I didn’t get the hate for the game, it seemed to be based around changes to the movement that they made. They removed jump and replaced it with swoop, which was akin to Dishonored’s blink. However swoop was incredibly fun.
Honestly I find Thief fans are very picky to a fault. I remember they freaked out over Deadly Shadow because it had a loot glow effect. Now that game is rightly considered one of the best in the series.
Sadly the 2014 Thief hasn’t received the critical reappraisal it deserves.