There are a lot of video games out there and in this era of mobile and home-based gaming, the choices have never been greater. So how do you cut through the noise and find the “Best of” for any chosen topic?
Well, we’re here to help celebrate and shine a spotlight on some of the latest, greatest and unforgettable games through the years.
For our ongoing series of articles depicting the best video games, our attention this time turns to stealth-like games. From survival horror titles to 3D platform games, there’s a good choice to whet your appetite.
Of course, if we’ve missed any of your favorites, feel free to comment below and we’ll get them added on!
Alien: Isolation
Alien Isolation exceeded fans’ expectations when it was released. It’s one of those movie games that has remarkable stealth gameplay that’ll make you feel tense and anxious. In addition to excellent sound design and spooky imagery, this game evokes enough charm and horror satisfy many fans.
We follow Amanda Ripley, whose seeking answers to what happened to her mother while aboard a decrepit space station. However Amanda must come face to face with a random Xenomorph who has a hunger for human flesh. Through hiding and monitoring your environment, you must guide Amanda on her suspenseful endeavors.
Although you’ll be supplied with some weaponry, it’s very rare as you’ll genuinely be aiming to avoid all encounters with this game’s enemies. Visually, this title captures the old-school aesthetic of its source material. Items like clumpy keyboards to the writhed CRT monitors, allows this game to feel authentic to its time period. If you’re after a game with incredible horror elements and stealth-like gameplay, check out Alien: Isolation.
Hitman (Series)
This a series with an intriguing take on stealth and tactics. This game doesn’t involve players sneaking around their environments to defeat enemies. Hitman entices players to perform social-stealth-like actions to get the upper hand on their opponents.
From donning different disguises to blend into your environment to completing challenging spy-like missions, the Hitman series has enough charm to warrant your investment. In these games, players control an assassin named Agent 47, who must eliminate specific targets assigned to him by an International Agency.
You’ll be exploring many semi-open environments filled with wandering NPC’s. The games allow you to assassinate your targets in any fashion you want. However, it prefers that you tackle each case with stealth in mind. Alongside clever disguises, players will receive suppressed weaponry to take out their foes.
If you’re looking for a game that blends gameplay from Assassin’s Creed and Splinter Cell well, check out the Hitman games.
Styx: Shards of Darkness
Despite being a low-budget series, the Styx games have amassed a cult-like following. This game has you control a devilish-looking goblin character named Styx who completes various thief and assassin-like quests for his employers. The world he traverses is medieval in nature and evokes a gloomy tone.
Styx will be up against many powerful foes that’ll dwarf him in size. These foes hunger for violence and aren’t afraid to give players a challenging time. However, Styx isn’t as vulnerable as you’d expect. In this game, Styx can clone himself, turn invisible, dart under tables, and lay devious traps for his foes.
You’re given the option to avoid enemies or engage with them, though. Nonetheless, you can expect to develop more enjoyment for this game by fighting adversaries. This title features a fun co-op mode where you can have another player control one of Styx’s clones. The game contains some fun dialogue that’ll get a laugh out of you.
If you’re looking for a title with wonderful level design and satisfying stealth-like gameplay, check out Styx: Shards of Darkness.
Aragami 1+2
Aragami is one of those titles that flew under many gamers’ radars when it was released. Both games offer incredible settings and fun-filled action. In this third-person stealth game, you’ll control an assassin who has the power to command the shadows.
The second game’s campaign can be tackled alone or with a few partners. You’ll meet your friends in this entry’s hub village to embark on different quests that evoke ninja and assassin-like vibes. These quests promise to keep you and your allies preoccupied, so you’ll never feel bored.
This title offers many unlockable items for you to collect. You’ll attain these items by accomplishing certain tasks. This helps the game retain high replay value as its developers included multiple items and armor pieces for your to gather. This game’s stealth-like mechanics will place you in the mind of a ninja.
If you’re searching for an incredible co-op stealth-like game with fun missions and stellar visuals, check out both Aragami titles.
Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Metal Gear Solid is one of Konami’s most cherished franchises. While it saw some drama with the departure of Hideo Kojima, fans can’t deny the impact each game had on them. While most Metal Gear Solid titles offer incredible story beats, gameplay, and visuals, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is one of the series’ best.
This game takes place before the events of the original Metal Gear title. It follows the FOX agent Naked Snake as he attempts to rescue a Russian rocket scientist, ruin a super-weapon, and murder his former boss. Unlike previous games, this game adopts a 1960s Soviet jungle environment.
However, it retains the same stealth and infiltration gameplay and the fourth-wall-breaking humor fans loved from other entries. It entices players to sneak around their environments and lay their enemies to waste while hiding in the shadows. At the same time, Snake Eater included some new mechanics fans adored.
Some noteworthy mechanics include its hand-to-hand combat system and injury-and-treatment game mechanic. Alongside a compelling narrative with fun humor, Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater is regarded as the best entry in the series.
Thief: The Dark Project
When you think of stealth, the Thief series comes to mind. Developed by Looking Glass Studios, Thief: The Dark Project is a first-person stealth game that put many first-person shooter titles to shame with its innovations. It utilized light and sound as game mechanics and went on to influence popular stealth-oriented works like Splinter Cell and Hitman.
This game’s storyline is told throughout several missions. Players must perform countless actions to accomplish tasks like fighting foes or stealing particular artifacts. Completing these tasks will allow players to advance the game forward. Before starting a new level, the game allows players to choose from multiple difficulty options.
For instance, playing in a high-difficulty setting will force players to complete levels without killing people or swiping a certain amount of loot. The NPCs are intelligent and will make completing the game’s challenges feel rewarding. If you’re looking for a phenomenal stealth series with innovative mechanics, Thief: The Dark Project’s worth your time.
Outlast (Series)
Found Footage movies may have run their course, but horror games haven’t ceased to make people shiver in fear. Films like The Blair With Project and Paranormal Activity went on to influence many indie filmmakers and game developers alike because of their handling of the film technique.
Eventually, we’d receive titles like Outlast 1 and 2. These games mix found footage camera techniques with first-person game-play design well. Outlast 1 and 2 contain spooky imagery regarding horrid-looking assailants to bleak and messy terrains. This is a title that’ll render you helpless against your enemies.
Dodging, hiding, and sneaking are your three forms of combat in this game. While avoiding danger will linger in your mind throughout your play session, the game has you complete numerous puzzles to reach new destinations. These puzzles have some depth but aren’t too challenging to solve.
Fans searching for some fun psychological horror games should give both Outlast entries a shot.
Splinter Cell (Series)
Splinter Cell is one of Ubisoft’s cherished series. Many fans still clamor for the company to return the world that gave them the excellent protagonist Sam Fisher. These games harbor fun stealth and action-oriented game-play inspired by Konami’s Metal Gear Solid titles.
That said, these games relish their approach toward stealth and emphasis on light and darkness. This game encourages players to move through shadows and conceal their identities. Sam’s supplied with nifty equipment like his trademark night vision and thermal vision goggles to traverse through the game’s dim locations.
Like classic Resident Evil titles, Splinter Cell supplies Sam with light ammunition as additional ammo is difficult to come by. The weapons Sam receives evoke a spy-like aesthetic. For example, he’ll arm himself with a weapon capable of firing a camera that sticks to surfaces. This helps Sam perform surveillance from safe locales.
This game allows Sam to sneak up on his enemies from behind. Once he has his enemies at his disposal, he can quietly incapacitate or interrogate them. He can also use them as a shield if needed. As one can tell, this is a remarkable game from Ubisoft’s catalog that holds a special spot in many fans’ hearts.
Sly Cooper (Series)
Sly Cooper is another stealth-like icon who fans want to see a return to the limelight. This series follows the thief-like adventures of three friends, all of whom, are anthropomorphic animals. Each creature bears an incredible personality, ability, and unique form of gameplay.
Sly Cooper offers a stellar mix of 3D platforming and stealth-like gameplay. You’ll be sneaking past foes and delivering mighty blows with Sly’s trusty cane. You can also pickpocket items from enemies using this item. Sly’s friends Murray and Bentley offer a different approach toward gameplay.
As Bentley, you’ll find yourself in a cloak-and-dagger type of scenario. Essentially, Bentley can’t climb or hop that well, but he makes up for it with his arsenal of weaponry to immobilize foes and shatter their machines. Murray’s more direct and serves as the muscle for the team. Expect to fight hordes of enemies with this guy’s brute strength.
Each character adds something valuable to the team. While the games differ in the story, every tale leaves you with a satisfying ending. Although some fans have their gripes on the fourth entry, it has enough charm like the original trilogy to warrant your investment. Check out the Sly Cooper games if you’re in the mood for some fun stealth-like 3D platforming fun.
Assassin’s Creed 2
Unlike Splinter Cell, Ubisoft has no qualms with releasing newer entries for the Assassin’s Creed universe. While the games saw a massive shift in ideas, away from the asssassin/stealth game in recent times, many fans adored the earlier games. Assassin’s Creed 2 is one of the game’s best entries because of its protagonist, world, storyline, and gameplay improvements.
This game follows a gentleman named Desmond Miles who relives the genetic memories of his ancestor Ezio Auditore via a machine called the Animus. He hopes by traversing through this ancestor’s memories, he can bring an end to the Assassin-Templar feud that reared its head in the first game.
That’s not all though as fans will follow Ezio’s quest to seek vengeance on the people responsible for murdering his father and brothers. This is a nonlinear title that highlights hack-and-slash and stealth-like combat. Players will follow their targets via rooftops or wandering crowds to avoid detection.
Engaging with your foes can lead to mass hysteria, causing you to fail missions. Like Grand Theft Auto, players can wander the environment and toy with people. Keep in mind that your actions will lead to brutal consequences, so it’s best to follow the game’s set missions. You’ll also be teaming up with Leonardo da Vinci, who’ll aid Ezio in creating newfound equipment using codex pages left by the game’s first historical protagonist, Altair.
Dishonored
Dishonored is one of those stealth games with an invigorating storyline and lively world. This is a game that gives the player the freedom to tackle its protagonist’s missions through desirable methods. It follows a bodyguard named Corvo Attano who is framed for the murder of the Empress of the Isles.
This leads Corvo down a treacherous path with the goal of seeking revenge on the individuals who conspired against him. Corvo won’t be embarking on this blood-seeking journey alone. He’ll be aided by a resistance group called the Loyalists and a powerful magic-granting being called the Outsider.
This game features many self-contained environments seeping in missions for players to tackle. There’s also a hub area where Corvo can attend mission briefings, meet allies, and receive upgrades and new items. The game’s difficulty system affects how the world treats you.
The higher the difficulty, the more challenging your adventure in this world will be. You can approach the game’s multiple tasks in any manner you deem fit. Exploring new levels opens new paths and alternative ways for completing missions.
The story can shift depending on your player’s actions and the magical items can be combined to create neat effects. Despite being an older title, the Dishonored games offer enough memorable and fun-filled content to delight you.
So, there we have it, our pick for the best video games featuring stealth through the years!
What do you think of our picks? Do you agree? Are there any notable omissions? Let us know in the comments below!
No mention of the Thief trilogy? Lol!