Robbing the Cradle
Unlike other levels in the game, it features a strong survival horror theme, in addition to the stealth gameplay typical of the Thief series.
Players traverse an abandoned, haunted orphanage and mental asylum called the Shalebridge Cradle, while attempting to free the soul of a young girl from the building's captivity.
They took influence from works such as House of Leaves, Session 9 and the Silent Hill series, and they studied mental asylums and reportedly haunted buildings for inspiration.
[3][7] In 2000, Smith was in the process of being hired at Ion Storm to work on Deadly Shadows, and he was contacted by PC Gamer UK writer Kieron Gillen to discuss "Return to the Cathedral".
[1] Smith later noted that his own biggest contributions were the level's beats: he designed ways for players' boundaries to be regularly violated, such as by forcing them to explore threatening areas.
[3] "Robbing the Cradle" includes influences from the Silent Hill and System Shock series, from the films The Devil's Backbone, Jacob's Ladder and Session 9, and from the books House of Leaves, From Hell and The Shining.
[1] Every light source in the level dims and brightens at an imperceptibly slow speed, which Thomas hoped would create a "subconscious sense of breathing" and thereby make the Shalebridge Cradle feel like a living entity.
[2] Thomas explained that the Shalebridge Cradle's design was based on "dozens of actual, existing Victorian hospitals and reputedly haunted buildings".
[3] Thomas gathered photographs by urban explorers and studied past methods of treating mental disorders, and he "read reams of patient and staff interviews".
Audio director Eric Brosius composed the Cradle's soundscape, which Gillen later described as "a drunken miasma of sound [... that makes] you uneasy until an unexpected noise splits asunder".
[15] Maximum PC included "Robbing the Cradle" in its list of the "Scariest Video Game Moments", with the magazine's Brittany Vincent noting that the level features "a frightful mixture of lobotomized patients, suffering spirits, and evil intentions".
"[17] Writing for Official Xbox Magazine, Ryan McCaffery ranked Deadly Shadows fourth on his "My Top 5 Scariest Games of All-Time" list, based solely on "Robbing the Cradle".
"[18] In a reader poll conducted by The Daily Telegraph, Deadly Shadows tied as the twelfth scariest video game, in large part because of "Robbing the Cradle".
[3][21] Smith later wondered if the team had "overdone it" with "Robbing the Cradle", and he stated, "I worry a little bit in retrospect about people who just wanted a 'sneaking around mansions and stealing stuff' experience [being] forced into their deepest nightmares.
