Probably unbeknownst by developers Looking Glass, Thief was a great success considering the innovative features it presented itself – well not exactly innovative however features that was in a workable state. However the game, even though was deemed as a success, wasn't exactly the game it should have been as the development cycle wasn't the smoothest of rides; then again most ambitious projects weren't. So when the game was released in 1998, it was met with critical success thus giving Looking Glass another shot for glory – this one is now called ‘Thief Gold’ – or another way of looking at it, the cutting floor revisited.
Whilst there are minor changes like the sound of eating bread and more textures to certain levels (e.g. Down in the Bonehoard), the major ones were there's full voice acting, three extra missions and a blooper reel where it replays the first mission (Lord Bafford’s Manor) filled with humorous commentary and bugs that appeared in the game. To access the blooper reel just go to the config file (user.cfg) and add ‘starting_mission 16’ and enjoy the satire – it's worth a playthrough after completing the main game otherwise you'll be missing some of the in-jokes.
But the major drawcard is the three extra missions. If you have played Thief – The Dark project, you probably noticed there’s a huge chunk of missing levels – or something a miss. In particular, when collecting the four talismans, you only play out collecting just two (as miraculously you already have the other two being the Earth and Water).So here you get to play out those two missions being ‘The Mage Towers’ and ‘Song of the Caverns’. The third extra mission was ‘Thieves’ Guild’ where Garrett must infiltrate the Downwind Thieves’ Guild to steal Lord Randall’s sapphire vase.
All three missions suggested time to complete is around four hours. However it took me much longer than that because being a perfectionist, I need to knock out everyone and try to locate every cashable item. I think it took me on average two hours per level therefore completing in about six hours. These levels are very large indeed – larger than most of the original levels and all are quite entertaining to complete. That said, I’m glad that Looking Glass Studios decided to relaunch the game in its fullest glory thus now making Thief Gold a cannon to the Thief series.