After powering by way of Nightdive’s very good System Shock Remake, former Trying Glass developer Marc Leblanc has returned to Twitch and YouTube to stream The Black Parade, a lauded mod that presents an interquel between the basic Trying Glass stealth video games, Thief: The Darkish Mission and Thief 2: The Metallic Age.
Thief modding is a kind of little universes all its personal, akin to different retro treasure troves just like the Doom and Quake scenes. Even nonetheless, the current 10-level marketing campaign The Black Parade is in a league of its personal, boasting totally enormous ranges, new voice appearing and devices, in addition to contemporary systemic interactions like home servants who will clear up your sound-dampening moss arrow surfaces or relight torches you have extinguished. YouTube reviewer MandaloreGaming argues it’d even characterize a brand new peak for the sequence all these years later.
LeBlanc is an trade veteran who labored on Trying Glass’ important video games like Thief and System Shock. His streamed longplay of the System Shock Remake options his ideas on Nightdive’s adjustments (he largely dug them) in addition to some ’90s growth struggle tales.
From the bounce in his first, abortive try at The Black Parade’s huge first degree, LeBlanc was impressed by the mod’s customized UI, noting that it might require some concerted digging and work: “Because the writer of the unique consumer interface code, I apologize for a way onerous that’s.”
In any other case, I gotta say I discovered it comforting that LeBlanc performs Thief like I do, which is to say he obtained caught a couple of instances, saved his recreation earlier than experimenting with knocking a civilian unconscious (I’ve by no means felt extra represented by somebody streaming a recreation), and flubbed a couple of tough leaping maneuvers whereas making an attempt to keep away from loud surfaces.
In a single amusing sequence, a viewer identified to LeBlanc that he was protecting his weapons drawn, making it simpler for enemies to identify him at nighttime, when this was a characteristic he’d helped implement himself all the best way again in 1998: “‘Placing away arrows makes you much less seen’—I wrote that code, I ought to know that!
“I do not keep in mind the particular code I wrote for that, however I do keep in mind creating that characteristic…that having your weapon out elevated your visibility.”
On the time of writing, LeBlanc’s YouTube VODs of his playthrough are effectively into mission 3 of The Black Parade, and you’ll comply with alongside your self through his Twitch and YouTube channels. If you wish to play the mod, it is obtainable on ModDB, whereas a replica of Thief’s definitive Gold version is just a buck on GOG proper now.