Next-Gen Face-Off: Thief

[Administrator]

Better late than never, Eidos Montreal's rebooted Thief has been lying in wait since as early as 2008, where multiple redesigns and staff switch-ups have cast a shadow over its eventual quality. Our behind-doors preview of the game at E3 2013 showed a solid Unreal Engine 3 stealth title running at 1080p30 on PS4 - albeit with detailing and effects-work reminiscent of a last-gen title. But with the retail codes of Xbox One, PS4 and PC versions to hand, we see that this is the least of the game's problems.
In the spirit of openness among developers as of late, the studio has already declared in advance that the game is running at a full 1920x1080 on PS4, while the Microsoft next-gen release runs at 1600x900 - a state of affairs confirmed by our own pixel count. However, due to the use of high quality FXAA post-processing on both platforms, the dropped pixel tally isn't a major point of differentiation. Bird cages shimmer, while hair and fur shaders show up aliasing artefacts to a more notable degree on Xbox One in motion - but they are also an issue on PS4 and PC too. But for the rest of Garrett's clambering across The City, Thief's base image is neatly presented regardless of platform.
For a showcase of how close it gets, check out the extensive comparison gallery, and the videos below. We also put the next-gen versions side-by-side with the lead PC release on maximum settings, where the turnout is also very respectable. For perspective, the PC version runs here at 1080p with textures and shadows at very high, with extra tricks such as tessellation and parallax occlusion mapping (POM) enabled - plus FXAA and SSAA to treat any rough edges.
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