Fantasy heist sim Project Shadowglass is even more inspired by Thief than I had realised, as a new trailer shows off water arrows, blackjack knockouts, and authentically sloppy swordfighting

An old noble raises his hands in surrender as the player theatens him with a sword in Project Shadowglass. — (Image credit: Starhelm Studios)

I was already aware that Project Shadowglass was at least partly inspired by Looking Glass' stealth masterpiece Thief: The Dark Project. Fellow sneaky bastard Ted Litchfield picked some promising nuggets out of Shadowglass' purse in January, such as open-ended levels featuring guards and traps and simulated 3D audio inspired by Thief's pioneering propagation tech.

But I had severely underestimated just how much of Garrett's DNA is in Starhelm Studios' dark fantasy sneak 'em up. A new trailer for Project Shadowglass debuted at the Future Games Show late last week, and Starhelm's game is so deeply Thief coded you can almost hear it muttering 'Taffer' under its breath.

Article continues below

Project Shadowglass has a daytime component where you plan your missions and can (apparently) explore the game's medieval city openly. But it's at night where the Thief inspirations really come to the fore, as the trailer shows. The allusions to Looking Glass' work are initially broad, like skulking across tiled rooftops, peeking around alley corners, and bonking guards on the head with a blackjack.

Project Shadowglass Gameplay Reveal - Future Games Show Spring Showcase 2026 - YouTube

Watch On

While I inevitably appreciate how Shadowglass wears its inspirations on its sleeve, I am also glad to see that Starhelm has a few tricks of its own. The video shows the ability to slide down rooftops, shoot explosive barrels with fire arrows, and splash water arrows on the floor so guards slip on the liquid. The swordfighting also looks slightly more involved than OG Thief too, though the Steam page notes that your character still fights "sloppily", which is exactly how swordfighting in a stealth game should work.

There are more exciting features mentioned on the Steam page too. The planning stage of a heist will involve "research", with you choosing when, where, and how to plunder buildings. Your actions in the game world will also have long-term ramifications. Getting caught will see you thrown into a prison that you'll have to escape from, while the city's security will tighten as guards become aware that a thief is about. Killing people will also increase the citizenry's fear of you, possibly to the point where they'll flee from you on sight.

It sounds rad, to be honest. There's no release date for Project Shadowglass yet. The Steam page says it is still in "early development", so I wouldn't expect it to arrive soon. But the trailer suggests the game has come a long way since the video Starhelm posted in January, and a demo is planned for later this year, which I can't wait to try.

Rick has been fascinated by PC gaming since he was seven years old, when he used to sneak into his dad's home office for covert sessions of Doom. He grew up on a diet of similarly unsuitable games, with favourites including Quake, Thief, Half-Life and Deus Ex. Between 2013 and 2022, Rick was games editor of Custom PC magazine and associated website bit-tech.net. But he's always kept one foot in freelance games journalism, writing for publications like Edge, Eurogamer, the Guardian and, naturally, PC Gamer. While he'll play anything that can be controlled with a keyboard and mouse, he has a particular passion for first-person shooters and immersive sims.

You must confirm your public display name before commenting

Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.