According to a blog post by Eidos Montreal, the developer has removed the quick time events from the upcoming Thief reboot due to the reactions of both fans and press.
“We’re not implementing them,” Valerie Bourdeau wrote, in part. “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 developer is also adding a hardcore mode which allows players to customize different aspects of the game. “We now refer to ‘hardcore mode’ more as a custom difficulty mode. This allows players to customize the game in a number of ways,” lead level designer Daniel Windfeld Schmidt explained, in part. “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.”
“Remember, these are extra options especially suited for those who crave a little more challenge.” Schmidt also added that Focus and other related abilities can be disabled, and there is a long list of UI elements the player can disable as well. “So don’t worry, you will be able to get the game just the way you like it.”
Eidos Montreal confirmed that the Thief‘s XP system was being removed in October due to fan feedback. “Fans might be surprised how often the devs go to the forum to see how things are perceived in the real world,” Schmidt wrote at the time. “This feedback is extremely valuable to us, so as you can imagine, the consistent reaction to the XP system was something that indicated we needed to revisit some design decisions.”
(via CVG)