Retro Game Revew: Thief - The Dark Project

[Walker]

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While technically not the first 3-D games to incorporate stealth elements, the franchise is considered by some to be the pinnacle of the genre. It's light and shadow mechanics live on today in games like Splinter Cell, but Josiah takes us back to remember the joy of black-jacking those first unsuspecting guards.

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[Josiah]

I believe there were two other 3D games released that year that had stealth elements. The first is Tenchu Stealth Assassins, released February in Japan and August in USA. The second is Metal Gear Solid, released September in Japan, October in USA.
Thief, while the latest release of the three, was released in December that same year and was the only one set in first-person. The only other first-person games up to that point which I could suggest held stealth elements were western RPGs like 1996's The Elder Scrolls 2: Daggerfall, whose stealth elements are paltry, an afterthought at best.
I think it may be inaccurate to brand Thief as "the pinnacle" of Stealth-Action gaming, even though it may be. Is it possible to be the pinnacle of a genre that doesn't exist yet? Metal Gear Solid, Tenchu Stealth Assassins and Thief all implemented stealth in their own ways, and I think it's fair to suggest at the very least, that each of them contributed to the invention of the Stealth Action genre, rather than suggesting that they were merely participants of that genre.