It is currently a remarkable era for enthusiasts of classic first-person immersive sims, specifically for fans of both Thief: The Dark Project and Dark Messiah of Might and Magic. The landscape is presently thriving with nostalgic revivals, official community updates, and promising spiritual successors. Among these developments, a Thief remaster helmed by Nightdive Studios—which notably features an entirely new campaign—is slated to arrive next month. Simultaneously, Dark Messiah is receiving a Ubisoft-approved community edition that introduces co-op functionality, cut content, and console-exclusive maps to the celebrated, two-decade-old fantasy action game on Steam later this year. Alongside these official projects, numerous spiritual successors are currently deep in development, capturing the atmospheric darkness of Thief in titles like Gloomwood, while channeling the kinetic, physics-based combat of Dark Messiah in upcoming first-person action RPGs such as Fatekeeper and Alkahest.
Despite this healthy resurgence of immersive sims and retro-inspired first-person titles, it is exceedingly rare to find an indie project that attempts to synthesize the distinct design philosophies of Thief and Dark Messiah simultaneously. While Arkane Studios famously blended these sensibilities into masterpieces like Dishonored after developing Dark Messiah, few independent developers have dared to bridge the gap between shadowy stealth and brutal environmental combat. However, that dynamic is shifting with the announcement of The Citadel Project, a striking new indie title developed entirely by solo outfit Reliquary Software.
Synthesizing the core tenets of Thief and Dark Messiah while incorporating the contemporary indie gaming fascination with massive, imposing megastructures, The Citadel Project casts players as a sickle-wielding prisoner. Your ultimate objective is to escape from a sprawling, oppressive medieval fortress that is heavily patrolled by shambling undead guards.
The influence of Thief on The Citadel Project is immediately apparent from a visual and mechanical standpoint. Environments are shrouded heavily in deep shadows, making stealth and concealment your absolute greatest assets for survival. Furthermore, your character carries a specialized crossbow capable of firing various types of tactical bolts, including water bolts to extinguish torches and moss quarrels to muffle your footsteps on stone floors.
Meanwhile, the DNA of Dark Messiah is most prominently displayed within the game’s robust physics engine. Alongside remaining hidden and slipping past powerful enemies undetected, players are given the satisfying ability to deliver a heavy shove directly into an opponent’s back. This mechanic allows you to forcefully shunt unsuspecting guards off elevated ledges and straight into conveniently placed environmental spike traps, rewarding clever positioning and spatial awareness during chaotic encounters.
For players eager to experience this unique blend of mechanics firsthand, a playable demo is currently available on Steam. The demo drops players directly into a network of subterranean caverns shortly after successfully escaping their initial incarceration. Stepping into this vertical slice reveals a stealth experience that feels satisfyingly grounded and traditional, though a few of the interactions between the player and enemies would undoubtedly benefit from minor refinements prior to a full commercial release. Even so, the overall atmosphere is enjoyably moody, while the architectural environments boast a pleasing scale and verticality that encourages careful observation and exploration.
In addition to the clear inspirations drawn from Thief and Dark Messiah, The Citadel Project also incorporates a subtle sprinkling of Dark Souls design philosophy. The game features bonfire-like checkpoints where players can rest, recuperate, and upgrade their character’s capabilities, while the overarching narrative and world-building are primarily communicated through cryptic item descriptions and scattered notes discovered throughout the labyrinthine fortress. To be entirely clear, while active combat and a responsive parry system are very much present, The Citadel Project remains a stealth game through and through, and it lacks the punishing, demanding difficulty curve found in FromSoftware’s formidable action RPGs.
Overall, skulking through the oppressive shadows of The Citadel Project offers a genuinely pleasant and atmospheric experience for fans of classic immersive sims. It will certainly be fascinating to observe how the complete game shapes up when it officially launches into Steam Early Access on November 11.
This upcoming release window is remarkably crowded with genre-defining nostalgia. The Thief remaster expansion developed by the legendary Black Parade mod team is scheduled for release on December 3, closely followed by the eagerly anticipated Dark Messiah community edition later in December. As these classic franchises and their modern indie descendants prepare to arrive, fans of first-person stealth and physics-driven action will have no shortage of dark corridors to explore in the coming weeks.
