Summary
Stealth has been and continues to be a major part of games such asStar Wars Outlaws, which takes inspiration from multiple games of the past. Today, stealth is as commonplace as action-oriented games, from horror to science fiction, taking from many games that remain significant many years later.
Certain games have invented or utilized stealth in impactful ways that games still use as inspiration. Whether it is through how the character traverses, environmental mechanics to hide the player, or the programming of NPC enemies, they would pave the way for how future games would play or execute certain concepts.
Games outside of the pure stealth genre will also be considered, provided stealth is a major gameplay component in them.
Most Wolfenstein games allow players to go in guns-blazing and take out Nazis, with the stealth approach being an option.Return To Castle Wolfensteinremained a first-person shooter but returned to the stealth approach of the original game for the Commodore 64, making the title quite apt, utilizing lean functions and sneaking through castles and fortresses.
There certainly are sections inReturn To Castle Wolfensteinwhere gamers can have fun with all kinds ofaction in the World War II setting, but stealth is mandatory in many others. B.J. Blaskowicz is not a super soldier, so much of the game is spent crouching and crawling through enemy territory to accomplish the mission and, for a 2001 title, it is still known for being a difficult yet fun experience.
ThoughAlien: Isolationis far from the first stealth horror game, it was revolutionary due to its titular antagonist.The Xenomorph has never been more scary, because Creative Assembly invented advanced artificial intelligence for the creature that allowed it to learn as the player progresses, getting smarter and adept at figuring out players' tactics.
As a result,Alien: Isolationis never an easy game to play, even when replayed for a fifth or sixth time. Stealthily moving through Sevastopol Station remains as intense over ten years later as it was in 2014. Combined with it being a well-made sequel to Ridley Scott’sAlien, any fan of horror should give Alien: Isolation a try.
8Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six
The originalRainbow Sixwas anything butan action first-person shooterlikeCall Of Duty, with the player having to plot out the entire route that the team will take in each level. First-time players learned fast thatRainbow Sixis not a pick-up-and-play kind of game, as it will require patience and likely more than one restart to figure out every inch of the map and enemy location.
The slower pace of the originalRainbow Sixis a drastic difference from what gamers are used to today with games such asRainbow Six: VegasorRainbow Six: Siege, which mixes tactics into a more action-oriented game. However, it is important to see where those games originated and how far the series has come since.
On top of being a pivotal superhero game,Batman: Arkham Asylummade quite an impact when it came to stealth gameplay. Throughout the journey on Arkham Island, Batman is not an indestructible war machine, but a skilled man relying on his tactics and gadgets to survive, forcing the use of covers, vantage points, and moving through vents to take out Joker’s thugs one by one.
Batman: Arkham Asylumdid feature the Freeflow Combat that fans became familiar with, but future games in the series would focus less and less on stealth. Meanwhile, Arkham Asylum would make the Predator segments a major part of the story, with the player having to get creative with Batman’s movies, especially when thugs would change tactics and mentalities throughout encounters.
While a case can be made for the firstAssassin’s Creed, it does suffer from being the first game in a long-running franchise that aged poorly.Assassin’s Creed 2, on the other hand, remains a pivotal part of the franchise, being the root of everything that followed,from the parkour traversal systemto the stealth-based assassinations.
Even when Assassin’s Creed games went in wildly different directions, the DNA of Assassin’s Creed 2 was always present. That includes stealth, with Ezio being rather easy to kill, so the player is forced to stay out of combat as much as possible, using distractions, crowds, and hiding spots to evade enemies.
Where a lot of stealth games are larger than life and don’t rely on realism, theHitmanfranchise makes the player have to think like an actual modern-day assassin. Whether it’s the originalHitman: Codename 47or the reboot,Hitmanpunishes the player for not taking everything into account when taking on missions, moving through crowds, and eliminating targets.
Hitman: Codename 47games feature NPCs that will expose Agent 47 if the player does not do certain things like properly hiding bodies, wearing the right disguises, or even just moving at the right pace.Hitmanwould end up being a pinnacle of stealth games that would inspire other games, includingAssassin’s Creed, to an extent.
WhileDeus Exis more famous today for the reboot series, the now-iconic franchise began with the 2000 original that paved the way for the 2013 game. On top of having an intriguing RPG plot in whichplayers control a superpowered cyborgnamed J.C. Denton,Deus Exfeatured a heavy focus on rewarding players for taking the optional stealth approach.
Similar toHitman,Deus Exfeatures smart enemies that will detect when gamers make mistakes. So, it is best to plot out actions, utilizing a lot of gadgets and proper tactics to keep from being spotted, which includes being able to move the bodies of eliminated enemies, hacking into machines,
With Michael Ironside voicing Sam Fisher,Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell, which wasoriginally intended to be a James Bond game, shook the gaming world by creating smooth and exhilarating secret agent gameplay that spawned another massive franchise for UbiSoft.
Even official James Bond video games have never allowed players to feel like a spy, asSplinter Celldid. As Sam Fisher, it’s all about using the darkness, high-tech gadgets, and patience to the player’s advantage, which combined with a story of thrilling espionage results in a game so iconic, that fans are still anticipating the arrival of the announced remake.
One of the games that put Hideo Kojima on the map as a stellar video game director,Metal Gear Solid,took what was experimented with on the NES and completely overhauled itfor a classic for the PS1. At that time, very few games matched the cinematic quality ofMetal Gear Solid, whether it was cutscenes or the camera angles used as Snake sneaks through locations.
In many ways,Metal Gear Solidchanged the landscape of gaming, both from storytelling and gameplay perspectives. Hideo Kojima’s name would become synonymous with the series, and he would only improve with each entry, includingMetal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, which is often considered the best in the franchise.
Most games focusing on stealth have a more linear structure, whileThief: The Dark Projectutilized a quasi-open level structure that allowed experimentation and traversal to accomplish missions. It was also one of the first games to utilize shadows as a stealth mechanic, allowing Garrett to hide from guards and other foes.
From the story to the gameplay mechanics to even the character animations,Thief: The Dark Projectwas so far ahead of its time, that future stealth games includingAssassin’s Creed,Hitman, andSplinter Cellwould build on what Thief established as a foundation. With multiple sequels and a reboot, Thief is arguably one of the most important games for stealth.
