Long before Corvo Attano was seen scurrying through the streets of Dunwall as a rodent in Dishonored, the developers behind Thief: The Dark Project had already explored a similar concept. According to recent reports, the team considered an ability for the series protagonist, Garrett, that would have allowed him to shrink down to the size of a rat.
The Proposed Mechanic
The design idea was intended to provide Garrett with a way to infiltrate restricted locations by squeezing through mouse holes and drainage systems. This would have fundamentally changed how players navigated the game's architecture, offering a stealth-oriented alternative to traditional entry points.
While this concept predates the release of Dishonored by 15 years, it remained a design consideration rather than a finalized feature. The mechanic did not make it into the final version of Thief: The Dark Project, which launched in 1998, or its expanded 1999 release, Thief Gold.
Contextualizing Stealth Design
The revelation highlights the iterative nature of stealth game development. The ability to possess or transform into small creatures to bypass security or reach inaccessible areas became a hallmark of later immersive sims, but it traces back to these early experiments within the Thief development cycle.
For players interested in the evolution of these mechanics, Thief Gold remains available on PC via Steam, offering a look at the foundational systems that defined the genre long before the release of the 2014 series reboot.