Stealth Games - A rare breed

[Zeromaeus]

What's with this. Why are stealth games so uncommon? I really like the concepts of beating a game through stealth, yet the entire concept seems to fall out of most games. Why is that?

Honestly, I'd like a game where you play as a cat burglar or master thief or something and the whole point of the game was to steal things and not get caught. That would be fun to me. No violence necessary, just sneaking.

Why do you, members of the escapist, believe there are so few genuine stealth games? What would you guys want from one?

(Don't mention Metal Gear. I love Metal Gear, but stealth wasn't the primary focus of the last game)

EDIT: I've played Thief. Thank you.

 

[mikecoulter]

Maybe because opening up the game into one massive onslaught of huge fight scenes attracted a larger audience?

I would recommend Sniper: Ghost Warrior to you. Quite stealthy.

 

[Miumaru]

Cause good stealth is tricky. So far Hitman is my vote for good stealth though.
Also Yahtzee made such a game, but its 2D I think. Or 1.5D I guess since modern games are and are not 3D.

 

[Overlordjack]

Maybe because opening up the game into one massive onslaught of huge fight scenes attracted a larger audience?

I would recommend Sniper: Ghost Warrior to you. Quite stealthy.

is that game for ps3?

 

[silver wolf009]

Because stealth games have a smaller audience than games where all the back of the box says is

WIZZ, BANG! *SHOOT*

The closest thing to stealth games i have seen is hitman, to this point i know i have been ninja'd but the point still stands.

 

[Najal]

thief 1-3 with 4 coming out... at some point?

Deus Ex is possible to be completed without any kills.

Other than that, i could name you half a dozen games with stealth "in" them; as someone above said, having an entirely stealth based game wont attract the "mainstream" whoever they are.

 

[lacktheknack]

Yahtzee made a game for you (The Art of Theft).

And it's rare for the same reason that the "Escape" genre is rare (or rarer), because there's little demand for it (which is a shame, because Escape games like Mirror's Edge or "Prince of Persia: The Shadow and the Flame" are my favorite).

 

[captaincabbage]

I'm not sure. Stealth games seem to be less and less 'stealth'-ey.
I do reckon stealth was a main focus in MGS4, they just extended the play style so more people would be attracted to it, which I was. XD

For example, you can stealth it with zero kills through the entire damn game if you've got the balls. My record is seven alerts in a stealth playthrough, but I don't take prisoners XD

 

[Ekonk]

Hitman is good, but also the Thief series, and Splinter Cell.

I always try to use stealth in Half-Life 2. It always fails. :C

 

[mikecoulter]

Maybe because opening up the game into one massive onslaught of huge fight scenes attracted a larger audience?

I would recommend Sniper: Ghost Warrior to you. Quite stealthy.

is that game for ps3?

I'm not sure, I think it's PC only...

 

[Zeromaeus]

Cause good stealth is tricky. So far Hitman is my vote for good stealth though.
Also Yahtzee made such a game, but its 2D I think. Or 1.5D I guess since modern games are and are not 3D.

Art of Theft. Yes, Trilby's adventure was quite fun. What I'm saying is, why aren't there any fully developed games like that? I don't know, I just enjoy the whole cat-burglar/thief concept.
I've never had the chance to play Hitman, unfortunately, so I can't say one way or the other about it. I'm almost absolutely certain, however, that Hitman's gameplay is more violence based, being a game focused around assassination. I want a stealth game that discourages violence and encourages you to have the stealth abilities of an over-glorified ninja.

 

[Zeromaeus]

I'm not sure. Stealth games seem to be less and less 'stealth'-ey.
I do reckon stealth was a main focus in MGS4, they just extended the play style so more people would be attracted to it, which I was. XD

For example, you can stealth it with zero kills through the entire damn game if you've got the balls. My record is seven alerts in a stealth playthrough, but I don't take prisoners XD

I like playing Metal Gear Solid 3 on the hardest difficulty (it had a weird name) where there are way too many guards, getting seen gives you a game over, and everybody moves faster, smarter, sees further. Yeah... Good times. I also only ever use the tranquilizer darts if I can help it.

 

[MinishArcticFox]

Part of the reason is that first person shooting is whee the money is and secondly stealth is hard to do well (Sniper Ghost Warrior). Also if stealth is just an option then every level has to be designed with that in mind which is difficult. Mostly though I think it's just that it's not where the money is though hopefully some games will start to copy MW2 and have at least a few stealth focus levels and GRAW3 looks promising but both involve killing so some think they aren't all stealth.

 

[Glerken]

Honestly, I'd like a game where you play as a cat burglar or master thief or something and the whole point of the game was to steal things and not get caught. That would be fun to me. No violence necessary, just sneaking.

Try out Thief.
You play as Garret "Master thief" and you go around stealing things.
And yes, if you're good enough, you can avoid confrontation.

Sounds quite a lot like what you described you were looking for. It's a really fun game.

 

[hawkeye52]

main reason why stealth is so rare is because most people want the instant gratification of killing someone as opposed to the slow creeping and sneaking in stealth games. tbh i like stealth games with my favourite being the thief:ds

also if you are looking for a good stealth game for the ps2 then go for tenchu wrath of heaven. although its not strictly stealth and you can literally just charge through the levels all swords and daggers blazing its generally a much better experience for you to do it entirely stealth kills since the spearmen can do some serious damage to you. also the stealth kills are awesome especially when you are playing with a friend on coop mode with the double stealth kills. cant say anything about the new tenchu since i havnt played it but check it out as well.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

Honestly, I'd like a game where you play as a cat burglar or master thief or something and the whole point of the game was to steal things and not get caught. That would be fun to me. No violence necessary, just sneaking.

Get Thief: Deadly Shadows. It's pretty much exactly what you just described.

 

[captaincabbage]

I'm not sure. Stealth games seem to be less and less 'stealth'-ey.
I do reckon stealth was a main focus in MGS4, they just extended the play style so more people would be attracted to it, which I was. XD

For example, you can stealth it with zero kills through the entire damn game if you've got the balls. My record is seven alerts in a stealth playthrough, but I don't take prisoners XD

I like playing Metal Gear Solid 3 on the hardest difficulty (it had a weird name) where there are way too many guards, getting seen gives you a game over, and everybody moves faster, smarter, sees further. Yeah... Good times. I also only ever use the tranquilizer darts if I can help it.

lol awesome ^^

I'm not too good at stealth games, but I try because I like the concept. Like I said, my record in MGS4 is 7 alerts. Maaaaaaaybe I should stop using the grenade-launcher XD

 

[Ironic Pirate]

Because most stealth games are horrible trial and error games type stealth with shitty graphics and inconsistent AI. Someone plays one of those, and swears off the genre forever.

Also, what's with this "No more knife" nonsense in the new Splinter Cell? It's the only thing that saved Double Agent, and they just removed it!

 

[Harkonnen64]

The "Thief" series, from what I've read on Yahtzee's reviews, are what you are looking for.

 

[Zeromaeus]

Honestly, I'd like a game where you play as a cat burglar or master thief or something and the whole point of the game was to steal things and not get caught. That would be fun to me. No violence necessary, just sneaking.

Try out Thief.
You play as Garret "Master thief" and you go around stealing things.
And yes, if you're good enough, you can avoid confrontation.

Sounds quite a lot like what you described you were looking for. It's a really fun game.

Yes. Thief was fun. Thief II as well. Too bad those kind of games didn't spill into the modern generation (I refuse to refer to it as "next gen"). I mean, imagine a world like GTA, but smaller and ... fuller. Imagine if they limited it to one island and had it so that you could go into any building, prospect any heist, steal any valuable, that would be cool. Or even a game where you could only play in the buildings where you're stealing from them, they could make it so involved and challenging in a matter that only a game of the current generation could be.