Thief 4 has online, runs on Unreal Engine 3?

By Tom Phillips Published 17 January, 2012

Developer CVs pillaged for clues.

Eidos Montreal's firmly-under-wraps Thief 4 will feature online capabilities and run on Unreal Engine 3, according to freshly uncovered developer resumes.

CVs of Thief 4 workers uncovered on networking service LinkedIn were posted on NeoGAF, and duly dissected.

One resume belonged to Colas Fievet, an online programmer for the game. His duties from August 2009, to December 2010, included "networking, gameplay, debugging", plus "online and offline tools on Thief 4".

Thief 4 would be the first in the series to feature any kind of online play, oh em gee.

Multiple CVs referenced Thief 4 running on Unreal Engine 3, despite Eidos Montreal having favoured the Tomb Raider engine for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.

Nevertheless, Thief: Deadly Shadows ran on Unreal Engine 2.

Other information gleaned included mention of "shops, escape gates, public zones", and that the game will include a "hub".

There's a question mark over the information's relevance, however, as some CVs belong to artists who have long since left the project.

Edios Montreal originally announced Thief 4 back in 2009, and cautioned that a release was still a long way off.

"We're in the early development stages for Thief 4, but this is an incredibly ambitious project and a very exciting one," Eidos general manager Stephane D'Astous said. "It's too early for us to offer any specific game details."

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About Tom Phillips

Tom joined Eurogamer in 2010 and has quickly made his mark writing news and columns and coming up with puntastic straplines. Questionable beard. @TomPhillips151 on Twitter.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Phillips archive page.

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Comments (20) Latest comment 4 months ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • jetsetwillie #1 4 months ago

    ooooh 'has online' im sure the weirdo's won't like that.

  • Farzlepot #2 4 months ago

    "Thief 4 will feature online capabilities"

    Why?

  • pigsy2400 #3 4 months ago

    it will only be 'Online' in the capacity of the missions being available from a 'Time Trial' Menu,...see who can complete sneak or robbery missions in the quickest time,..nothing more..

  • hiddenranbir #4 4 months ago

    Ugghhh.


    I loved the isolated feel of Thief. Now I'm worried some SP mechanics will be pacier for when it translates to MP.


    Depending on what the MP is...

  • bratmandu #5 4 months ago

    'Escape gates' suggests an Assassin's Creed style multiplayer. Ask anyone whose played AC multiplayer and you'll discover that's no bad thing. I just hope that for mp, they focus on 1 or two modes and do them well, instead of having several novelty modes that split the online user base and make finding a game difficult - a la AC:B and AC:R.

    As long as there's a strong single player element, mp is fine with me (before you say that I don't get the Thief series - I've been playing Thief games to the death since day 1, I believe that Thief 2 is the finest stealth game of all time and there have been no, NO decent stealth games since, with maybe the exception of Hitman 2 - though it's a different kettle of fish and not really comparable).

  • Darren #6 4 months ago

    A game set in medieval times which has you sneaking around in shadows AVOIDING other people has an online mode? I wonder how that will work? Would it be similar to Splinter Cell's online modes minus all the modern gadgetry? I'm mildly curious but not really that interested in it to be honest; I'm far more interested in the single player and hope that will be up to scratch as Thief: Deadly Shadows was really good. It's about time we had a sequel.

  • Evil_Badger #7 4 months ago

    It will feature "online capabilities" so they can sell you lazy DLC and online passes.

  • kangarootoo #8 4 months ago

    Of course there will be online elements. Its 2012, not 1992. I for one am glad we are seeing a sequel, and I'll hold my judgement until there is even the barest of details to go on. The word "online" is not enough on which to base an opinion of any sort.

  • Triggerhappytel #9 4 months ago

    "Edios Montreal originally announced Thief 4 back in 2009"

    Did they? Never heard of them.

  • GiarcYekrub #10 4 months ago

    "That last tweet reminded me how badly Thief needs to return. Who owns the rights to that franchise now?!" Cliff Bleszinski 2 weeks ago

  • octavedoctor #11 4 months ago

    "oh em gee" you should be shot right there for even pretending to say that out loud!

  • TeaFiend #12 4 months ago

    If online is at least as fun as the Thievery mod for UT, I am totally on board. If you are doubting online being good, try that. Team of thieves sneak into area to nick treasure/achieve objective. Team of guards to stop. Thieves get mad bonuses for not killing.

  • man.the.king #13 4 months ago

    I don't know about UE3 - for the most part, it has turned out to be a single-console-platform engine, not a multi-platform one.

    As far as consoles are concerned, you could remove the 'Unreal' with 'XBox' and it would probably be a more realistic name for the engine.

  • Mockerre #14 4 months ago

    Yup, if it's like Thievery, it'll be a great MP experience.

  • Wyrm #15 4 months ago

    Avid Thief fan here, everyone shaking their head at MP, it could work BRILLIANTLY if done right. Two thieves trying to steal the same object or work together? Could be amazing. Of course the single-player is king, but MP should be experimented with.

    Having said all that, I was most unimpressed with many aspects of Deus Ex: Human Resources, so I won't hold my breath on this one being perfect either.

  • FortysixterUK #16 4 months ago

    There hasn't been a bad thief game yet, this will be a day 1 purchase.....

  • ro-kurorai #17 4 months ago

    Very simple then: no PS3 purchase for me (UE3). Maybe on Steam though, for the SP-campaign.

  • CrispyLog #18 4 months ago

    Demon/Dark Souls style online capabilities?

  • peppergomez #19 4 months ago

    Taffer

  • pigsy2400 #20 4 months ago

    would it surprise people if Theif returned in total different setting?
    Imagine a Blade Runner kind of setting,. 3 games in, has the 'Taffer' been done too much already!