Updated Thief impressions:
I'm enjoying this game. As I mentioned before, it feels a lot like Dishonored without the super powers. I definitely miss the blink ability, but this game is generous enough with giving you enough time to slip away before a guard fully sees you and raises the alarm that it's rarely frustrating. The quick save/load feature helps as well.
I an actually very surprised by how big this game feels. I got to the first "open world" area of the game and thought that was going to be the entire hub world (it wasn't all that big), but then after the first chapter I encountered two additional hub areas. These are the areas that you can traverse between the more linear story missions, and you can pick up additional smaller jobs as well to hit along the way in addition to just finding random loot or stealing from guards. It's pretty well-designed and there seem to be a ton of side missions (I received four after the prologue and six more after chapter one), so there's no lack of content. I've played for almost five hours and haven't even hit the second story mission yet.
Visually, the game is great. Shadows look fantastic, as does fire. The first chapter takes place in a converted foundry that is now being used to loot and burn the bodies of plague victims, and there is a haze of ash in the air at all times. It really looks incredible. Character models and animations aren't quite as impressive, but are serviceable. Admittedly I am still early in the game, but the level design is generally solid, and there are often multiple paths through each area (depending on whether or not you've got the right tools, which can be purchased throughout the game).
The worst sin of this game is still the damned space bar. I'm never 100% sure which jumps the game will let me make, and this can lead to confusion. Sometimes I want to jump from one ledge to another, but instead Garrett leaps down to the ground, occasionally right in front of a guard (quick load time!). It's just really poorly implemented, and I have no idea why there wouldn't be a jump button in a game like this where you spend half your time sneaking around rooftops. It's not game-breaking, but it is highly annoying.
The story, as of right now, hasn't really gone anywhere. In the prologue, Baron Northcrest (the evil overlord of The City in the game) tries to summon some sort of demon or god or some such, Garrett's apprentice (or whoever) screws up and gets herself killed, and Garrett finds himself waking up a year later having no idea what has happened in the interim. There's now a plague ravaging the city (surely a result of the failed summoning in the prologue) and shit has hit the fan. That's about the extent of it so far, and from all the reviews I've read it never really makes a ton of sense. We'll see.
I'm at the point now where I feel I can recommend the game. If you liked Dishonored, I feel like you'll like Thief. The art style and even story are similar, and the gameplay, provided you went stealth, is pretty identical as well. It's not as good as Dishonored, but really, not a lot of games are. Dishonored was brilliant, and one of the best games I've played in years.
