When comparing Thief Gold vs Hitman (2016), the Slant community recommends Hitman (2016) for most people. In the question“What are the best stealth games for PC?” Hitman (2016) is ranked 6th while Thief Gold is ranked 11th. The most important reason people chose Hitman (2016) is:
The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Rich atmosphere
Thief is set in a fascinating world, rich with its own history and lore. An early conversation in the game features guards talking about betting on bear fights. The game's multiple factions each have their own unique histories and personality as well. A player can learn much about Thief's world just by exploring its streets and listening to the sounds of the city.
Pro Sound design enhance stealth gameplay
One of Thief's grandest achievements is its dedication to sound design as a means of stealth gameplay; other stealth games are often set in the third person perspective, allowing players to swing cameras around corners, cheating their way through a level. Thief instead emphasizes sound. Walk on a marble floor or metal grate, and you're likely to make some noise. Creep across a carpet, and you'll be quieter. This works for the guards as well, so you can listen for them pacing on the other side of a doorway, but watch out! If there's carpet on the other side, you might not hear them coming. Thief uses this mechanic in a wide variety of ways; you can use arrows that sprout beds of moss to avoid detection, for instance.
Pro Basically a "directors cut"
Updated to support full HD, Thief Gold is the classic game thief remastered to support modern hardware. It also features additional levels that were not in the original game.
Pro Tons of choice
The game's six levels are all big sandboxes that allow players to complete their tasks in any way they see fit. This allows players a great deal of freedom in experimentation and the customization of play style. One of the earliest assassinations in the game can be achieved through the manipulation of a chess board, sabotaging the ejection seat of a fighter jet, or faking a radio call, among other things. Hitman provides a strong context for the player's actions, but there is no wrong way to play, so long as you get the target.
Pro Hiding in plain sight is intuitive
The game allows for players to easily hide in plain sight through a disguise system, like dressing up as a model at a fashion show, which gives the player access to anywhere they might want to go. This is expanded upon by having a helpful hint system for those who are unfamiliar with its intricacies.
Pro Replayability through escalations, contracts, challenges, and masteries
Once the main level and objective is complete, players can move on to escalation missions or player-created contracts. Escalation missions remix the maps, giving players new targets to complete in the same maps. Paris features 17 escalations, Sapienza has 9, and the other missions have some as well. More are being added all the time. Escalations are unusual in that they feature specific constraints, such as specific uniforms that must be worn, or specific methods of assassination. This increases the difficulty, but it's a great to expand each episode. The player contracts are similar, but this game mode allows the player to choose who their target is and what constraints to put in place, making for an endless list of possibilities in a particular level. Each level also features 20 'Mastery' levels, which unlock tools and insertion locations that expand the way the level can be played. Hitman is a game built to be replayed.
Pro Interactive environments
More so than previous games in the series, Hitman has many objects that can be tampered or interacted with. Nearly any problem the player faces can be solved by using the game's many interactive objects. For players unsure where to start, the challenge system offers a wide variety of hints. For instance, the optional challenges for the first training level include one where the player must disguise himself as a special character who is scheduled to meet the target and another where the target can be given rat poison at the bar.
Cons
Con A really messed up dark story that just makes you not want to play the game at all
Con Default controls are not great
Before beginning the game, the user will most likely want to to change the default controls, which predate the normal WASD control scheme, using some strange bindings that may not make sense to modern users.
Con DRM issues
While playing single player, if the player loses connection to the game's servers (through their own internet going down or the servers going down) the game will boot the player back to the start screen, meaning any advancement made in the game will be lost. To see this happen in single-player is concerning, as there is no reason for the single-player experience to take place online.
The game features frequent online updates, limited-time event assassinations, and other features that benefit from an online connection, but players cannot opt out of these features if they simply wish to play the single-player campaign.
Con First chapter does not offer a ton of content
Much of the content in the first chapter are a bunch of training levels that are represented as being done on a set of some kind, giving a feeling of not being real. The problem here is that there is little in the way of giving a feeling of wanting to revisit these training levels, which drastically cuts down on the playable content in this chapter.