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Thief: Deadly Shadows vs Thief Gold (1999)

Thief: Deadly Shadows is an FPS horror game from Ion Storm (2007) while Thief Gold (1999) is a horror simulation game from Looking Glass Studios (2012).

Thief: Deadly Shadows

2007 · Ion Storm

7.0GamingPickz Score

$1.79

Steam: Very Positive

Thief Gold (1999)

2012 · Looking Glass Studios

7.8GamingPickz Score

$1.74

Steam: Very Positive

What each one is

Steam files Thief: Deadly Shadows under FPS and Horror. In contrast, it files Thief Gold (1999) under Horror and Simulation.

Thief: Deadly Shadows

You are Garrett, the master thief. Rarely seen and never caught, Garrett is the best that ever was. Able to sneak past any guard, pick any lock, and break into the most ingeniously secured residences. Garrett steals from the wealthy and gives to himself, making his living in the dark and foreboding City.

Description from its Steam store page

Thief Gold (1999)

Stalk your prey on the quest for stolen goods with your blackjack, sword, and an assortment of unique arrows. Steal for money and uncover the hidden agendas of your allies and enemies as you play through an unravelling story of deception and revenge.

Description from its Steam store page

At a glance

Thief: Deadly ShadowsThief Gold (1999)
GamingPickz Score7.0/107.8/10
Steam ratingVery Positive (81%, 2,604)Very Positive (92%, 4,177)
Critic aggregate85/10092/100
Price$1.79$1.74
Install size
Steam Deckplayableunsupported
Released20072012
DeveloperIon StormLooking Glass Studios

Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.

Thief: Deadly Shadows vs Thief Gold (1999), point by point

Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.

  1. Genre and premise

    Thief: Deadly ShadowsFPS horror game
    Thief Gold (1999)Horror simulation game

    What each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.

  2. How it plays

    Thief: Deadly ShadowsStealth, Atmospheric, Action
    Thief Gold (1999)Stealth, Classic, First-Person

    The tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.

  3. Reception

    Thief: Deadly ShadowsScore 7.0 · 81% on Steam · 85 critic
    Thief Gold (1999)Score 7.8 · 92% on Steam · 92 critic

    The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.

  4. Content and scale

    Thief: Deadly Shadows2,604 reviews
    Thief Gold (1999)4,177 reviews

    Reach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.

  5. Price

    Thief: Deadly Shadows$1.79
    Thief Gold (1999)$1.74

    Read live from Steam and subject to change.

  6. On a Steam Deck

    Thief: Deadly ShadowsPlayable
    Thief Gold (1999)Unsupported

    Valve's own Deck compatibility rating.

Thief Gold (1999) takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.

The two on the grid

Compare the whole catalogue

Thief: Deadly Shadows and Thief Gold (1999) on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.

2 games have both

01000100PlayersPopularity

Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.

Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.

  • PC

Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.

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How positions are decided

No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
  • Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
  • Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
  • No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
  • A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
  • Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.

Which to pick, by what you want

  • The higher-rated of the two: Thief Gold (1999) (GamingPickz Score 7.8)
  • The cheaper right now: Thief Gold (1999) ($1.74)
  • Better on a Steam Deck: Thief: Deadly Shadows (playable)

What they have in common

Both are tagged by Steam players with:

StealthAtmosphericActionSteampunkFirst-PersonClassicDarkStory Rich

Where they differ

Thief: Deadly Shadows is also

Third PersonOpen WorldFPSRPG

Thief Gold (1999) is also

Cult Classic1990'sExplorationModdable

Tags players apply to one game and not the other.

Difficulty and who each is for

By the tags players apply, Thief: Deadly Shadows is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Thief Gold (1999) is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.

Accessibility features

Steam store pages declare 1 accessibility feature for Thief: Deadly Shadows and 0 for Thief Gold (1999). A declaration is a floor, not a review.

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Common questions

How different are Thief: Deadly Shadows and Thief Gold (1999) in scope?

Thief: Deadly Shadows has drawn 2,604 Steam reviews. Thief Gold (1999) has drawn 4,177 Steam reviews.

Is Thief: Deadly Shadows or Thief Gold (1999) better?

By the GamingPickz Score, Thief Gold (1999) rates higher (7.8 to 7.0). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.

Which is cheaper, Thief: Deadly Shadows or Thief Gold (1999)?

Thief Gold (1999) is cheaper right now at $1.74, against $1.79. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.

Do you rank one above the other for a fee?

No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.

How we compare, and what we will not do

The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.

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