Thief 3 opens with a tip from your fence; within the walls of an inn there is a valuable bauble; and as your task draws near a close, you fall upon a conversation, in which a large and valuable object is mentioned, an opal carried by a noble family for generations. While this does not truly begin the story, a chain of events laid into motion after this training sequence does. As you bring the opal forth into the storefront of your fence, he gives you a curious note about a shadowed meeting in the bowels of the night. From here, you will receive your first true mission; a somewhat daunting one that will set into motion a chain of events that will unravel time and prophecy.

The story is truly a strong part of Thief 3: Deadly Shadows – a tale of myriad conspiracy and twist; running in a full circle before a harrowing conclusion; an unexpected twist throwing you totally off when the truths you know were so easily fed to you. Yet, the interesting part to the story is that, in essence, you have no control over the outcome! You do have the option to work for two different factions through the course of the game (technically three, but the Keepers don’t count). While doing the menial tasks that these two groups lay out for you really does help you in the end, you can simply avoid all of it by being stealthy, and thus never bothering them. However, it is quite easy to get on good terms with both of them, especially since it’s just part of your job in some missions.