Thief XP System Removed Due to Negative Feedback

Eidos Montreal's new Thief game will not have its much maligned XP system shown off during the game's E3 demonstration. Game Director Nic Cantin and Lead Level Designer Daniel Windfeld Schmidt took to Eidos Montreal's blog to make the announcement.

"At first, we wanted to outline the progression of the player with XP, but it was reducing our motivation to steal," said Cantin. "The main goal of a thief should be to gain loot. Garrett is already the Master Thief, so we saw no need to have XP as a core mechanic."

Schmidt added: "We wanted to put emphasis on stealing things, and put the rewards on the stealing aspect. We want to allow the player to decide the "how to" – we shouldn't judge how the player wants to achieve their goal, only reward them for achieving it."

Both Cantin and Schmidt also commented on the negative fan reaction towards the XP system, saying that the feedback played a big role in making this decision.

"Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the 'real world'," said Schmidt. "This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions."

Cantin commented further by saying: "It is more a design decision to add to our economy system and entice the player to steal more. But yes, the E3 reaction was right, rewarding killing like that was wrong for a Master Thief."

In place of XP, gold acquired through thievery will be used to buy elements to progress. The player can choose between stealthier or more aggressive tools. It will still be possible to beat the game without killing anyone or spending any coins, though that will be a much tougher task.