Exploring Stealth Mechanics and Game Design Challenges

In 1998, Looking Glass Studios released THIEF: THE DARK PROJECT, an unprecedentedly immersive and technically impressive first-person stealth simulator. Two years later, they followed it up with their masterpiece, THIEF 2: THE METAL AGE. After hounding Brian and A.J. to talk about this one for years, Josh finally got his wish. Plus, we got Jay Anthony Franke back to voice JC Denton for the interstitial. Thanks for sticking with us for 200 episodes and here’s to 200 more.

Jay Anthony Franke - Cameo // Instagram

Media Referenced in the Episode:

• Thief II. Looking Glass. 2000.
• Ahead of its time: The history of Looking Glass by Mike Mahardy. Polygon. April 6th, 2015.
• How Thief's Stealth System Almost Didn't Work | War Stories by Ars Technica. February 20th, 2018.
• The Story of Thief & Looking Glass Studios by Noclip. August 10th, 2021.
• Thief-TheCircle.com --- Thief II: The Metal Age Strategy Index
• Thief II - The Metal Age Walkthrough by Orgulo. Gamefaqs. July 5th, 2025
• Thief vs. AAA Gaming by Dom Giuca. March 16th, 2014.
• Through the Looking Glass Forums

TWOAPW theme by Brendan Dalton: Patreon // brendan-dalton.com // brendandalton.bandcamp.com

Interstitial: “The Pigeon Job” // Written by A.J. Ditty // Feat. Josh Boerman as “Garrett”, Brian Alford as “Benny”, A.J. Ditty as “Karras”, and Jay Anthony Franke as “Cramble Grenton.”