Otherside Entertainment has announced a significant pivot for Thick as Thieves, the upcoming immersive sim heist game led by Deus Ex and Thief director Warren Spector. According to Game Informer, the studio is scrapping its original asymmetrical PvPvE concept and redesigning the game around single-player and co-op experiences instead.
The game was first revealed at The Game Awards 2024 with a competitive multiplayer angle baked into its core identity. That version positioned players against both AI systems and each other in asymmetrical heist scenarios - an ambitious pitch that apparently didn't survive contact with development reality.
A cleaner vision
The shift away from PvPvE isn't entirely surprising given the rough track record of games trying to blend immersive sim depth with competitive multiplayer. Those two design philosophies can pull hard against each other - immersive sims reward player expression and systemic sandbox play, while competitive PvP tends to demand balance and predictability above all else.
Thick as Thieves is set in Kilcairn, a fictional Scottish city rendered in an alternate-history version of the 1910s. That setting has always had strong thematic bones for a heist game, and removing the competitive layer should let Otherside lean harder into the environmental storytelling and emergent gameplay that made Spector's earlier work so memorable.
What this means for the game
Pivots like this mid-development can cut both ways. On one hand, narrowing scope often produces tighter, more polished experiences - Spector himself has spoken extensively about the creative value of constraints. On the other hand, it signals that the project has gone through some meaningful upheaval behind the scenes, which is worth watching as we get closer to a release window.
For fans of classic immersive sims, the co-op angle still opens up interesting possibilities. Done right, cooperative stealth in a fully reactive world could be exactly the kind of experience the genre has been missing. The question now is how far along the redesign is, and whether Otherside will share a more concrete look at the new direction soon.
