Gloomwood - Gameplay From the Great Hope of Thief Fans
Extensive gameplay from Gloomwood, a stealth game inspired by the first two installments of the Thief series, has hit the web. This is a rare case of a game from E3 2021 where pure gameplay was shown and it looks very promising.
- Developer: Dillon Rogers and David Szymanski
- Publisher: New Blood Interactive
- Genre: action game
- Platform: PC
- Release Date: hopefully as soon as possible
Yesterday, we've seen PC Gamer's presentation at E3 2021. A short part of it was devoted to games from New Blood Interactive's offer. The publisher was given only 90 seconds to present its productions, but after that, an extensive gameplay from Gloomwood, the company's most interesting upcoming title, was released on the web.
One of the editors of PC Gamer called this project the best game he saw at E3 2021 and this is an opinion with which I fully agree. Gameplay shows that Gloomwood has a good chance of winning the hearts of more than just fans of the first two installments of the Thief series (the main inspiration for the devs), but also fans of stealth and immersive sim genre in general.
Instead of wasting time on cinematic trailers, the footage from Gloomwood simply shows five minutes of uninterrupted gameplay. Inspiration with Thief is obvious, but this is not just a simple clone. The game has its own identity and a lot of unique features, such as the presence of firearms and the promising inventory system, in which the character opens a large suitcase on the floor without pausing the game, and we have to pull things out of it and manipulate items, all the while being careful not to be seen by enemies.
Additionally, the gameplay showed a lot of progress that has been made since last year's demo. The visuals are noticeably prettier. It still presents a graphical style modeled on Dark Engine (technology that powered, among others. Thief 1-2 and System Shock 2), but the lighting has been improved, and the maps are noticeably more interactive than in the demo.
I won't try to convince you that Gloomwood will become a huge bestseller, but it could be a real treat for fans of Thief. I also hope that it will be successful and will be one of the titles that will start a renaissance of the immersive sim genre. High production costs practically killed this category among AAA games (that's why there's no chance for new installments of Dishonored or Deus Ex), but indie developers have a chance to fill the gap.
Unfortunately, we still don't know when Gloomwood will debut on the market. Chief designer Dillon Rogers promises, however, that we should soon see a lot of new footage from the game.
