Garrett is coming back on December 3. Nightdive Studios and Atari have set the release date for Thief: The Dark Project Remastered, the KEX Engine rebuild of Looking Glass Studios' 1998 stealth game, and it lands on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2 and Switch on the same day. The Standard Edition costs $29.99 (£24.99 / €29.99), pre-orders are open now, and PS5 and Switch 2 owners who want something for the shelf will also be able to buy it on a physical disc and cartridge.
Prices and editions
There are two digital editions. The Standard Edition at $29.99 contains the game itself, which means the full twelve-mission Thief: The Dark Project campaign, the three extra missions from the 1999 Thief Gold re-release, and a brand-new four-mission story expansion called The Tarnished Mirror. The Digital Deluxe Edition at $34.99 adds the soundtrack, an in-game diary about how the remaster's artwork was rebuilt, and a preview of a novel based on the original game.
On PC the game is sold through Steam, the Epic Games Store and GOG. Physical copies for PS5 and Switch 2 are being handled by Clear River Games, with retail pre-orders already listed. Atari marked the occasion with a new trailer for The Tarnished Mirror that doubles as the physical edition announcement.
The Tarnished Mirror: four new missions after the Trickster
The new content is the most interesting part of the package. The Tarnished Mirror is an original campaign set after the ending of The Dark Project. With the Trickster defeated, Garrett has come out of the affair poorer than he expected and is back to taking small jobs, while The City goes through political and ideological upheaval around him. A routine commission to steal a Precursor hand-mirror pulls him into a conspiracy much larger than the job.
The expansion comes from the team behind The Black Parade, one of the most respected fan campaigns in the Thief community's long history of custom missions. Hiring modders to write official content makes sense for a series whose fans have spent more than two decades building new levels in the original Dark Engine.
What Nightdive has changed
As with Nightdive's other restorations, this is a remaster rather than a remake. The level layouts, the AI and the light-and-sound stealth that defined the original are all kept. The studio has reworked textures, models and animations, and made what it calls small fixes to the original level design. Output now goes up to 4K at 120fps.
The quality-of-life list is aimed at both returning players and newcomers:
- A weapon and item wheel for quickly switching between the blackjack, sword, arrow types and gadgets
- A mission selector that lets you replay any mission you have already finished
- Modern gamepad support with rumble and gyro/motion aiming
- Achievements, and a Vault of behind-the-scenes material
- Built-in support for custom campaigns, opening up the huge back catalogue of fan-made missions
The last of those may matter most to long-time fans. Running fan missions has traditionally meant juggling community patches and loaders, so having that support built into an official release is a real improvement.
Why Thief still matters
The Dark Project was released in 1998, when first-person games were almost entirely about combat. Looking Glass described it as a "first-person sneaker", and it was the first 3D stealth game to make light and sound core mechanics. Standing in shadow keeps you hidden, the floor you walk on changes how much noise you make, and guards can hear you, talk to each other and raise the alarm. Garrett is an orphan taken in by the Keepers and trained as a master thief. He works with a blackjack, a sword he would rather not draw, and a quiver of trick arrows (water to put out torches, moss to soften footsteps, rope to reach high ledges).
Missions are large, unscripted spaces with several routes through them, and each one has three difficulty settings that change the objectives as well as the opposition. That structure is a big part of why the game is still replayed, and why the new mission selector suits it.
PC requirements
The demands are modest. According to the Steam listing, the minimum spec is 64-bit Windows 10, a 2.0GHz dual-core Intel or AMD CPU, 2GB of RAM and any GPU with DirectX 11 or Vulkan 1.1 support. The recommended spec raises that to an Intel Core i5-2300 or AMD Phenom II X4 945 and 4GB of RAM. Both need 5GB of storage.
Release details at a glance
- Release date: December 3, 2026
- Platforms: PC (Steam, Epic Games Store, GOG), PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Switch 2, Switch
- Price: $29.99 Standard, $34.99 Digital Deluxe
- Physical: PS5 and Switch 2, via Clear River Games
- Developer / publisher: Nightdive Studios / Atari
