Bow from Thief, for silent kills. Genre-defining weapons – what every shooter needs

In the fourth installment of Thief, Garrett still shoots his unusual arrows.

Silent operation behind enemy lines is facilitated by silencers mounted to rifles and pistols. However, the bow is much more sophisticated and atmospheric, which has been experiencing a renaissance in FPS games for several years, both in the fantasy ones and those with the real world setting. Whether it's through some sentiment to John Rambo, or through a reference to Katniss Everdeen from Hunger Games – game developers have reinvented the features of a bow. Various types of them can be found in action RPGs (Skyrim), one powerful and better than any rifle is in the hands of Prophet in Crysis 3. The characters of Far Cry 3 and Far Cry 4 are running with their own bows, and there also is Far Cry: Primal on the horizon where, taking into account the so-called setting – this is the weapon we will use most often. It all started in 1998, when the iconic Thief hit the market. Playing the role of the thief Garrett, who, due to his profession, tried to be as undetected as possible. In order to operate stealthily, players got to use the bow.

The bow in FPS games is experiencing its true heyday.

Since then, a lot has changed, mainly in terms of precise aiming and the trajectory of the arrow itself. Some games try to realistically take into account changes in the trajectory along with the distance traveled. What has not changed, however, is the key role of ammunition. In nearly every game, we have more than just pointed end arrows at our disposal. There are always explosive or incendiary arrowheads. Good old Thief also brought in gems such as silenced, noisy, water-extinguishing, gas, incapacitating, or corded arrows to quickly reach another location. The role of a silent weapon in some first-person action games was also played by the crossbow, e.g. in Deus Ex, Half-Life, No One Lives Forever, but it was not as popular as the bow. One accurately released arrow to an unsuspecting enemy remains much more satisfying than a machine gun burst. When such a small and silent action as releasing the string is accompanied by a huge explosion at the end – the fun is enormous.