Free 100+ Hour Stealth Masterpiece Is Made By Passionate Gamers

16 years after release, this free Thief-like fan game has proven to be one of the best games you can get your hands on.

If you’re a fan of the Thief series, or stealth and immersive sim games in general, then you’re probably burned by the huge wait between sequels.

It seems we only really get a new one every 10 years or so, but with the last two entries being a VR-only game and a rather panned reboot from Square Enix, it’s fair to say it’s been a while since the franchise had a true successor.

Thankfully, The Dark Mod has stepped in to breathe new life into this series. It’s an open-source video game where fans can create and release their own custom levels, adapting similar graphics, gameplay, and structure to the 1998 stealth classic Thief: The Dark Project.

We Don't Need A New Thief Game, The Dark Mod Is Scratching That Itch

By simply downloading the game for free from The Dark Mod website, you can start installing and playing these custom levels at no additional cost, with features and mechanics as close to the original Thief games as possible.

While not strictly a Thief game to avoid any legal issues, levels in The Dark Mod typically take place in a gothic Steampunk world very similar to the aforementioned series. It combines elements of fantasy with scenery typically seen in the Victorian era and the Industrial Revolution.

The Dark Mod Team

Similar to the series it’s inspired by, the levels typically involve you playing as an agile thief with a wide array of equipment, like water arrows to extinguish light sources, lockpicks to access secret locations, and holy water to defeat undead monsters.

With your combat skills being rather limited, you’re expected to prioritise stealth over action, sneaking around and hiding in the dark to avoid combat.

Since The Dark Mod is more of an engine for mod authors to build upon, you’re going to get some levels that are great and some that aren’t. A great place to start looking for levels is Thief Guild, a website where users can rate custom The Dark Mod levels.

With there being over 200 levels and campaigns available from creators, you could easily get over a hundred hours of playtime out of The Dark Mod. That’s not bad, considering the cost of entry is nothing.

Although originally released in 2013, The Dark Mod is still getting new updates to this day. Last year, it released an update which dramatically upgraded the game’s guard AI behaviour to be more realistic and in line with the guard habits from the original Thief games.