in Thief games. Will be closer to the likes of "Escape" from TDP or "Ambush" from TMA, with some resident evil style resource management.

 

[Zombra]

I just replayed the pre-alpha demo and it feels so much like Thief to me, y'all are weird. Only thing different to my experience is a lack of "negative space" - you're not wandering around a huge mansion or town trying to find the one thing. Levels are tighter here and it's find the lever to open the gate to get to the next lever, which I agree is different - if big open levels are why you liked Thief, you won't find them here. Moment to moment however it feels very much the same: enemies you would rather avoid but you have to get past, and Rambo doesn't work.

 

[Curratum]

Game is vaporware, you can all relax.

 

[Bad Sector]

attempts to mix all your favorite buzzwords from your favorite genres, in the vain hopes that it will not be one huge directionless mess when it comes out

That was basically Deus Ex's design mantra and yet it turned out fine.

 

[Infinitron]

Early Access on August 16th.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Actual footage starts at 02:35. You're welcome.
Edit: sorry Infinitron, I meant the interesting, most valuable part of the video starts at that specific time stamp. Is this better, oh Minister of Truth?

 

[Tweed]

TF2 Spy takes a holiday.

 

[Fronzel Neekburm]

Terri Brosius

 

[LESS T_T]

 

[Bad Sector]

Well, its URL is thiefwithguns.com :-P.

 

[Wunderbar]

It was never Thief to begin with, so it's not decline when the game gives you freedom how to play it.

 

[Zombra]

It was never Thief to begin with, so it's not decline when the game gives you freedom how to play it.

Giving you the "freedom" to either shoot things with a shotgun or quit the game is not a great range of choices.

 

[Wunderbar]

It was never Thief to begin with, so it's not decline when the game gives you freedom how to play it.

Giving you the "freedom" to either shoot things with a shotgun or quit the game is not a great range of choices.

did the developer say "you are forced to shoot stuff"? He didn't. In fact he specifically says he's trying to avoid the situations where it's impossible to ghost.

A lot of gamers while playing a stealth game prefer to reload the last save instead of continuing after getting caught. Gloomwood gives you means to continue and the developer urges you to not feel guilty about it.