Mountains of lofty expectations and nostalgia-drenched skepticism fell upon the Thief reboot as soon as it was unveiled. Eidos Montreal's upcoming stealth-em-up will attempt to revitalize the lauded PC franchise that last saw an entry in 2004. So far, Tom is among the skeptical due to various deviations from the classic games, among other problems. However, one of the design elements not part of the original series will no longer be present in this iteration.
In a Q&A on Eidos Montreal's community site , Game Director Nic Cantin and Lead Level Designer Daniel Windfeld Schmidt detailed why they ditched the XP system.
"At first, we wanted to outline the progression of the player with XP," said Cantin, "but it was reducing our motivation to steal." Since Thief is about, well, a thief and stealing, Cantin believes that an XP system didn't gel with that philosophy. Fan reaction to the E3 video with headshot XP rewarding the player for kills also didn't played a factor.
"But yes, the E3 reaction was right, rewarding killing like that was wrong for a Master Thief."
Eidos Montreal's previous reboot of a beloved franchise, the sublime Deus Ex: Human Revolution, utilized XP as a game mechanic, but it was a full-fledged RPG, whereas the Thief franchise is purely stealth-oriented. This is also not the same team as Human Revolution's, but it is learning from Human Revolution —except regarding boss fights, we hope.
