Thief devs: We had to dumb the AI down

Earlier builds of upcoming Thief originally had AI that was so intelligent the engineers had to dumb it down so that players stood a chance.

That's according to game director Nic Cantin, who claims that guards were too realistic and they'd find protagonist Garrett without much trouble.

For the sake of keeping Thief a fun experience, the engineers had to tone things down slightly.

"The engineers were very proud," Cantin told ArabicGamers. "With the AI they did something that was really good, but when you were trying to distract a guard in that direction for example, they were so intelligent he'd anticipate you and find you and there'd be a big fight.

"So it was too realistic at some points and we had to balance those elements and spend a lot of time with AI to make sure there is no anticipation.

"It's not about being hyper-realistic, it's about being credible but it's still a game."

Lead level designer Daniel Windfield Schmidt said players would have to make use of the shadows to trick guards.

"This is where we also encourage the player to stay in the shadows," he added.

"So guards don't see as far as you because they can't see as well as you. This is about being Garrett, and how you see the world.

"So we wanted to have it where you could be right next to guards in the shadows but as long as you don't move then they can't see you, but they sense movement like real humans do."

"We didn't want for you to be completely safe [in shadow], but for you to be safer," concluded Cantin.

Thief will be released at the end of the month on Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.