Year: 1998
Type: Original Soundtrack (OST)
Composer(s): Terri Brosius
Number of tracks: 23

★★★★★

Robbed time

If a game defines or even establishes an entire genre, it must inevitably be good. I certainly didn't invent this thesis, which is difficult to verify, but I do believe it to be a generally accepted truth. In this respect, the Thief-series is like world wars: Only very few people remember the original, the sequels were more extensive and the traces can still be seen today.

Personally, I've only played the third game, Thief: Deadly Shadowss, and the botched reboot Thief from 2014, so I can't say anything about the quality of the granddaddy - except that, unlike World War, I'm very glad it existed. Because stealth games have always held a certain fascination for me. Darting through the shadows, evading or eliminating guards, the thrill of the chase - when done well, it's pure gaming fun. Now this passion clashes with my other passion, which is why I plaster this website with reviews: soundtracks.

Music can create a mood like almost no other medium. Good vibes, action, horror, suspense and relaxation. In stealth games, it usually holds back, as we have to hear every little movement, even the slightest crunch right behind us. And if it does come into play, it is usually as a subtle background noise. That may be fine in the game, but less so when it's detached from it. This problem applies particularly to The Dark Project . The composition by Terri Brosius is well done. Each track builds up its own atmosphere and the additional effects such as water droplets, siren-like reverb (“Intro - Thief: The Dark Project”) or the whistling of the wind (“Break from Cragscleft Prison”) are particularly impressive for 1998.

Smaller experiments such as a slip into the psychedelic (“A Woman Named Victoria”) loosen up the ever-same cabinet of horrors of the gloomy and distressing. We also get to hear a few heavy metal references from time to time (“Intro - Thief: The Dark Project”, “Credits”), which fit perfectly into the steampunk universe and are reminiscent of series such as Batman Beyond . Nevertheless, the soundtrack is not worth listening to, because you won't find any killer tracks or catchy tunes.

Nr.	Title	Interpret(en)	Ratings
01	I Was a Kid Running Messages	Terri Brosius	2
02	Intro - Thief: The Dark Project	Terri Brosius	4
03	Lord Bafford's Manor	Terri Brosius	1
04	From the Hammer Book of Tenets	Terri Brosius	1
05	Break from Cragscleft Prison	Terri Brosius	1
06	Down Into the Bonehoard	Terri Brosius	1
07	Assassins	Terri Brosius	2
08	The Downwind Thieves' Guild	Terri Brosius	2
09	A Woman Named Victoria	Terri Brosius	2
10	The Sword	Terri Brosius	1
11	The Haunted Cathedral	Terri Brosius	1
12	The Mage Towers	Terri Brosius	2
13	The Lost City	Terri Brosius	1
14	The Song of the Caverns	Terri Brosius	1
15	Undercover	Terri Brosius	1
16	The Eye	Terri Brosius	2
17	Return to the Cathedral	Terri Brosius	1
18	Escape!	Terri Brosius	1
19	The Trickster Is Real After All	Terri Brosius	1
20	Strange Bedfellows	Terri Brosius	1
21	Into the Maw of Chaos	Terri Brosius	1
22	I Just Saved the World	Terri Brosius	2
23	Credits	Terri Brosius	3