Level designer for Arkane Lyon, Romain Barrilliot, has uploaded a number of images, as well as going into some detail, about the prototype for Looking Glass' 2000 game Thief 2. It's quite interesting that this has surfaced now, as leaks of early iterations have been coming thick and fast lately. There's the Grand Theft Auto 6 video gameplay leaks, as well as the early iterations of the Steam Deck being shown off, not to mention leaked footage from Diablo 4 doing the rounds.Barrilliot's discovery is another example that can be added to this growing list. For those who are perhaps not old enough to remember, the sequel to 1998's Thief: The Dark Project is considered to be one of the best steampunk games of all time, up there with the likes of Dishonored, a game that takes inspiration from the classic stealth series and was developed by Arkane Studios. The first two Thief entries helped shape the genre and is still beloved by many to this day.Which is why the discovery of the Thief 2 prototype will be a pretty big deal for a lot of gamers, especially older ones. As reported by PCGamesN, Barrilliot recently took to Twitter to discuss their findings, uploading a number of screenshots that show early iterations of the celebrated sequel. There are some noteworthy and interesting differences between this version and the retail release, such as levels missing assets, enemies stuck in T-poses, and, perhaps most intriguing of all, turrets from System Shock being used as placeholders before the mechanical variations were implemented.
When asked about possibly downloading the prototype, Barrilliot was reluctant to leave a link, citing "potential legal reasons" for not doing so. However, a quick search should reveal where to get hold of it. Given its stance as one of the best stealth games of all time, Thief 2 left a mark on the early days of PC gaming and no doubt many will be curious to see what this early version of the game looks and plays like.
It's a shame these classic games didn't come to console, only being available on PC. The first two entries are quite significant, with a third installment developed by Ion Storm being just as well received. With the likes of System Shock getting an official remake, maybe the beloved Thief games could make a triumphant return one day, especially as the 2014 release didn't quite hit the mark where the other three did.
Thief 2 was released in 2000 for PC.
Source: PCGamesN