Summary
There’s nothing quite like spending some time with a well-designed stealth game. While first-person shooters deliver the playground fantasy of wielding murderous power and a crack-shot aim, stealth games are the equivalent of hide-and-seek, where players are rewarded for their cunning, timing, and finesse. Unfortunately, many studios tend to put less thought into stealth as kids would into a childhood game (with basic provisions like an enemy’s line of sight and crouch walking) and seemingly implement sneaking as an afterthought.
However, a few studios have gone above and beyond with experimentation in their espionage experiences. Some of themechanics in these stealth games caught onin a big way, becoming the standard for the games in the genre, while others have been left out in the dark. Even if they weren’t as influential, they managed to leave a lasting impression through their innovative ideas and solid execution and are must-plays for those interested in the art of going virtually unseen.
While the concept of social stealth and hiding in plain sight was explored long beforeAssassin’s Creed, notably apparent in 1981’sCastle Wolfenstein(which both used disguise systems), it took the processing power of the seventh generation of game consoles to fully realize the power of crowd blending. As recently-disgraced assassin Altair, players were not simply tasked with hiding from guards but becoming invisible to them in the flow of pedestrian traffic.
The Assassin’s outfit had not yetbecome a gaming icon, and as such, was time-period appropriate and used exclusively to allow members of the brotherhood to cloak themselves as scholars, especially when the hooded learners wander the cities in groups of four. Not only that, but players had to keep an eye on their profile. Moving too fast of clambering up architecture signaled to guards that Altair was probably up to no good, but walking at a dreary speed or calmly resting at a bench after a daring escape allowed him to avoid notice.
Before the arrival ofexcellent 2D stealth platformers, games likeMark of the NinjaorGunpoint, the concept wouldn’t have made much sense in an era when sneaking was possible in a 3D environment. However, one year before the arrival ofMetal Gear SolidorTenchu, an odd title appeared that proved that subterfuge could be done with a left-and-right-only movement system:Abe’s Oddysee, a game about an alien who needs to rescue his fellow indentured slaves from a meat factory before they are ground up and sold as the next taste sensation.
Much of the game could be thought of as a puzzler, but given that there is a dedicated button for tip-toeing around enemies, and since much of the player’s time is spent trying to avoid detection while manipulating the environment as a vulnerable protagonist, it fits the bill exactly. It may lack the finesse of modern 3D stealth games, such as those inMark of the Ninja, but many now-familiar features seen inAbe’s Oddyseepredate those seen in stealth classics, including the ability to possess guards (Dishonored), use food to distract enemies (Metal Gear Solid 3), and entering a “sneak mode” to reduce the sound of footfall around noise-sensitive foes (Thief: The Dark Project).
At a time when developers were stilltrying to figure out true 3D graphicsand environments, Looking Glass Studios was already finding ways to integrate realistic light and sound mechanics (as well as surprisingly sophisticated enemy detection AI) into their first-person stealth simulator,Thief: The Dark Project. Players had multiple ways to complete their objectives and many tools to manipulate their environment to do so, including light-dousing water arrows and level-scaling rope arrows.
The Hard and Expert levels require players to complete extra objectives. While the higher difficulty settings could mean an additional guard here and there, the rising curve derived from having to explore the more well-guarded sections of the map feels more natural than increasing the guards' levels of awareness or giving them extra hit points. While the light and shadow design would have been innovative in and of itself,Thief’s sound design, which is tuned to perfection to give players the perfect amount of environmental awareness, still goes unmatched by the vast majority of even modern stealth games.
The first 3D-eraMetal Geargame in 1998 broke open the tactical sneaking box of possibility for stealth. While its contribution to the genre (and the contribution of its sequel) is undeniable, the series' crowning achievement in terms of innovation arguably occurred inMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. While not an open-world adventure, players get to experience one of the best “long games” campaigns in stealth history for a couple of senses. Just as Snake needs to be kept fed to remain alert and effective, taking out the enemy’s supply storage with TNT hampers their capabilities as sentries.
Blowing up their ammunition also drastically reduces the enemy’s combat effectiveness later in the game. This makes any food Snake leaves out in the open an even more effective lure, granting players ample opportunities for grand manipulation. The second is the extensive camouflage mechanics, which act exactly as the player would expect. Thisintuitive stealth tool has not been seenin any other stealth series since (at least not in games where the goal is to outsmart AI enemies), perhaps because each environment would need to be tailored made around the camo system.
Upon hearing “stealth game,” most video game fans will probably imagine gameplay oscillating between excruciatingly long stake-out periods and twitchy reactivity. However, Klei Entertainment’s squad-based corporate espionageInvisible, Inc.came along and proved that top-down, turn-based stealth, in contrast totop-down, real-time strategy stealth, could perfectly capture all the same thrills and panic as real-time sneaking but with a tactical feel. The relief of being able to pause and consider strategy is counterbalanced by the constant escalation alarm system.
There are no instant game-overs for being spotted, as detection is measured in gradients, and players are free to take back moves if they misstep, which takes away the frustration of not having fine-grain control over each character. Not only does the alarm system move the player to action, but there is also a long-term ticking clock element to consider across a campaign. Rather than a binary win-lose state, the player’s success is measured in the number of resources they manage to secure (or waste) between jobs before the night of the final mission.
The idea of a game having “stealth elements” is nothing new today, but this wasn’t always the case. Warren Spector, the creator ofDeus Ex, explained in an interview that, while working onThief, he became frustrated at not being able to pass a difficult stealth section. He vowed to make a game where any approach works, be it, infiltration, violence, tech hacks, or persuasion. As a result, practically every open-world game or RPG is guaranteed to have stealth options and level design built around it (beyond a mathematically determined stealth skill).
Other RPG games considered stealth approaches, but none captured the essence of “action stealth,” or sneaking that relied on realism, timing, and environmental factors, asDeus Exdid. Spector admitted that, whileDeus Exmay not provide the best stealth gameplay (or gameplay of all the other options), the fact that the player could leverage the system in a satisfying way made the experience a greater sum of its parts. This was a radical departure from convention and was hugely influential. Now, practically everybig RPG comes with refined stealth mechanics. Even “modern classic” stealth games, such asDishonoredorMetal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain,allow players to choose whether they want to sneak or go in guns blazing rather than conditioning or funneling them into a quiet playstyle.
