A Thief’s Holiday is a Christmas tradition for me. I play it every year on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day, on both Normal and Expert (and sometimes on Hard). It has become my special, personal holiday tradition, as much as watching a certain film may be for others.
According to Yandros’ site, wearytaffer.com, this mission was originally rushed for December in 2003, but was redone for 2004 as the mission I know it as, with records, a tree, and tablesetting. It was released again in 2013 with New Dark capabilities.
It isn’t the standard Thief mission. There is no loot to steal or AI to sneak by. Instead, you, as Garrett, prepare your country home for a dinner party. You must set the table, tidy up the place, and fire up the décor.
Normal mode is simple. Items are where you’d expect them to be. Hard and Expert are a bit more difficult. Cookies are struck to trees and up in the rafters; the broom, used to clean up dirt piles on the floor, is on the roof; a painting is in the fireplace; and so on. No matter how many years pass by, I can never remember where every item is, and resort to the walkthrough to complete it.
There are some Thief references: the Horn of Quintus, playing, sits in the shed; the Eye sits on the table. There are also real-world references in the records for the Victrola, including Let it Snow! with Bing Crosby. (I wonder who the City’s Bing Crosby is? Benny’s cousin? Nah.)
This is a warming tradition that I love, and I hope taffers everywhere do the same.
So sit back, snuggle up, and enjoy Christmas and the Holidays, as things wind down, with Yandros’ “A Thief’s Holiday.”
The above two gameplay videos, done by me, were originally used in my post on “A Thief’s Holiday” at GameLuster.com, which can be found here.
The Thief Diaries 