Yes, Garrett no longer sports a sword, dagger, or any weapon other than his blackjack and bow.
Combat, when it happens, is very different and more tactical because you have to time you blackjack hits to stun your opponent between swings. If done correctly you can actually prevent your enemy from swinging his blade, wear him down enough and you can perform an instant takedown as he kneels before you. The takedown, however, is very risky if there are other enemies around; further pushing the notion that you ought to avoid combat entirely and if it's unavoidable try to keep it one on one.
Assassin's Creed is the epitome of context-sensitive traversal. You hold down the trigger/shift and your character automatically traverses and interacts with the environment. How often are you manually jumping in AC games? It's extremely rare. The character will react to the situation depending on what the context is: scale a wall, hop a fence, jump across gaps, roll under obstacles, leap of faith, etc.
Thief 2014 definitely feels like a branch out of Ion Storm's Deadly Shadow's but I think that's more likely because of the contemporary gameplay mechanics and controls. The old Thief games feel quite dated, not just visually but gameplay-wise as well. The controls feel very clunky and at one point they were keyboard-only too. We've made some large leaps since 1998 in control schemes norms and gameplay mechanics.
EDIT:
By the way, I forgot to mention. This is not a reboot at all. It's a direct sequel. Garrett already has his mech-eye and his apprentice is all grown up. If you saw the ending of Deadly Shadows you know he caught a little girl trying to pickpocket him, and says "It's no easy thing to see a Keeper, especially one who does not wish to be seen." A direct analogue to how he was noticed by Keeper Artemus.
Yes, Garrett no longer sports a sword, dagger, or any weapon other than his blackjack and bow.
That sounds like that'll force you to rely on stealth WAY more than ever before.
Combat, when it happens, is very different and more tactical because you have to time you blackjack hits to stun your opponent between swings. If done correctly you can actually prevent your enemy from swinging his blade, wear him down enough and you can perform an instant takedown as he kneels before you. The takedown, however, is very risky if there are other enemies around; further pushing the notion that you ought to avoid combat entirely and if it's unavoidable try to keep it one on one.
That's cool that there's a drawback to using this move - as again, it also kind of forces you to be smart and rely more on stealth.
Thief 2014 definitely feels like a branch out of Ion Storm's Deadly Shadow's but I think that's more likely because of the contemporary gameplay mechanics and controls. The old Thief games feel quite dated, not just visually but gameplay-wise as well. The controls feel very clunky and at one point they were keyboard-only too. We've made some large leaps since 1998 in control schemes norms and gameplay mechanics.
Has The City evolved much? Will we see similar areas, environments, and even characters from Deadly Shadows here?
EDIT:
By the way, I forgot to mention. This is not a reboot at all. It's a direct sequel. Garrett already has his mech-eye and his apprentice is all grown up. If you saw the ending of Deadly Shadows you know he caught a little girl trying to pickpocket him, and says "It's no easy thing to see a Keeper, especially one who does not wish to be seen." A direct analogue to how he was noticed by Keeper Artemus.
Oh, snap - so, why the heck is it called just plain old "Thief", if it's really Thief 4?
Are they making trying to make this sound and look like a reboot, for the console gamers or something - who might not have played Thief 1, 2 (PC-only); though maybe did play Thief 3 (it was on consoles)?
Hell, they could've given it a sub-title or something - like they did w/ the previous title (Thief: Deadly Shadows).
It sounds like players really should play Deadly Shadows at least, w/ you saying it's a direct sequel.
About the time-frame and all w/...
...Garrett and the girl - so exactly how many years later is this all taking place?