14 DAY TRIAL // Nick Cantin, the game director working on the new Thief game, says that the new Focus system that his team is creating will be completely optional and that fans of the series will be able to ditch it to get access to a purer experience.
He states on the official forums of the game that, "it’s not something that you’re forced to use. It’s something that you manage, something that is one of the tools at Garrett’s disposal that he can use to tackle the various situations he is confronted with."
Apparently, the feature is added via an unknown story sequence near the start of Thief and players will need to evaluate when the situation requires Focus use because the resource is fairly limited.
Focus will apply to combat, marksmanship, pick pocketing and lock picking, but it seems that the Square Enix team is still evaluating its overall usefulness.
Nick Cantin adds, "Presently, it’s the completely the players choice to use Focus or not. If players want to challenge themselves to stick to Garrett’s basic abilities, they can."
The optional nature of focus exists because developers want to make sure that players have plenty of choices in the new Thief game and that the core gameplay appeals both to long-term fans and to newcomers.
Their utmost priority is to make sure that the game is balanced whether Focus is active or not.
Thief will see Garett return to a city ruled by a corrupt and powerful Baron, using stealth and fear tactics in order to infiltrate buildings and gain access to secrets and treasure.
The look of the reboot was initially criticized, but developers have since explained that they plan to honor the legacy of the series.
The new Thief is expected to launch on PC and presumably next-gen consoles during 2014.