"Thief Purists Will Have Options" Says Thief Director

In Eidos Montreal’s upcoming Thief game, Garrett has an increased ability to focus, due to an event that takes place early in the game, the studio reveals on its official blog. This ability speeds up his reaction times and helps empower the player.

“But, it’s not something that you’re forced to use,” the game’s director, Nicolas Cantin, clarifies. “It’s something that you manage, something that is one of the tools at Garrett’s disposal that he can use to tackle the various situations he is confronted with.”

Cantin elaborates: “Focus is something that you have to manage, that you have to accumulate. The player will have to choose when the best time is to take advantage of Garrett’s Focus, as he has many different ways and abilities that Focus can be used. It’s completely up to the player to decide and manage how Focus is used in the game.”

Aside from using Focus in combat, you can use it to enhance your lock-picking, pick-pocketing and marksmanship. Additionally, you’ll also be able to use it in conjunction with Thief’s object highlighting system, which is similar to previous Thief games. However, Cantin insists, if you want to play through the game without using Focus for the added challenge, you’ll be able to do that.

“All I can say now is that Thief purists will have options—those types of players will definitely be pleased,” Cantin promises.