From Metal Gear to Tenchu to Dishonored, stealth has played an important role in video games for decades now. A great stealth mechanic is truly so😼mething magnificent to behold. They can open up unique scenarios to the player,🔴 or just give them an additional challenge to pursue.
The thing is, all stealth mechanics are not cre🐼ated equally. And, sometimes, even a solid stealth mechanic may just not make sense in a certain game. There are definitely a number of titles that have included stealt🐽h that, at the end of the day, would be better played using the other systems available.
Updated March 9, 2023 by James Kennedy: With talk of a new Splinter Cell on the horizon, and the rapidly approaching release of a new Assassin's Creed title, we couldn't help but reflect on the stealth genre. But, while we thought back fondly on some of the best implementations, we also couldn't help better remember the less-great uses of this storied mechanic. So, it seemed like now was as good a time as any to give this list an update. We have added two titles where stealth just doesn't feel like the best way to play. This includes a title where it doesn't feel like an efficient way to play the game and another where it feels a little too effective.
12 Warframe
This is a tough one. When it comes to Warframe, the stealth feels really well-thought-out. There are systems stacked on systems here. Enemies have different levels of awareness, alarms can be triggered which will affect said awareness, you need to avoid security cameras and turrets, taking them out from the shadows in order to maintain your cover. It certainly isn't an afterthought. So then, what's the issue? It is so damn slow and inefficient!
Don't get us wrong, stealth should be slow, but in Warframe? A game where half of the appeal is zipping through stages at an absurd speed? It just feels like such an incredibly counterintuitive way to play the game. Look, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:if you want to roleplay as a ninja, you can have some fun stealthing your way through missions. But every other way to play the game is going to be more efficient. Warframe is at its best when played at a breakneck pace, and you aren't going to get that with stealth.
11 Fallout 4
The Fallout series has long been a game that rewards a variety of builds. There have been stealth-specific perks included in this franchise since the first title in the series. And hey, those games are great fun when played with a stealth build! However, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fallout 4 is a whole other matter. Unlike the isometric titles, stealth doesn't carry much of a challenge here. Instead, stealth builds start extremely effective, and grow substantially more effective as the game progresses.
The one thing Fallout 4 improved upon is the gunplay, but stealth builds barely have to ever deal with that. Outside a few encounters with robots, you will be able to crouch-walk your way through the world, without any semblance of challenge. The stealth mechanics aren't particularly complex or nuanced, but crouch around with a silenced pistol and clear the game. It is like playing the gamဣe as an overpower🔜ed turtle. If that is your jam, by all means, stealth away. But we think the game simply plays better when using any other tactic.
10 Deathloop
In a lot of ways, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Deathloop feels like a spiritual successor to the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Dishonored games. Those games have fantastic stealth. And so does Deathloop. However, it seems like the developers went out of their way to encouraꩲge you to let loose with Colt. While the Dishonored games incentivize you to play through the game without ever harming a hair on the head of a single enemy, Deathloop isn’t about that life.
Instead, Deathloop is a much more action-centric t🍃ake on the Dishonored style of gameplay. Yes, you will absolutely use a lot of stealth in Deathloop, but you should also engage in frenetic firefights where you can use your i𝔉mpressive suite of powers to create absolute mayhem. And hey, if you do want to do a run that is entirely stealth-based, you can always do that on another loop. There will be no long-lasting detriment to letting loose.
9 Skyrim
Skyrim allows for a stealthy style of play, and certainly, there are going to be some thieves out there that swear by it, but it just doesn’t feel great. At the beginning of the game, whe🌳n your stats are on the low side, it makes the experience feel like a complete crapshoot; then late♌r, when you have your sneaking stats fully upgraded, stealth just breaks the game. Talk about going from extreme to extreme.
Also, why choose to crawl everywhere you go when you could be 168澳洲幸运5开奖꧟网:screaming so loud you send o𝓡ut shockwaves? Or using incredibly powerful, arcane magic? Or turning into a werewolf and going on a rampage? We get it, maybe you want to roleplay as a 💛sne✱ak. Understandable. It just doesn’t feel like Skyrim is at its best when you are skulking around.
8 ꦇ ꧟ Cyberpunk 2077
While not a lot worked out of the gate in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Cyberpunk 2077, there was one thing that felt prett💙y good: the gunplay. It didn’t break new ground, and it certainly isn’t Doom Eternal, but the guns had a nice feel to them. Do you want to know what didn’t feel good? You probably see where this one is going… It’s the stealth!
From the not-so-great takedown animations (the sleeper hold is particularly bad) to enemies seemingly seeing you through solid objects; the stealth here feels pretty underwhelming. Even when it worksღ, Cyberpunk 2077 just doesn’t feel like it is at its best when you are us💜ing stealth. And, the thing is, it doesn’t always work. Our recommendation is to save your knees from the crouching and just go in all guns blazing.
7 Assassin’s ♎Creed: Odyssey
It feels odd to criticize stealth in an 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Assassin’s Creed game. Traditionally, these ti🎃tles were, first and foremost, stealth games. However, as things have progressed, action has become more of a central component. In Odyssey, you aren’t even an assassin anymore. Now you are an outgoing mercenary.
It almost feels as though the stealth mechanics are a vestigial limb here. It isn’t that they don’t work, they just don’t feel like they fit the character of Kassandra. You will probably need to stealth your ꦉway through some of the outpostsꦿ, and occasionally sneak around gaggles of enemies, but the game is at its best when you are dodging sword strikes and kicking people off of cliffs.
6 ﷺ Fable: The Lost Chapte💃rs
Peter Molyneux, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Fable’s director, is well known for pushing his team to add as many features as they💛 possibly can. He wa🐼s known to occasionally promise the moon. Fable is one of the best examples of that not necessarily playing out well. While his ambition is admirable, it would sometimes lead to things like the stealth mechanics in Fable.
To call Fable’s stealth underbaked would be a huge understatement. Stealth in Fable reall♚y doesn’t open up any unique or interesting gameplay scenarios. Instead, it just slows the game to a crawl. Fable was very clearly not a game that was designed to be played using stealth and gamers are better off ignoring the existence of the stealth mechanics in this game altogether.
5 Marvel's Spider-Man
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Marvel's Spider-Man clearly borrows a lot from 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Arkham Asylum, which is a game that provides a great stealth experience. As Spider-Man, you can definitely approach things in a more stealthy manner. You can swing in, string people up, and take oꦅut goons one by one.
But the stealth style just feels comparatively slow to the dynamic web-swinging combat. At the end of the day, Spider-Man is a game that is at its best when you are fighting off waves of enemies, hurling objects at people, performing swinging kicks, and webbing people to the side of buildings. What works for Batman isn't necessarily a good fit for Spider-Man.
4 📖 Hotline Miami
Hotline Miami can be played very stealthily. You can weave in and around the stages. You can use quiet weapons to dispatch your enemies. And it plays well this way. But that isn't really168澳洲幸运5开奖网: the gameplay it is known for. It is at its best when things degrade into a scramble. Blowing doors down, running away, turning a corner, and tossing a bat directly into someone's face. That is Hotline Miami at its best.
So, while it fꦜeels like stealth is something you may want to flirt with, it would be a shame if it was the only way you played the game. Instead, we suggest that you embrace the chaos and let your inner animal out.
3 Wolfenstein: The New Order 🥃
This 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Wolfenstein reboot wasꦕ an absolute treat. This is a game that somehow manages to be incredibly poignant and sincere, while also being extraordinarily silly and schlocky. It plays well, too. The guns have great feedback, and the combat is vꦐisceral.
There is also stealth. The stealth stuff is… fine. It isn’t terrible. It doesn’t ruin theᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚ game. However, when your two options are incredibly engaging, heart-pumping action, or perfectly okay stealth, it feels like th🍌e option you should choose is pretty obvious.
