Gloomwood aka Thief With Guns is getting cutscenes "done in an animated horror style from the early 1900s" to introduce major areas.

Gloomwood is one of the few games that I enjoy watching develop as much as Gloomwood. New Blood Interactive's immersive Thief-inspired sim is not only one of my most anticipated titles, but the developers also keep adding wonderful extras that I would never have expected. New Blood Interactive's announcement that Gloomwood will get cutscenes is a great example.

Dillon Rogers, creator of Gloomwood, tweeted with excitement: "I said that we had something bigger to show this coming week." "Gloomwood will get shortform cinematics, done in an animated horror style from the early 1900s. The tweet included a clip showing one of the cutscenes. It introduces the "fishdog", an enemy that appears two hours into the game.

The cutscene is a perfect example of the Gloomwood project. The animation and camera work are reminiscent of the briefing scenes in the first two Thief video games. It has its own style that fits Gloomwood's Victorian Gothic aesthetic. It pays homage to the game which inspired Gloomwood but isn't a slave to it. That is Gloomwood boiled down.

It's also a surprise addition to the game, as I mentioned earlier. Gloomwood doesn't have individual missions like Thief. It's an open-ended, continuous experience. Some players responded to Rogers tweet by saying they prefer experiencing Gloomwood's universe seamlessly, without interruptions from cutscenes. Others have expressed concern that such anticipatory films could spoil Gloomwood’s more nastier surprise.

Rogers was patient in his response to both comments. Rogers anticipated the comment that Gloomwood spoils itself by explaining, "The fishdog cinematic shows the shape/shadow of the upcoming creatures or their sounds." Rogers stated that if players prefer Gloomwood to be a fully immersive experience, they can opt out of the cutscenes.

New Blood has not announced this as the only feature for Gloomwood in 2018. In February, developers revealed they had implemented a new rat AI which made the virtual rodents in the game actively seek out cheese. New Blood published an update in March on Gloomwood’s massive underport, where they revealed that the game would be getting a new gun, a Harpoon Gun. In June, the first part of Gloomwood's Underport was released. New Blood claims that this area, named the Power Station by New Blood, is already larger than the Market District released in last year.

Gloomwood is not yet finished. It seems that a final release will be a long time off. Rogers & Co. can cook, given how difficult it is to create immersive sims and how committed New Blood is to delivering a great take on the genre. While I don't expect to see the final version Gloomwood anytime soon, I also doubt that this will be the last time we hear from the good doctor in 2024.