Warren Spector's Thick as Thieves is an intriguing multiplayer immersive sim with Dishonored vibes

Thief: The Dark Project director helming.

If you yearn for the comforts of a dank cobbled street and the allure of a shadowy, smog-swathed corner; if memories of a youth spent surveying the city from soot-stained rooftops have you all misty eyed, then you're either a 19th century street urchin or grew up in the company of Looking Glass Technology's seminal stealth classic Thief - or perhaps even Arkane Studios' spiritual successor Dishonored. In all cases, Thick of Thieves, from Warren Spector's OtherSide Entertainment, might be exactly what you're looking for.

To get right to it, Thick of Thieves is, essentially, multiplayer Dishonored that's been streamlined to accommodate relatively brisk bouts of competitive infiltration. It all unfolds in an alternate-history metropolis loosely evocative of Dishonored's Dunwall, where technology and magic combine, where portly guards patrol regular beats, and where rooftops and sewer tunnels are as viable thoroughfares as its rain-soaked streets and squalid alleyways.

In this "deeply simulated world" of stealthy opportunities, as OtherSide puts it, players adopt one of three roles - The Hood, The Spider, and The Chameleon - as they begin their career as a thief for hire. Each character has a core set of distinctive abilities that can upgraded, expanded, and augmented with gear as players progress through their own "personal storyline". And that's done by taking missions in which multiple players - operating as lone agents - enter the city in order to reach their designated target, swipe the loot, and get out alive.

While Thick of Thieves is undoubtedly multiplayer focused, OtherSide talks about it more as an extension of the classic immersive sim, taken to its "next step" - and, in that regard, the project is in good hands. Spector - who's overseen genre classics from System Shock to Deus Ex - is onboard as chief creative officer, while Thief: The Dark Project director Greg LoPiccolo is serving as director on Thick of Thieves, and David McDonough (previous of Firaxis) is design lead.

And ignoring the multiplayer stuff for a minute, there's plenty that should be tantalising to immersive sim fans. This is a game about players finding solutions to their own problems; of recognising a challenge, pausing and assessing the world, then making a plan and executing it using the tools at their disposal. And reaching a target is a suitably freeform affair, with players needing to plot their own route, pick locks, hijack alarms, bamboozle guards, silence civilians, hunt for clues, and generally use all their cunning to escape with their bag of loot.

But of course, it's not just NPC guards they have to worry about here; it's also their fellow human thieves - all making a beeline for the same target and creating a PvPvE "stealth action" experience with some intriguing potential. And the crucial thing to stress here is that confrontation is optional. If players want, they can deal with the threat of their fellow thieves directly and aggressively - trailing them, hunting them, ambushing them, stealing their stuff after knocking them out - or they can take the classically stealthy approach and just ghost their way in and out of a mission.

Image credit: OtherSide Entertainment

All this unfolds in an emergent world of roving guards and civilians, where major elements of missions can shift alongside smaller details - perhaps further shaken up by other players' action - in a way that's designed to keep things unpredictable. It's intriguing stuff with plenty of room for players to imprint their own personality and playstyle on the game's archetypal characters - although there are still plenty of questions to be answered at this relatively early juncture.

There's talk of factions and NPCs locked in power struggles around the city, with understanding the world - and the daily routines of its inhabitants - said to be vital. That would suggest there's an opportunity to explore and influence the city in some way, but a mission shown to press - in which players infiltrate an opulent mansion - was a quick, highly focused in-an-out, barely five minutes long. The immersive flexibility is certainly apparent - with players taking wildly diverging routes and deploying everything from poison darts to grappling hooks to complete the job - but the frantic dash for loot didn't suggest a lot of time to get much else done.

But with the game only at the pre-alpha stage, there's plenty OtherSide is still trying to figure out before Thick as Thieves launches on PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S in 2026. For instance, while players are undoubtedly solo agents with their own stories developing based on the missions they select - almost like a tabletop campaign unfolding over time - the studio says it's "intrigued by the possibilities of co-op or emergent coop". One thing's certain, though; Thick of Thieves is launching as a "premium plus" title rather than going down the free-to-play live-service route. All of which suggests Thick of Thieves is one to watch - even if you might need to squint a bit to catch it skulking through the shadows.