Thief of Smiles

This stealth puzzle game didn’t just appeal to us visually. The intrepid heroine Aliza doesn’t stand idly by when her father vanishes into the bowels of a grey, sinister bank – she sneaks after him. Thief of Smiles gets off to a strong start, but what we hgot stuck on was the chewing gum. In the heroine’s hands, it becomes a versatile tool; we have to place it cleverly to outwit enemies, move platforms, open doors and much more – discovering and experimenting with the possibilities is a major part of the appeal of Thief of Smiles. We found the storytelling engaging. Comic-style cutscenes tell the striking story very effectively. Thief of Smiles is fun in a very intuitive way. The stealth and movement puzzles in the game often offer different approaches to solving them. This is another reason why we feel particularly clever whenever we outwit one of those nasty, grey bank creatures in a particularly elegant way. It’s mainly down to this ingenious level design that we simply couldn’t put this game down.

The DCP Jury 2023