A month after Thick as Thieves launched on Steam, OtherSide Entertainment co-founder Warren Spector and game director Jeff Hickman sat down with GamingBolt to discuss how the game came together - from its immersive sim heritage to its pivot away from PvPvE, and what the studio needs to see before expanding the world of Kilcairn.
Immersive sim roots and where the game diverged
The influence of classics like Thief and Deus Ex on Thick as Thieves is no accident. OtherSide Entertainment is led by industry veterans Warren Spector (Thief III and Deus Ex) and Paul Neurath (Thief and Thief II), with Jeff Hickman (Star Wars: The Old Republic, Warhammer Online, Dark Age of Camelot) serving as game director. Spector says the creative foundation shared across all of those titles is central to this one too - players constructing their own stories through play, whether in Underworld, System Shock, or Disney Epic Mickey.
Where the team consciously stepped away from genre orthodoxy, Hickman explains, was in the UI. Rather than embed feedback entirely in the game world, Thick as Thieves surfaces stealth visibility and guard states explicitly, trading diegetic purity for legibility. The reasoning, in his words: "I want to reach as many people as we can, because I love this kind of gameplay." The other key departure was simply multiplayer physics - you cannot run full-fidelity object simulation over the network in real time, so the team had to rethink interactivity from the ground up.
Why short, replayable heists
The launch campaign includes 16 contracts, two replayable maps, and six pieces of gear. Spector is direct about why the session-based structure appealed to him personally: more adults play games today than ever, and more of them have less and less time. He argues session-based design is the logical answer - not just for Thick as Thieves, but broadly.
Hickman adds texture to how replayability actually works across the 16 contracts. Players visit the two key locations - the Constables Guildhall and Elway Manor - roughly seven to ten times each, but security configurations, mission types, and available paths shift on every run. Stepping up to Thief or Master Thief difficulty layers on a fresh set of variations; Hickman says the full campaign takes him around six hours on Thief difficulty, and challenges anyone to clear Master Thief in the advertised four-hour window.
The gadget sandbox
Two characters anchor the heist roster. The Spider carries a Zipwire - fast vertical movement, but audible enough to attract guard attention. The Chameleon uses a Disguise, allowing the player to impersonate guards or even a Haunstable enemy. Supporting both are shared tools: smoke bombs that break line of sight, a pickpocket fairy that can also flip distant switches, an insult fairy that draws guard attention on demand, and Slithersap - a multipurpose compound that can coat searchlights, make floors slippery, or disable guards outright.
Co-op design and the chaos factor
Thick as Thieves is a stealth-action heist game playable solo or with a partner in co-op multiplayer, built around a four-hour campaign. Hickman confirms the team built solo first - if a co-op partner drops out, the game still has to hold up alone. Co-op is treated as a bonus layer, not a crutch. Difficulty does not scale down for two players; a low-skilled partner on Master Thief can cause as much trouble as any guard.
The rhythm co-op creates is, in Hickman's words, "generally, more chaotic." Planning a route is straightforward; adapting when the Haunstable comes through a wall mid-heist is where the game finds its best moments. Spector links this back to an idea he has carried since Deus Ex - what does choice-and-consequence stealth look like when two players are making those choices simultaneously, like a two-person D&D party?
The PvPvE pivot and what it fixed
Originally pitched as a PvPvE multiplayer experience, Thick as Thieves pivoted to a purely co-op and solo PvE heist game. Spector says the decision came directly from observing players during that earlier phase. Two patterns emerged: players would either ignore each other entirely to collect loot undisturbed, or hunt each other exclusively. The two behaviours did not coexist. Meanwhile, players were cooperating naturally within the limited ways the game allowed - and the team listened. Hickman frames the PvE focus as raising the quality floor: without a strong solo experience, guards, security devices, and map design, there is nothing robust to build competitive play on top of.
Post-launch plans tied to player response
Thick as Thieves launched at $4.99 / โฌ4.99 / ยฃ4.99 on Steam on May 20, 2026, positioned as an introductory chapter for the world of Kilcairn. The studio describes the current release as exactly that - a tutorial plus 15 contracts leading to a cliffhanger ending, not a finished universe.
Whether more contracts, maps, and mission types follow depends on two things Hickman names plainly: reviews and sales. He describes the gap between a community of 200,000 and one of 2 million as the difference between two entirely different post-launch plans. Near-term patches will address settings and localisation; everything beyond that waits on the numbers. The team has confirmed the game is not a live service, and says it has no intention of making promises it cannot keep.
Steam user reviews currently sit at 69% positive in the last 30 days across 412 reviews, with an overall rating of 71% positive across 918 total reviews. For a $5 game built by veterans of the genre's defining titles, those numbers represent a genuine - if cautious - foothold. Whether Kilcairn grows beyond its two current maps will depend on how many players decide the heist is worth the price of entry.
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