Thief developers get rid of controversial quick time events

The upcoming reboot of Thief will no longer feature quick time events, according to a blog post by developer Eidos Montreal.

This follows what the studio refers to as a "strong reaction" from the public in response to the few appearances of QTEs.

"We're not implementing them," studio spokesperson Valérie Bourdeau wrote. "To begin with, there were very few instances of QTEs in the game; in fact there was only one in that whole hour-long E3 demo.

"However, given the strong reactions it evoked in the press and the community, it was an easy decision to do away with them entirely. So we're not doing it. No quick time."

The developers are also doing away with swimming sections, while plans are in place to implement a "hardcore" difficulty mode allowing players to turn on the ability to make playthroughs more difficult.

"Hardcore mode... allows players to customize the game in a number of ways. One of my favorites is the Ironman: if you die, game over. Hey, what is life without a little risk? We even added a 'If the enemy detects you, you die' mode. Now combine that with the Ironman... You get the point!

"There is also the possibility to disable Focus and related abilities, as promised. This is in addition to the option to disable specific elements of the UI, like the reaction icons for NPCs. The UI list is pretty extensive, so don't worry, you will be able to get the game just the way you like it."

Thief is scheduled to launch February 2014 for Windows PC, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.