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Dagger of Ways
The Shadowy World of an Unmade Reboot


(A computer game popular culture timeline)

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Prologue


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(...)

"I often hear this misconception that we or the guys at Eidos wanted to milk the brand name dry, and the subsequent fallout from Dagger of Ways was our comeuppance for that or something. The actual situation was a bit more complex. What happened was something that was sort of endemic to the series from day one. The first installment... it nearly didn't get made, several times over. The former Looking Glass team members we inherited for the third installment could talk hours about that. 1997 to 1998 turned out to be a lucky fluke for them, even with all the crunch time and reworking involved. Afterward, they continued their winning streak by making the second Shock and The Metal Age... and then the studio went kaput."

"Until Ion Storm basically adopted most of the old LGS team and gave the third installment a go..."

"Yeah. But with that came a built-in fanbase. We were suddenly left juggling pleasing people who were thrilled for sequels to both series. Some of the fans - you know, the 'taffers' - were all nervous and cautious on how we'd handle the third one, and whether it would sell well. There were these fears that history's going to repeat itself, like with the first one, or the second one. Some even predicted it would be our last game, instead of a small, but useful shot in the arm. There was similar trepidation in the Deus Ex fanbase. Ultimately, despite how well Invisible War and Deadly Shadows turned out, there were still complaints by the fans, you know. Oh, there were complaints !"

"I can imagine !"

"Admittedly, Unreal 2 was good to work with, but it was limiting in some ways, and some of the deviations in the details annoyed a few die-hards. Still, both games pulled off pretty good sales on PCs and the original XBox, and we managed to placate our boses for two more years before it all started coming apart..."

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anonymous former developer at Ion Storm Austin, in an interview for the May 2012 issue of PC Gamer

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"I still don't get where this idea that I activelly worked on Dagger of Ways came from. Probably from that old "But Randy's the horror guy !" meme. [chuckles] I still find it ironic, given that I happened to be the level designer on two scarier missions in TDP, but I originally came to work for LGS purely through determination and sheer dumb luck. I wasn't there from the start, they were a fair bit into development by that point. Yeah, those missions might have turned out very differently. Now, about Dagger of Ways... After Ion Storm clawed itself back financially a bit, Eidos were more lenient of greenlighting a potential sequel. They even allowed the Austin team to keep me for a short while, but I was hesitant to stay, since I thought my work on the series is done. We've just finished off the trilogy on a nice book end and all... After plenty of pleading to help, at least as an initial design consultant, I caved in. I didn't stay for long, about five more weeks. And honestly... I contributed with some pre-production ideas, but the finished product doesn't feature many of these. Neither does it feature plenty of Jordan's ideas. Yeah. If you want one of the main brainstormers behind the gameplay mechanics and narrative, Jordan Thomas is your man. I just helped out, sort of like when I got my start in my early LGS days. [smiles humbly]"

- Randy Smith being asked about the fourth game in an "18 years of Thief" video retrospective, November 2016

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"IMHO, Dagger of Ways is very underrated

SILVERMOON DUSK: I know there's been plenty of threads discussing where and how the fourth game fits in the series and whether it doesn't spoil it. As much as I didn't want to start a new thread, I couldn't find one on this exact topic, so I've decided to launch this discussion. I know this is an unpopular opinion, but I really like the fourth game.

GARRETTtheSNEAKSIE: Sigh. This again ? I think you forgot 'Oh yeah, I went there.' as a follow-up to your last sentence.

PYLON ZANE: Blasphemy. No. Beyond blasphemy...

IDA: Now, now, PZ. Calm down, old boy. Everyone's entitled to their opinion.

PYLON ZANE: Unless they're entertainingly wrong.

TJR4: The fourth one is... something else. Literally. So different to the original three, that it might as well had been a completely new series. Why make it Thief 4 at all ? Reboot, sequel... At least the bean counters at Eidos should have made up their minds on what it's supposed to be. On the other hand, ignoring the title and all the setting changes, it's a pretty good game. You can feel a bit of a spiritual successor in it. It's flawed, obviously, and it's clear Eidos just wanted to rush it out and forget about it after a while... No wonder it mostly tanked.

PYLON ZANE: Yet you get people who say it's some misunderstood cult classic now ! Gimme a break. The fourth one is just a lame World of Darkness or Max Payne knockoff for emos. Deal with it. Ion Storm screwed it up, big time. To me, that installment does not exist. No one asked for it anyway.

OBJECTIVE RESULT: Well, genre-wise, it is closer to survival horror, compared to the first three. Admittedly, the Cradle in TDS was already a tense horror piece par excellence, but in the fourth, Thomas really found an outlet for his horror ideas.

PYLON ZANE: And that's the exact issue ! Thief can be scary, yes. But making it into another bit of dark urban fantasy ?! Lame.

IDA: Jeez, PZ... *facepalm*

OBJECTIVE RESULT: Hey, at least they put genuine effort into the art design and most of the mechanics, I'll give them that. It's a better looking urban fantasy horror... thing... than most other games that've attempted the same. Like the first three games, it takes well-trodden premises, but it has plenty of fun ideas on how to bring them all together and elevate them into something unique. Speaking for myself, aside from some of the minor tech issues, I found it a very enjoyable game. Quite different from TDP, TMA and TDS in style, but still with plenty of highly atmospheric stealth.

PYLON ZANE: I think the only enjoyment that installment brought me was the fact that Ion Storm finally popped their clogs afterward !"

- discussion thread in the Thief section of the ThroughTheLookingGlass.com fan forums, September 2009
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