There's been a lot of talk of downgrades recently; of pre-release trailers being unrepresentative of the eventual release. Here's hoping that this one's legit, because it's a wondrous display of graphical splendour. It's for the v1.0 release of Thief Gold HD—a high-res texture upgrade for the 1998 sneak-'em-up.

Thief: The Dark Project has never looked so good. Admittedly, that isn't really saying much—it was made in the late-'90s after all—but the trailer's comparison between the mod's v1.0 release and the currently available, and already much-improved, v0.9.3 is striking.

Kudos to the mod's makers for imbuing the video with all the hype and escalating tension of a AAA game trailer. That is a baller move.

I'm a big fan of Thief Gold HD mod, and Bentraxx's Thief 2 equivalent. Unlike so many HD texture mods, these are careful to keep the original aesthetic intact. They don't overwhelm the original art style, and that's crucial to preserving Thief's atmosphere.

Thief Gold HD 1.0 is "coming soon". Keep an eye on its ModDB page for more.