Thick as Thieves: Innovating Immersive Sim Concepts in a Multiplayer Playground
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Image courtesy of OtherSide Entertainment/Aonic.
During this year’s Game Developers Conference, OtherSide Entertainment co-founder and creative director Warren Spector shared with us his belief that online multiplayer is the next significant advancement for creators of “immersive sim” video games. This was an unexpected forecast, as immersive sims rely on a game being able to adapt to a vast array of player choices within a game environment. Introducing more players into such an open framework in a game like OtherSide’s upcoming Thick as Thieves could be perceived as problematic.
At that time, he indicated that it had a lot to do with tabletop-style interactions, where players collaborate to create a dynamic narrative, influencing the world around them. He and Thick as Thieves game director Greg Piccolo (who is also OtherSide’s vice president of product) were eager to explore “thief-versus-thief” gameplay mechanics—although they could not reveal too much about their current projects.
Fresh off showcasing their work at The Game Awards, the duo, along with lead designer David McDonough, are now able to provide a deeper insight behind the scenes. They were excited to reveal the fundamental aspects of how they’re addressing the hurdles of online “immersive sims”—all to engage gamers who they believe “want to feel intelligent” while competing against each other.
The premise of Thick as Thieves‘ shared quest model enhances its engagement
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Piccolo highlighted in our conversation that Thick as Thieves‘ most captivating gameplay feature had finally coalesced over the past few months: a central quest mechanism termed a “shared quest.” In prior iterations of the game, players competed to secure various objectives in round-based gameplay. Those objectives still exist, but they are now complemented by a singular shared goal that all players are striving to achieve together.
The structure reflects that of the “extraction shooter” genre, where players enter environments to combat NPCs—and each other—to obtain the most valuable rewards imaginable. What makes Thick as Thieves distinctive, Spector remarked, is that it is a game centered on “competition, not on defeating your rivals.”
“You’re not necessarily focused on overpowering the other players,” he noted (while acknowledging that might also be a legitimate strategy for those looking to surprise their opponents). The framing of “competition” as a core component helped the team navigate the balance between stealth-oriented immersive sims and multiplayer games. Stealth games, he explained, typically involve players attempting not to engage with their surroundings or other characters, whereas PvP games emphasize interaction.
If you’re wondering why the idea of a single significant shared objective didn’t come to fruition sooner in development, it was because the creation of Thick as Thieves was less about orchestrating one high-stakes heist and more focused on exploring ways to make session-based multiplayer engaging and refreshing.
Piccolo mentioned that the Shared Quest system was something OtherSide “was aware of,” but it became particularly “clarified” as they advanced work on a concept known as the “clue system.”
The clue system is a randomized version of a beloved element found in immersive sim games such as Thief, Dishonored, Deathloop, among others. It represents how OtherSide disseminates snippets of information throughout the game world that guide players toward their goals. In a hands-off gameplay demonstration, the team explained that these clues would vary with each session so players couldn’t simply memorize the best or most reliable routes and locations. The footage displayed an OtherSide playtester navigating through the sewers and discovering a notebook that boldly stated “THE VAULT CODE IS…” followed by a number that unfortunately escaped this writer’s notes.
Immersive sims have experimented with this technology for some time, employing random number generators to prevent players from bypassing crucial parts of content through memorization (or, at times, rewarding players who remember codes). This approach elevates the concept further, as Piccolo clarified that the clue in the sewer may not always be present for players when they return.
Additionally, the clue system functions as a balancing mechanism to mitigate the disparity between experienced and novice players. It is one of many features aimed at discouraging players from over-relying on their experience to complete the shared quest. “Knowledge acts as a catalyst for your progress,” Piccolo stated, adding that limiting relevant information to each run of Thick as Thieves minimizes the friction experienced by players.
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Piccolo remarked that there could be an interesting issue with the clue system that OtherSide is still developing. The hint in the notebook might be rather bluntly labeled as “painfully obvious.” It doesn’t hide the password within some in-game document where a superior reprimands a guard for failing to update the vault code. “Lengthy exposition in a scenario where individuals are competing to reach a finish line was unwelcome,” Piccolo pointed out, noting that the version demonstrated for the press was once a prime example of developers making a feature operational, then trying to figure out how to make it engaging.
Game design is the true immersive sim
Pressing the OtherSide team about how the Shared Quest system might appear like an obvious feature felt somewhat unjust. But for students or industry newcomers, it’s a legitimate question: how did the core gameplay loop end up being developed so late in production?
Spector stepped up to address this, ready to dispel the notion that the mechanic could have been implemented from the start. “Documentation becomes outdated the moment the digital ink dries on the digital page,” he stated. “No matter how much you ponder something or how innovative and imaginative you are, you’re not going to cover all bases, especially in a game like this.”
It’s intriguing that Spector cautioned designers against overestimating their own ingenuity while showcasing a game designed to make players feel clever—yet perhaps that is a crucial aspect of creating immersive sims. There can also be cleverness in solving…