Listen closely because what Nightdive pulled off here is one of the smartest moves in modern game preservation — they didn't just hire a consultant for their Thief remaster; they brought on Herbert Wu as an actual partner, and that distinction matters immensely. The problem they solved is a nightmare: cutscenes from 1998 were built on tech so ancient that modern GPUs can't even address them natively without help. Most remasters would "fix" this by rebuilding the scenes with new assets — which changes lighting, camera placement, and directorial intent to something unrecognisable — but Nightdive knew better because they know their game. Herbert Wu was one of the core team members behind the 1998 originals at Looking Glass before it shuttered in 2003, so he doesn't just "understand" what went into Thief; he built the systems that ran it. His pedigree is legit — he contributed to The Dark Mod and even did work on Skyrim via Bethesda collaboration opportunities later on — which proves he can translate old design grammar into modern pipelines without losing anything essential. Nightdive itself has a track record of getting this right across Quake Remix, Doom Eternal Classic Edition, dozens of GOG ports, and countless other remasters built over decades of specialised experience. By making Herbert a core partner rather than an outside advisor they've basically future-proofed the remaster against looking like some accidental Crymod creation — which is something I have not seen anyone else attempt with genuine ambition in years. If this works we get 1998 cutscenes playable on high-end rigs that still feel like 1998, and for a franchise with arguably the best environmental storytelling history in first-person gaming that alone makes it worth playing again.

Source: https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/to-get-thief-remastereds-cutscenes-right-nightdive-brought-on-the-dev-behind-the-1998-originals/