Thick As Thieves Review — A Scrappy, Promising Co-op Stealth Heist
A down-to-earth look at OtherSide's compact stealth heist: great ideas, two maps, wonky timers and a $5 price that makes a lot forgivable — especially with a buddy.
I went into Thick As Thieves with a warm, slightly suspicious heart — Warren Spector’s name on the credits carries weight, and the game’s journey from PvPvE concept to pure coop/solo release left a lot of players jittery. On Windows, for the price of a cheap lunch you get two playable thieves, a handful of gadgets and enough clever level design to make a few tense runs worthwhile. It’s not a finished spiritual successor to Thief or Dishonored, but it does deliver satisfying sneaks, goofy guard moments and a clear foundation. If you enjoy quick heist runs and the occasional frantic eight-minute dash for the exit, this will scratch an itch — just don’t expect a full-length blockbuster yet.
Heists in the Shadows of Kilcairn
Gameplay centers on short, focused heists across two sizeable maps in the alternate-1910s city of Kilcairn. You play as one of two thieves — the Spider with a grappling hook and mobility tricks, or the Chameleon who can briefly masquerade as NPCs — and you approach objectives by sneaking, distracting or using gizmos. Runs are contract-based: three mission types and 16 contracts in a compact campaign that rewards improvisation rather than grind. Movement is deliberate: crouch-walking, peeking around corners and timing your pushes feels tactile, and the grappling hook’s crank-reload (you can’t spam it) is a neat design choice that prevents trivial traversal. A strict timer mechanic — short windows and an eight-minute extraction countdown after main-objectives — turns exploration into a puzzle of priorities. In practice I loved the tense sprints to the exit and the breath-holding when a guard rounds the corner, but the same timer can feel arbitrary if you prefer slow, methodical infiltration.
Tools, Tricks and the Smoke Loop
The gadget suite is compact and characterful: Slithersap to short-circuit lights, a Pickpocket Fairy for remote switches, smoke bombs to break line-of-sight and the so-called gem that highlights enemies and loot through walls. That gem is a double-edged sword — incredibly useful, and in some runs it trivialized searching because you could just toggle it and see everything. Smoke grenades are another funny example: effective to the point of being a get-out-of-jail tool for most confrontations, which makes other gadgets feel redundant at times. The Hauntables — ghost-guards that can phase through walls — are a nice twist, creating pressure in hiding spots where you’d otherwise be safe. I appreciated that guards have personality in their chatter and patrols, but AI sometimes has odd blindspots and a short memory, which can turn tense snowball chases into anticlimactic resets.
Kilcairn's Look and Performance
Visually the game leans painterly and colorful, closer to Dishonored’s stylized mood than gritty realism. Lighting and composition give rooms character (I’ll happily admit I spent longer than necessary admiring a crooked chandelier), and the sound design — guard quips, distant bells, soft footsteps — does heavy lifting for atmosphere. At launch, players flagged missing QoL options (no key-rebinds, limited FOV and sensitivity controls) and some motion blur issues; to their credit the devs moved fast on patches for many of those complaints. Still, there are occasional janky moments: clipping, odd pathing and a few bugs where guards behave strangely or treasure placement feels arbitrary. Performance on my Windows rig was generally stable, but the title’s polish is uneven: great in spots, rough in others, which matches the impression of a game that has strong bones but needs more content and iteration.
Thick As Thieves is a scrappy, likable heist game with clear potential. It nails core stealth loops and co-op tension in short bursts, but it’s hamstrung by limited maps, balance quirks (smoke/diamond) and launch-era QoL holes. For the low price and the joy of a few tense runs with a friend, it’s an easy recommendation — provided you understand you’re buying into a foundation to be grown, not a finished masterpiece.
Pros
- Tight, tense stealth loops that reward improvisation
- Great value for the price—fun several hours solo or with a friend
- Distinct gadget set and characters (Spider vs Chameleon) with interesting trade-offs
- Artful level design and a charming, painterly aesthetic
Cons
- Very limited content at launch — only two main maps
- Some QoL issues and technical jank remained at release
- Smoke and the gem can trivialize challenges; balance needs work
Player Opinion
Players praise the core stealth feel and the co-op moments — many reviewers said the maps are well designed and the gadgets are fun to experiment with. Consistent criticisms repeat: the game feels like a remnant of a PvPvE project (features that no longer make sense), the lack of keybinding/FOV options at launch, and the low amount of content (two maps, repeatable contracts). Community threads often call the price a saving grace — for $5 people are willing to forgive rough edges — but many ask for clearer UI, more maps, better enemy AI and to tone down the smoke/gem dominance. If you like tense Dishonored/Thief-style stealth and short, repeatable heists with a friend, you’ll probably enjoy Thick As Thieves; if you want large, narrative-driven immersive sims, wait for more content.