 Thief II was designed to build on the foundation of its predecessor . In response to feedback from players of Thief , the team placed a heavy focus on urban stealth in the sequel , and they minimized the use of monsters and maze @-@ like levels . The game was made with the third iteration of the Dark Engine , which had been used previously to develop Thief and System Shock 2 . Thief II was announced at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo , as part of an extended contract between Looking Glass and Eidos to release games in the Thief series . Looking Glass neared bankruptcy as the game was developed , and the company was kept running by advances from Eidos . 
