The Art of Theft

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
"As I said, I like stealth games. Kicking the door in and holding down "fire" until all organic matter has fused with the wallpaper feels like it should be a last resort, while getting out unnoticed feels like the real show of skill."
Yahtzee on Stealth Based Games in general

A spinoff of the Chzo Mythos game series. The game features Trilby in his former life as a master thief and your goal, of course, is to steal various things using a grappling hook and other gear.


Tropes used in The Art of Theft include:
  • And Your Reward Is Clothes: Various outfits are unlocked throughout, such as a reference to the source material, an outfit to make you all but visible when not pressed against the wall in complete darkness, an outfit to eliminate all alarm and taser limits, or an outfit which, combined with the right perk, makes you completely invisible, even in full light.
    • That said, though, both said outfit and the perk are difficult to get. In order to get the outfit, you need to Trilby-rank every normal heist, which only leaves the bonus heist that you might not have completed yet, to use it on, and the perk costs a lot of reputation points. Still worth it, though.
  • Anti-Hero: Much like Garret of the Thief series, Trilby steals partly for himself, but also mostly out of a personal crusade against what he sees as idleness and greed, only stealing things that the owner does not need, and targeting mainly the rich in a Robin Hood fashion. Yahtzee himself later has noted that this behaviour is slightly delusional, and Trilby eventually discards it during the Chzo Mythos when he realises that this goal is utterly insignificant compared to much, much more terrifying problems...
  • Badass: Trilby. He destroys the Company headquarters, and stole everything of value in the process. And canonically, he never attacked any security or was even seen.
    • Well, except when he was beaten up, captured, tied up and subjected to brainwashing, of course.
  • Brainwashed: Almost befalls Trilby.
  • Call a Hit Point a Smeerp: Although Trilby gets money from his various heists, he never actually does anything with it. Instead, in-game skill upgrades are purchased with "Reputation Points," which he earns for particularly impressive exploits.
  • Call Forward: In the best ending, Trilby decides to go back to England and start breaking into manors of the recently deceased, figuring it would be safer. He does this in 5 Days A Stranger: it backfires horribly.
  • Coat, Hat, Mask: Trilby.
  • Double Agent: Elizabeth Perota. Or rather, a triple agent.
  • Even Evil Has Standards: Trilby will automatically abort the mission if he sets off too many alarms or tases too many guards.
  • Hey, It's That Voice!: Yahtzee's voice is very easy to spot if a guard detects you.
  • Kleptomaniac Hero: But being a cat burglar, it's expected.
  • Nintendo Hard: But so, so worth it.
  • Rank Inflation: Your overall grade can be D, C, B, A or Trilby Hat.
  • The Guards Must Be Crazy: The guards' habit of shrugging what they see off as nothing if you get out of their sight in time already applies, but if they do sound the alarm, all they do is stand in place and act scared... Even though they're supposed to apprehend you.
  • Trial and Error Gameplay: There's no way to identify which wire you need to cut in the fusebox for the first time. It's always the same wire, at least.
  • Urban Legend of Zelda: If you beat the bonus mission using the Lazy Sunday Suit (which makes it more difficult to hide), you'll get a very, very special surprise... An intentional use of this trope by Yahtzee, as the real reward for doing this is a message suggesting that the player spreads word of a hidden secret in its place, like, for example, a Welder mini-game. Naturally, the intentional rumour worked extremely well.