I recently picked up a VR headset (the Oculus Quest 2) and decided to play some games I had picked up from a Humble Bundle. The first game that I chose to play from that bundle was a title called Budget Cuts, a VR game that I had heard many positive things about but knew little of the premise or gameplay. Looking at the promotional images, it appeared to be an action game so imagine my surprise when I soon found out that the game was, in fact, a stealth game! This prompted me to think about and consider my thoughts when it came to stealth video games.
First, for those of you unfamiliar with the genre, a players priority in stealth video games is to avoid alerting the enemies, usually because the player is comparatively fragile with only a few hits leading to death. However, this does not mean that the player is powerless with a player typically able to kill unalerted enemies instantly. Other games may leave the player incapable of resisting in any meaningful way although I would typically see this decision as more appropriate to horror games.
I’ve typically avoided these games for a few reasons. As a kid, I hated feeling weak in a video game and, if I could not engage enemies directly, I tended to stop playing the game. As I grew up, I began to appreciate the concept of a stealth game but the next issue I found was with the AI. The AI of a stealth game is particularly crucial as they must be able to note small changes such as missing companions, changes in the environment etc. They must also have a more realistic line of sight compared to many other types of games as the player needs to be able to ascertain when it is safe to move out of hiding. This aspect, more than any other, has frustrated me in the past with enemies seemingly inconsistent in their ability to see the player, sometimes blind to the player as they are right beside them and sometimes able to spot the player from a great distance.
As I’ve mentioned before, I have typically avoided these games in the past, resulting in my lack of familiarity with many stealth series such as Metal Gear, Assassin’s Creed, Thief, etc. However, that is not to say that I’m entirely unfamiliar with this genre. One of the first stealth games that I can remember actively enjoying was Batman: Arkham Asylum. I had just begun to become interested in the Batman franchise and Batman: Arkham Asylum proved to be an excellent crash course on the character of Batman/Bruce Wayne, the various villains of the series (I absolutely loved Scarecrow’s character design) and how Batman used stealth to defeat his enemies.
It would be many years before I came across another stealth game series that grabbed my attention but that was what happened when I discovered the Dishonored franchise. With an appealing art style, an interesting cast and story and a variety of magic and tools to supplement your stealth, I ended up playing through all three games. However, despite how much I enjoyed these games, I did find it frustrating that to get the best ending, you had to avoid killing people which frequently led me to reload my save whenever I was spotted during my first playthrough (I would play far more aggressively during my second playthrough of a Dishonored title). That was why I was pleased during Dishonored: Death of the Outsider when I learned that I could kill a few people per mission without negatively affecting the ending.
Finally, returning to the game that inspired this topic, Budget Cuts (a VR title) proved initially frustrating due to a mix of my misunderstanding of many of the game mechanics (I did not know you could kill the robot guards until the third mission for instance) and my confusion over how to progress the story (took me a while to figure out what I was looking for). However, by the time I finished the game, I had gotten a grasp on many of the mechanics and decided to play through the game again to see whether this newfound understanding would lead to more enjoyment. It proved to be the case with a second playthrough proving to be more enjoyable than the first and I am now eager to play the sequel.
With regards to my thoughts on stealth in video games, I have gradually become more fond of the challenge and reward of playing in a stealth style. However, problems with AI as well as restrictions in gameplay can still prove to be quite annoying. Nonetheless, I am eager to try out more stealth series in the future (I own Metal Gear Solid 5 on PC but would like to play the previous entries before trying it out). Let me know your thoughts on stealth video games, what aspects of them you like and dislike, what some of your favourite titles in the genre are and any additional information you might have on the topic.
Thanks for reading and if you wish to seek any of the titles I mentioned, don’t hesitate to use amazon.co.uk or amazon.com for all of your needs! Also feel free to follow my curator page on Steam “JRPG Reviews” for thoughts and opinions on any JRPGs that I play and my YouTube channel “Victory Achieved Gaming” where I guide my friend through challenging games.