The Death of Stealth

Stealth games as people know them are dying and, rather ironically, you may not have even noticed. It’s been a slow decline for the shadow skulking, light destroying genre, but they simply don’t get made that much any more. What used to be powerful franchises are now little but fond memories or warped variations of what once was. So, what happened?

[xYLeinen]

What's next? The prevail of Call of Duty?

[HolyOrangeCows]

MGS 1/2/3, Splinter Cell - Chaos Theory, Hitman.....

Where did we go wrong?! Stealth games used to rock.

[tacosRcool]

They did. Now everybody (like me) just wants to kill everything in his/her path. Its also that many people don't have any patience anymore...

[Quagmire]

Chronicles of Riddick, one of the best, most underrated, and higly-surpising BEST film-based game, and stealth game.

[Dir_en_grey]

Should give Siren series a try. I love the game mechanics of how you Sight Jack zombies (see through zombies' eyes) to figure out the layout of the environment and the zombie's movements, then plan out your escape.

Not a popular game in the west I'm guess cuz most people like to run and gun, but if people enjoy stealth games they'll probably enjoy the observing and planing the escape in each level of this series.
They dumbed difficulty down on the PS3 version and made the player a little bit more powerful so they can sometimes fight back; I hope in the next game they make the characters weak again like the PS2 versions because feeling weak and helpless really made this a true horror stealth game.

[Human Analog]

I agree 100%. Riddick was one of my favorite games. I even re-bought it when it was redone for the 360 with Dark Athena added on. It was still great.

[gamerz]

Cool! Just made a trade for this game and will get it in a few days. Never even heard of it before but after reading the reviews it looks like a fun game. Stealth, CQC, platforming.. what's not to like? Even added the movies to the top of the netflix queue to get ready. :)

[ilikestuff]

i like sneak king. whats better then a weird bearded man that sneaks up behind you and forces his meat in your mouth? he is my hero.

[Syaz1]

never got to play the last-gen tcor: efbb while it was on pc and xbox, now that i got to play and finish it, i cant believe what's i've been missing out, it's brilliant.

[GamerSciz]

Perhaps Syphon Filter??? I mean Metal Gear was before that but I felt Syphon Filter was larger then Thief. And I do agree that older stealth games of a series have slowly progressed to more run and gun type of games. I did like how in Crysis you had the choice because of the nano-suit. Personally I liked to be very stealthy in that game.

[Neko_Mega]

Was a pretty hard stealth game, PC it was. I never play it on a gaming system.

But you are right to, SF should have listed.

Anyways theirs alot of stealth games that do good in it, Thief was just hard, others do it much simple.

[Neko_Mega]

Makes me think of it, when I had no sneak at all.

But some how can jump on peoples bed and take things with out them knowing.

[darkdoom3000]

Syphon filter wasnt really a stealth game. Third person shooter with stealth levels.

awesome game though

[The_Quiet_Man]

Where the hell are Tenchu & Hitman? wasn't Hitman announced/rumoured the other day? still where are they, been waiting.

[DaBadGuy]

Oh no I've noticed.

I think MGS4 was the last stealth game I played.

The genre is seriously lacking these days.

EDIT: Acutally Splinter Cell Conviction was the last stealth game I played.

[Lyr1c]

Conviction was barely a stealth game. The game was a lot easier to go "guns blazing" without any repercussions. It really didn't feel like a stealth game at all.

[Fan Tastic]

Uncharted II has some very nice stealth. It is actually better than MGS4's, which in MGS4 you are discovered then they magically forget somebody was around.

[soundslike]

what difficulty did you play MGS4 on? Also Uncharted 2 stealth is good but its way too scripted.

[Fan Tastic]

Probably normal, it has been a long time and I had no urge to play through it again.

There are some scripted spots but if you are good you can take out entire areas without being detected in Uncharted (like the swamp level just after the explosion, the tibetan temple you can take out a good 10 or 15 guys in a row if you practice and are patient observing. STill not perfect as others might notice friends gone after turning around but better than MGS4's style of just forgetting once detected..

[andfed]

Agree. Games in general tend to be more easy and forgivable.

Look at the most popular stealth game franchise: MGS and SC. MGS4 and SC conviction are WAY more action oriented and fast paced than its predecesors

[Eddy223]

stealth and survival horror are dying
this needs to come to an end!=[

[Matthew94]

stealth is dead due to broken game mechanics

ie kill someone and then everyone in base knows exact location

MGS4 didnt work as it encouraged shooting but the old Alert/Evasion/Caution system meant every soldier on the field tried to kill you only and ignored all the terrorists

arkham asylum did it pretty well

[cygnuszero2]

Arkham is a great example of a game where NOT sneaking has dire consequences, same with MGS3. But MGS4 on the other hand is very different, and I didnt like it because of some of the decisions Kojima made with the core gameplay.

[Takoulya]

If you play it on BBE difficulty, stealth is your only option. You can't blame a developer for giving you options.

[cochise313]

what about tenchu?

[Batzi]

the writer probably missed MGS3 which is the best stealth game not to mention the recently released Peace Walker. This guy is dreaming.

[guzman]

Seconded. MGS3 Subsistence is without rival when it comes to stealth.

[solar]

stealth is dead due to instant gratification. i love stealth games. stalking an enemy, taking them out without anyone knowing. it's gratifying.

the problem is, imo, console gaming is killing being sneaky. the Hitman series excelled at this type of game play, yet we havent seen it yet this generation. the FPS kill kill kill kill die spawn kill kill game type is dominating this generation of consoles. i would love to play another sneaky "zomg you are dead!!!" sneaky game. we just need developers willing to release a game worthy.

[Blaine]

blaming console gaming for it really makes me want to disagree with you.

So I just won't vote either way. But seriously, console games, if anything, are a big reason for the popularity of the genre, definitely not its decline.

[Genecalypse]

yeah i totally agree. one of my friends constantly said this about Metal gear solid and Uncharted 2. "You get seen once and every gaurd gets alerted" then he tells me games like halo are better...Stealth games are made for perfectionists, who use hiding and never being seen as their masterpeice, its a great feeling finishing a mission 100%. Too bad some people have child like attention spans and need to big exploshuns so cool man

[Blaine]

In my opinion, the dated mechanics of requiring the player to kill every enemy in an area before moving-on needs to die.

I don't necessarily want all games to become like Metal Gear Solid, but hell even Demon's Souls could be considered stealth in a way. You're too weak to fight a certain enemy? Step lightly and go around him. That's all I want! That's the only problem with the Uncharted series, in my opinion. Drake's supposed to be the good guy, but in the process of platting both games I've killed over 2000 henchmen. That could be considered genocide!

Also, I'm a bit of a pacifist. I'll play all those violent games, especially FPSs, and love the hell out of them, but whenever possible I'll take the non-lethal way out. That's why I love MGS; you have the means at your disposal to incapacitate your enemies rather than kill them--which actually makes the game harder because eventually those enemies will wake up again!

I <3 stealth.

[ALFAxD_CENTAURO]

I believe Agent probably will have some amazing stealth mechanism.

[Genecalypse]

I really hope youre right, game could re-define stealth genres..

[Redempteur]

what genre is agent anyway ??
Stop talking about agent when we don't know anything except the platform and the logo of the game ...

[cygnuszero2]

Stealth died with MGS4. That game is barely even a sneaking game, compared to something like MGS3. Unless you're doing a no alert run, sneaking in that game is useless with snakes ridiculously over powered arsenal and the ability to just press start and buy ammo. So much for procure on site. I hated that game. MGS3 rules.

[HDgamer]

MGS4 has really good stealth game play, it never died. hell it continued with peace walker. Just like any metal gear games you can play it the ways you want it.

[cygnuszero2]

I agree with you about peace walker, but thats closer to what MGS3, which is my favorite MGS game.

I discovered in MGS4 that unless you're doing a BBE run, sneaking in that game is completely useless. Sure you can play it how you want, and I wanted to play it sneaking around, until I realized that if I get caught I can just obliterate everyone in 30 seconds.

It just got too far away from what I love about MGS. Great production values could not save it for me.

[ReservoirDog316]

Yeah MGS3 was the best of the series but if you want a similar experience (or at least not an overpowered Snake version), limit yourself to an unsilenced handgun with killing as a last resort.

Makes the whole game feel more desperate.

[soundslike]

Instant gratification is the main offender. Pop-gaming's(yep pop is now upon us) new goal of never ever ever being challenged or frustrated is pretty disgusting.

People who suck at games will rant about something like "gamez r suppozed 2 b about fun!11" without realizing that people find different things fun...and I for one don't find these new over-produced instant gratification games any fun. I remember a time when that was most gamers too...they've gone soft.

[Aclay]

I've noticed this for a while now....The Stealth genre has always been one of my favorites, but they are very few and far between these days. I loved the Hitman series last gen., but last one came out over 4 years ago.

Also it seems like more developers are slowly ditching the Stealth formula just to make it more appealing...Metal Gear Solid Rising being one example of this, and I WISH Peace Walker was released on consoles and MGS: Rising was getting the PSP treatment instead.

I'm willing to bet that if the Rumor's about the next Hitman game being a "Reboot" are true, it'll be more Action oriented than stealth.

[ijkabob]

splinter cell conviction, MGS, batman arkham asylum. And I play MAG all the time on ravens maps, with thick bushes, as a stealth guy. With a sensor jammer and silencer. I run around and shoot people then retreat and hide. I think this article is wrong.

[telekineticmantis]

just want everything easy, and social. I can understand social but i can't understand where the players that lovd strategy went

[gamerz]

Manhunt was one of my favorite stealth games. Note to self: try Manhunt 2.

[BillOreilly]

manhunt 2 rocks great stealth game. i also really enjoyed playing through alpha protocol as a stealthy sob!!!

[Human Analog]

Thief 2 was one of the first computer games I played. I was new to the FPS thing, and it is what introduced me to it. I though they were all like that. It is too bad there were not more of them. In that same time there was deus ex, system shock 2 and star wars jedi outcast. They are all great game. There is something really lacking in the over-the-counter FPS games of today. The closest thing I have found is the new Splinter Cell. If you force yourself to play all steath it is fairly rewarding. And the Fallout3 and New Vegas KIND OF fill that void. But I am still waiting for Thief 4 to get it right again. Keep my fingers crossed!

[theonlylolking]

Stealth will come back but not this gen. Shooters have taken over this gen. Last gen it was rpg's, and racing games that I saw the most of.

PS1 and N64 had a lot of platformers. So next gen must be stealth!

[kraze07]

We need some Tenchu on the PS3 and some more Hitman games.

[Handhelds_FTW]

Tenchu remake or revival.

[BYE]

The stealth gameplay is great! People often overlook that.

But yes, we need more games in that genre. Or genres other than shooters in general.

[Bathyj]

*SIGH*

I'll never get another Tenchu.

Seriously, my favourite game on 360, (I still play it all the time.

Sony, didnt you own this IP at one time in the beginning?
Buy it back (it should be a bargain) and give it the AAA treatment this series has always deserved and never had.

Call me Sony, I could give you about a thousand ideas that would make this game rock hard.

Move support anyone? Swords, grapple hook, shurikens, poison rice, bow and arrow.............

[Master of Unlocking]

You guys above are crazy? Manhunt was one of the biggest steaming turd ever seen! It sold on the name R* and the "Look at me! I'm a really violent man!" hype alone.

I could really do with a new Hitman installment however. I love IO Interactive's vision of a stealth game, minus the terrible enemy AI of course. Even a Classics HD Hitman collection would do it, even though I still own the 3 PS2 Hitman games.
As for Tenshu, I used to like that series during the PS1 days, but the 1st PS2 installment may have completely put me off for good.
Well, stealth games are just a part of the many casualties of war caused by the flood of FPS this gen.. -_-'