Supremcee on 3/10/2021 at 13:46
we had the pleasure to talk about Filcher with its developer Johan Hjärpe, also StealthDocs joined the discussion :)
[video=youtube_share;Fjy0nx8qn_A]https://youtu.be/Fjy0nx8qn_A[/video]
Twist on 3/10/2021 at 15:38
Quote Posted by henke
I'm playing this now, on mission 3. There are times when this really does bring back the ol' Thief vibes, but a lot of the time it's also just really frustrating. The lack of Quicksave really does hurt it. And the sliding mechanic is just a clunkier version of Thief 4's swoop. This last run I failed because I too ended up sliding into the back of a guard when I was just trying to crouch. This would play better with a separate swoop-button and having the crouch just work like regular crouch.
I hope you stick with it a little longer, because you really do acclimate. I had the same complaints, and in fact, early in my playing I posted about them in the Steam forum. I even created autohotkey scripts to invert run/walk and create a separate key for slide vs crouch-only.
But honestly, I found that as I played and learned the timing and feel of the different movement, I not only stopped using my autohotkey scripts, I started really loving the movement. When you get a feel for the sliding and how useful it can be, it starts to feel really slick.
But there is a little bit of a learning curve, and at first it did feel counterintuitive to me to have run as the default and instead of walk. (For people who haven't played: this matters because you only slide if you're running. If the default was set to Walk, you wouldn't accidentally slide as much because you'd have to press a key to Run before the crouch button would trigger sliding.)
Regarding saving: I know this is just a straight up disqualifier for some immersive sim fans and I doubt I can say anything to persuade them. And yeah, I can't deny the game would better if some kind of save system was available. But I've come to understand that creating an accurate save system in 3D immersive sims with a range of interactive objects in the level is much more difficult than players realize. I've seen a few indie developers struggle with it.
I think Thief fans could adapt and enjoy the high wire tension if they approached situations deliberately planning their actions with the understanding that they don't have a save to fall back on. When you enter an area or try something daring, have a backup plan! Don't default to giving up or panicking just because you've been seen or you've taken damage.
Filcher's tools and AI make the game much more forgiving, and thus much easier to recover from mistakes. Unlike in Thief, you can basically just break line of sight, then hide and wait a bit. The AI will completely reset to their default patrols and alert levels and you can try again.
For planning: where will you run and hide if you make a mistake? What tool will you use? Make sure you have your keybinds straight so you can quickly drop a flashbang or shoot a tranq dart when in a panic.
Anyways, I hope you stick with it, because I really think it'll grow on you.
Supremcee on 3/10/2021 at 17:55
Quote Posted by Twist
I hope you stick with it a little longer, because you really do acclimate. I had the same complaints, and in fact, early in my playing I posted about them in the Steam forum. I even created autohotkey scripts to invert run/walk and create a separate key for slide vs crouch-only.
But honestly, I found that as I played and learned the timing and feel of the different movement, I not only stopped using my autohotkey scripts, I started really loving the movement. When you get a feel for the sliding and how useful it can be, it starts to feel really slick.
But there is a little bit of a learning curve, and at first it did feel counterintuitive to me to have run as the default and instead of walk. (For people who haven't played: this matters because you only slide if you're running. If the default was set to Walk, you wouldn't accidentally slide as much because you'd have to press a key to Run before the crouch button would trigger sliding.)
Regarding saving: I know this is just a straight up disqualifier for some immersive sim fans and I doubt I can say anything to persuade them. And yeah, I can't deny the game would better if some kind of save system was available. But I've come to understand that creating an accurate save system in 3D immersive sims with a range of interactive objects in the level is much more difficult than players realize. I've seen a few indie developers struggle with it.
I think Thief fans could adapt and enjoy the high wire tension if they approached situations deliberately planning their actions with the understanding that they don't have a save to fall back on. When you enter an area or try something daring, have a backup plan! Don't default to giving up or panicking just because you've been seen or you've taken damage.
Filcher's tools and AI make the game much more forgiving, and thus much easier to recover from mistakes. Unlike in Thief, you can basically just break line of sight, then hide and wait a bit. The AI will completely reset to their default patrols and alert levels and you can try again.
For planning: where will you run and hide if you make a mistake? What tool will you use? Make sure you have your keybinds straight so you can quickly drop a flashbang or shoot a tranq dart when in a panic.
Anyways, I hope you stick with it, because I really think it'll grow on you.
I totally agree with this one! It took me a bit getting used to things but after you come over that - the game develops this addictive spiral and feels really great. I'm now finally close to the end and am pretty sad that its already over
Jashin on 5/10/2021 at 16:07
Ran the tutorial, the feel is on point. There's a lot of nuance to the game.
I'll be picking it up.
henke on 10/10/2021 at 14:52
Ok, finished it! Some of these later missions are pretty big. Took me 1h 7m to finish the last one, but I made it through on the first try. The previous one I died ~45min in and that kinda stung, manage to beat it on the 3rd try tho, which took me 23min. The lack of saves is really a double edged sword. It is annoying when you slip up and have to redo the whole thing, but it certainly makes things feel a lot more dangerous and thrilling on the other hand. And even if you don't make it through on the first try, each attempt you do learn something about the map layout and how to accomplish your objectives, which makes subsequent runs more focused.
I liked the story a lot! The comic-book cutscenes are very nice too.
The whole game took me 8.5h to play through, aaaand I guess I gotta recommend it! It sure feels a lot like Thief, but a few new twists keep it fresh.
edit: wrote a Steam review and I'd encourage anyone else who kinda liked it to do the same! Getting to 50 Steam reviews would get this a "Very Positive" rating, and get it more visibility in the Steam algorithm.