HomeFeaturesGloomwood
Gloomwood’s grimy stealth playground deserves better than the agony of early accessPremature access
Premature access
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/New Blood Interactive
Image credit:Rock Paper Shotgun/New Blood Interactive
Gloomwoodis, so far, a very good game, but it is also not much of a game - in the literal sense that it has launched into early access incomplete. There’s currently just enough of it to play that it makes you feel both bereft and quite annoyed when it suddenly clangs its great iron doors shut in front of you. “Let me in!!” you scream, as you hammer on the silent portal. “I really like Thief! Igetyou! I want to throw more decapitated heads as lures!”
If you are one of those people who bases their gaming personality on liking the originalThiefseries, Gloomwood will have been on your radar for a while. It’s a grimy, steampunk-ish stealth immersive sim with a deliberate low-poly vibe, and it picks up the abandoned Thief football to absolutely run with it. But, though the current EA build is but short, it feels like Gloomwood is aiming to punt that ball into outer space. There’s so much more room to be playful and experiment than I expected, and it’s so muchfunthat if you’d never played a stealth sim in your life I’d recommend Gloomwood. Except I wouldn’t, because it feels like I’d be doing you a disservice to recommend it now, when the fun will be so quickly snatched away.
Gloomwood Early Access Starts NOWWatch on YouTube
Gloomwood Early Access Starts NOW
The main problem is that Gloomwood promises “an intricate, hand-crafted city” to explore, and right now you’re not allowed in it. You can see it, you can go up to the gates, and at least two (2) people tell you to go there. But Gloomwood as is ends at the city gates. I did spend a lovely 5 or so hours playing around in the levels leading up to the city which, unless my guess wildly misses the mark, will operate as a very detailed and clever series of tutorials to teach you the game’s principles before launching you into that city relatively unguided.
I stabbed this guy and then he fell forward and then his body caught fire and his pal was like “MuHRRDddEERRR!”
See that mountain? You can’t go there (yet)
The levels outside the city don’tneedto take five hours. I’d say about half of that time was me failing and reloading my last save (which you can only do at gramaphones playing eerie, crackling music), and the other half was exploring to see how else you could do it. The starting area has at least three different routes to get out to the dock, for example, and there are multiple secrets for more daring players to uncover - extra keys, hidden treasure, shortcuts. A safe with the code secreted somewhere in the same room. Slightly inscrutable hand drawn maps. Guards - fully robed, masked, sort of puritanical-looking goons that constantly cough, sniff or mutter in a nasal growl - have conversations that hint at the wider story.
You can do things quietly, which is what I went for, but it’s possible to go all guns blazing, although for my money it’s harder. Dynamite barrels can be tactically exploded, for example, and both you and enemy guards can be set on fire. As well as your cane sword, there are all manner of guns and associated ammo to pick up, provided you can fit them in your inventory. This is a case, which you open and rummage through in real time, and can only access if you have the physical space in front of you to plonk it down and open it up. It’s got a limited capacity, so Gloomwood is also bringing back good ol' inventory Tetris. Is ammo for the shotgun more important than a health syringe?
My unrealised masterpiece
