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What's the best stealth game of all time? Hitman 2: SA, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Thief II, or Metal Gear Solid 2?

Best Stealth game of all time?

  • Hitman 2: Silent Assassin

    Votes: 13 5.6%
  • Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

    Votes: 79 34.1%
  • Thief II: Metal Age

    Votes: 31 13.4%
  • Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty

    Votes: 48 20.7%
  • Other

    Votes: 61 26.3%

  • Total voters
    232

Spokker

Member
If we are talking pure stealth elements, then I'll throw in a vote for Hitman. It's isn't just a game of hidey hidey, but subterfuge as well. You can crouch and skip past enemies, sure, or you could don a costume and stealth your ass right in front of their faces. In some instalments, you can hide items in other items and an NPC unknowingly takes them inside where they will be waiting for you. You can come up with some clever strategies.
 

A.Romero

Member
I love MGS series with a passion and MGS2 really left a mark in me back then but I have to say Chaos Theory is better as a stealth game (only in that aspect, though).
 

stn

Member
Definitely Chaos Theory, it is a perfect stealth game. I enjoy the stealth in MGS as well but the camera angles and controls take it down a notch. Hitman 2 is also quite amazing but the stealth mechanics were much more refined in Blood Money.
 

Warnen

Don't pass gaas, it is your Destiny!
I’d say Alien Isolation. One of the few games were stealth really mattered.

Or Skyrim the way I played it :messenger_tears_of_joy:
 
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Woffls

Member
Really liked Silent Assassin back in the day, but I have played it very recently and it is straight up broken. Blood Money dunks all over it, as does the trilogy.

MGS2 is one of my favourite games, but MGS1-3 all play too awkwardly. MGS4 is far better to play, and MGSV is just another level; it’s not even fair.

Actual best stealth games:
Hitman WoA trilogy
MGSV
Alien Isolation
Deus Ex HR/MD
 

EDMIX

Member
When asking about the best stealth game of all time, 4 games come up more often than any other software (which coincidentally are among the best selling games in their franchises) and those 4 games are

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
85259-tom-clancy-s-splinter-cell-chaos-theory-xbox-front-cover.jpg


Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (original version)
220px-Metalgear2boxart.jpg


Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
2212321-box_hitman2.png


Thief II: The Metal Age
220px-Thief_II_-_The_Metal_Age_Coverart.png


Which of these 4 legendary and highly praised stealth titles do you think is the best? Or if you have a runner up you'd like to bring up select "other" in the poll and make mention of the game below.

Neither.

Metal Gear Solid 2 has an amazing story and amazing gameplay, nothing can take away from what they did....that being said, MGSV by default is the goat in terms of stealth, far beyond any MGS prior to it for just too many reasons.

MGSV has a shitty story, MGS fans know this, no debate from me, but in the area of stealth, its the best in the series easily.

The day and night cycle allows you to literally fucking HUNT your target how you feel just. Want to wait til its dark for the kill? Go ahead, want to wait til its day time to see the target better? Sure, want to take advantage of a storm as cover to kill your target? thats fine too, want to knock out the lights with C4 and kill them under the cover of darkness as a surprise, all that shit can be done. The openness of how the kill or rescue can be done is what makes MGSV a massive step above any other stealth game. I like those other stealth games listed btw, but the whole fixed, scripted set up was great for back then, its dated now and how MGSV was done makes much more sense from a gameplay perspective as you literally feel like YOU are making those choices on HOW you will take care of the kill and or rescue.
 

Great Hair

Banned
Ah, I see I'm not the only one who unironically considers Thief: Deadly Shadows one of the best Stealth games ever made.
That said, I'm genuinely curious as to your thought process for considering as the best above Thief II and Chaos Theory.
Not judging.
I also love that game. I'm currently on my third playthrough (with the Sneaky Upgrade, of course).
It was my entry to the series (thru one of those golden packs for pc i believe). =)
 
Let me preface by saying all of the options are legit amazing but if I had to pick one it would be MGSV. It was and is the best stealth sandbox out there bar none IMO.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
MGSV has great gameplay systems and controls but it takes waaaaaay more than that to make an actually great game. It's like playing a slightly less braindead Just Cause/GTA or something, anything you do will just work and you'd have to try hard to actually screw up in a way that means you may actually fail, die, etc.

Can you play like a Ninja and roleplay shit? Maybe, if you're into that, but then even expert Crysis players are doing crazy shit with that and it's not even a contestant in a poll like this for good reasons and all those reasons apply to MGSV just as well even if each aspect of it taken on its own seems to fit with these games.

The best mission and area design is in Ground Zeroes and it's all downhill once you get into Phantom Pain. Moments of greatness are few and far between, the bulk of the game is filler fluff with no thought put into it to make any strategy you device or any increase in playing skill feel like an accomplishment on any level.

And yes to make a great game you also need it to feel like a great experience from start to finish, whether that means a great story or an overall presentation that focuses on its good aspects so that it doesn't feel like it ever needs what it lacks differs by the game, and all those in the poll do a heck of a better job than V.

Dishonored, Thief Gold, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, MGS 1 & 3, Deus Ex, various Tenchu entries, some Commandos and Desperados games, Shadow Tactics, more Hitman entries, Mark of the Ninja, SWAT & Rainbow Six games and a bunch more stuff would be other worthy contenders in line before even considering MGSV.
 
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GametimeUK

Member
MGS2 is my favourite stealth game, but that's as a total package. I think other games do stealth better and in that regard I really enjoy Chaos Theory for it's slow and methodical approach. The new Hitman trilogy has a special place in my heart for its goofy social stealth too.

So many flavours of metaphorical stealth ice cream.
 
Chaos Theory is the correct answer.

Hitman can be a good stealth game, but it doesn't always particularly dictate it, which broadens it's appeal, but limits it's stealth.

Metal Gear can absolutely nail the stealth aspect at times, but lacks consistency. Similar to Hitman, some of the stealth mechanics can at times be unrealistic.

Theif 2 is decent as far as stealth goes I suppose, but it's only on pc I think. As with many pc exclusives, it's not nearly as good as some claim it to be.

Splinter Cell CT absolutely nails 3 aspects that almost all other games either get wrong, or fail to bother with entirely. The game setting is perfect for the type of game it is, the voice acting may very well be the best in all of gaming all time, and the stealth is as near perfection as we've gotten so far. I hear Blacklist is really good as well, but unfortunately I'll never know as I decided to boycott the game entirely when it came out.
 

GeekyDad

Member
Well, definitely not the best in most people's eyes (a 58 on Metacritic), but it's the game I had the most fun with:

SdDoezP.jpg


Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (PS2)

No pretense, no overly long cutscenes. Just hide, kill, repeat. It's a very shallow game in most respects, but it was pretty much exactly what I wanted from a stealth game. Fun, relaxing arcadey gameplay. Played the absolute hell out of it.
 
  1. Metal Gear Solid V
  2. Dishonored
  3. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
  4. Dishonored 2
  5. Splinter Cell: Blacklist
  6. Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
  7. Hitman Trilogy
  8. Deus Ex: Human Revolution
  9. Thief 2 (aged a lot for me)
  10. Alien: Isolation
 
Lmao who in their right mind would put Hitman 2 over Hitman Blood Money 😅🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️🤷🏼‍♂️
Well people actually brought Hitman so it's not that surprising. lol.

Well, definitely not the best in most people's eyes (a 58 on Metacritic), but it's the game I had the most fun with:

SdDoezP.jpg


Tenchu: Fatal Shadows (PS2)

No pretense, no overly long cutscenes. Just hide, kill, repeat. It's a very shallow game in most respects, but it was pretty much exactly what I wanted from a stealth game. Fun, relaxing arcadey gameplay. Played the absolute hell out of it.
What' strange is that Tenchu got worse pretty much every game in critical measurements. Pretty much all of them except the first were critical failures.
 

Imotekh

Member
It blows my mind that a light and sound monitor wasn't present in more games after Chaos Theory. Just as a piece of utility it isnt just useful information it offers so many gameplay levers... turn this off and it's dark, I can shoot or run through this undetected if its noisy etc.
 

Sub_Level

wants to fuck an Asian grill.
I am curious why OP specified only the original version of MGS2. The special edition only released a year later & greatly enhanced the game's content.
 

anthraticus

Banned
Why list Thief 2 and not 1 ? Many fans of the series prefer the og. (including me)

Both great and the pinnacle of stealth gaming though.
 

Jeeves

Member
If you want to tell me MGS2 is a better overall game than MGSV, fine. But if we're focusing on the stealth aspect, it's hard for me to picture anything topping V.

Thief II is also great from the couple of hours I've played.
 

Markio128

Member
The Legend Of Zelda OOT - hiding from guards behind hedges. And not a fucking cardboard box or night vision goggles were used. Proper hardcore.
 
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right, right. tell us more about this game which you dont anything about. Also tell us more how PC exclusives arent very good


Overcompensating with all those emojis doesn't change anything. It's a bare bones game, with a bare environment as well as stealth mechanics. There's absolutely nothing innovative here.

You're the same type of troll that automatically gives points to any game if its exclusive to pc. Yet every single time one of those exclusives ends up coming to consoles, it becomes apparent that it was mostly fraud.

Counter Strike was touted as having no equal on consoles, and was simply better. Until CS GO released on consoles and it became obvious to all that it was a simplistic shooter in every way, and was actually nothing more than an outdated fps.

PUBG was hyped as the second coming of Christ by the "pc master race". The console "peasants" just didn't understand how great and realistic it was... That is until it released on consoles and was proven to be yet another pc jankfest.

That's not to say that every game ends up that way, but it happens far more often than not. Thief is no different. Doesn't take anyone more than a few minutes watching that poorly outdated gameplay to see that.
 
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Dolomite

Member
Pure stealth elements? Chaos Theory No contest MGS2 is probably the best game on the list though stealth withstanding
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
Overcompensating with all those emojis doesn't change anything. It's a bare bones game, with a bare environment as well as stealth mechanics. There's absolutely nothing innovative here.

You're the same type of troll that automatically gives points to any game if its exclusive to pc. Yet every single time one of those exclusives ends up coming to consoles, it becomes apparent that it was mostly fraud.

Counter Strike was touted as having no equal on consoles, and was simply better. Until CS GO released on consoles and it became obvious to all that it was a simplistic shooter in every way, and was actually nothing more than an outdated fps.

PUBG was hyped as the second coming of Christ by the "pc master race". The console "peasants" just didn't understand how great and realistic it was... That is until it released on consoles and was proven to be yet another pc jankfest.

That's not to say that every game ends up that way, but it happens far more often than not. Thief is no different. Doesn't take anyone more than a few minutes watching that poorly outdated gameplay to see that.
Why don't you explain how it is outdated beyond graphics (every game in OP is, to different degrees)? Earlier you said you "guess" its stealth is good (so I don't know what makes it not qualify then, stealth is all it does, do you think its story is bad or something, cos it's actually pretty good, so?) and you "think" it's PC only, which was showing you've never even played it or know anything about it to judge it. So, what did you think makes its stealth good, and now suddenly in a following post apparently it's all bad and outdated in gameplay and everything else? You don't know anything about the game, its engine, AI features, player capabilities, anything. You chose some random video that a) makes everything, even shadows, super bright thanks to the "hd mod" and b) shows you a player that knows the game inside out and is able to exploit all of its AI and engine features without batting an eye while beelining from one objective or loot object to the next, which when you play you aren't aware of (nor do you get any kind of x ray vision/tags/objective markers, but you get organic and logical design you can figure out as a player with some grey matter) and need to get your own bearings and consult your rough in game maps, pick up clues, listen in on conversations, or whatever.

As far as its stealth goes, it has as many features as any modern stealth game. Your character can creep, walk, run, climb anything he can reach via jump or other means, rather than preset climb points, crouch and lean in various directions all helpful in points, the AI has different alert states and may be set to patrol, wander, guard things in place, have schedules, based on their logical role and mission and so on, there's sound propagation based on the physical properties of everything, carpet makes less sound, metal surfaces the most and it all carries differently, you can pick up bodies after knocking them out no different to any MGS other than not looking as fancy, you may pickpocket them without them noticing if they happen to have items you need like objective required keys, visible on their person without having to search them after the fact, different types of lights are interactive in different ways as you can blow out torches and candles in various ways, find switches, generators, etc., you have an increasing number of tools at your disposal that eventually means that, as level layouts eventually aren't conveniently laying out all the right surface types and darkness levels to let you freely wander so you basically device your own risky paths, etc. And all of it just building on 98's original game.

What's so outdated about any of that? Just because you watched some ninja player who knows the game inside out and exploits all the AI exact hearing and vision (without even a radar mind) and you don't even understand why he does all you see him do, what would go differently if he didn't do these exact steps you see as just random behavior that allows him to do anything he wants (and what he wants is apparently to bonk all heads), you don't even know what his objective is and any kind of progression and failure triggers, you just see him go from room to room taking out guards and looting items and it doesn't look as fancy as MGSV so it's bad?

This basically reeks of it being your first time seeing the game beyond having heard of it and its basic gist, after your own first kneejerk judgement of it, in an attempt to not investigate what it offers (at least try reviews that explain shit?) but to reinforce your pre existing, unwarranted opinion of it. Just play it, any toaster can run it nowadays and I guarantee you won't be the ninja in the video doing as you please and succeeding, just as people can exploit the AI of MGS, Spinter Cell, Crysis or pretty much any game and mess with it in effortless ways that do not at all showcase a player's actual experience when playing through them "blind" as anyone. Seeing as I just got in PC gaming around the year this released and it flew under the radar, was far from a commercial success, etc, I first played over a decade later and, yes, it's every bit as good (alongside the original) as anyone who appears like a fanboy will claim. Whether that makes it better than others is subjective.
 
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Why don't you explain how it is outdated beyond graphics (every game in OP is, to different degrees)? Earlier you said you "guess" its stealth is good (so I don't know what makes it not qualify then, stealth is all it does, do you think its story is bad or something, cos it's actually pretty good, so?) and you "think" it's PC only, which was showing you've never even played it or know anything about it to judge it. So, what did you think makes its stealth good, and now suddenly in a following post apparently it's all bad and outdated in gameplay and everything else? You don't know anything about the game, its engine, AI features, player capabilities, anything. You chose some random video without knowing anything about it that a) makes everything super bright thanks to the "hd mod" and b) shows you a player that knows the game inside out and is able to exploit all of its AI and engine features without batting an eye while beelining from one objective or loot object to the next, which when you play you aren't aware of (nor do you get any kind of x ray bision, objective markets, and so on, but you get organic and logical design you can figure out as a player with some grey matter) and need to get your own bearings and consult your rough in game maps, pick up clues, listen in on conversations, or whatever.

As far as its stealth goes, it has as many features as any modern stealth game. Your character can creep, walk, run, climb anything he can reach via jump or other means, rather than preset climb points, crouch and lean in various directions all helpful in points, the AI has different alert states and may be set to patrol, wander, guard things in place, have schedules, based on their logical role and mission and so on, there's sound propagation based on the physical properties of everything, carpet makes less sound, metal surfaces the most and it all carries differently, you can pick up bodies after knocking them out no different to any MGS other than not looking as fancy, you may pickpocket them without them noticing if they happen to have items you need like objective required keys, visible on their person without having to search them after the fact, different types of lights are interactive in different ways as you can blow out torches and candles in various ways, find switches, generators, etc., you have an increasing number of tools at your disposal that eventually means that, as level layouts eventually aren't conveniently laying out all the right surface types and darkness levels to let you freely wander so you basically device your own risky paths, etc.

What's so outdated about any of it? Just because you watched some ninja player who knows the game inside out and exploits all the AI exact hearing and vision (without a radar mind), and you don't even understand why he does all you see him do, what would go differnetly if he didn't do these exact steps you see as just random behavior, you don't even know what his objective in the mission is, you just see him go from room to room taking out guards and looting items and it doesn't look as fancy as MGSV so it's bad? Wut?
I played thief 2 in the early 2000's, but didn't finish it. So take your "you never even played it" and shove it up your ass. That's a weak counter to any argument.

In your butthurt attempt at white knighting the game, nothing you've said really counters my point. At it's foundation, yes it's a game based on stealth, and as such it does a pretty good job.

Before you get your panties in a wad, this is just my opinion. While they both were only a year or two apart, both thief 2 and splinter cell both released a game focused on stealth. Splinter Cell just did a better job of it. I think that while first person tends to better for shooters, that third person is preferable for stealth. The features you listed were all available in SC to my best recollection, and many were implemented better. It's also my opinion that SC's representation of stealth is much more believable from a realistic standpoint, not that I'm claiming any of them to be sims of any sort. Often times being more realistic places restrictions on games in order to maintain a semblance to real life, yet despite that... SC still offered more ways to encounter and disable opponents.

Finally, Splinter Cell did this all while having animations, graphics, voice acting, and a story that was so much better the two can't even be compared. Much of this was likely due to Ubisoft giving SC a bigger budget than the struggling Looking Glass studios could provide, but that doesn't change my opinion.

And that's what this thread is. Opinions. If you want to have yours, there's nothing wrong with that, but do please raise the fuck up off my nuts for having one as well.
 

Alexios

Cores, shaders and BIOS oh my!
You've not addressed anything I discussed here, why even pretend you respond to my post when you really aren't doing that and just go on ad hominem rants? Now you just go all "it's an opinan dood, let me has it" bs when you're the one who first tried to discredit others' opinion of a game, again with ad hominem. Rather than simply talk about what you think of it you had to talk about why fans don't think it's good or don't know any better and just deliberately or subconciously hype it over some platform wars or whatever you imagine (noone ever said that stuff about PUBG btw, fad as any for any enthusiast and don't go showing me some stupid casual articles to prove that wrong because obviously the game was successful on all platforms - 8 million copies on Xbone by summer 2018 - until f2p BR competition came so that would also disprove your opinion that it was only considered good by PC exclusivity bonus points from platform fanboys) because your opinion is better. Just read my last post, still waiting for an answer to the core question and how a game went from "I guess it's good stealth" to "it's poorly outdated in gameplay and every way" and how each of these is justified beyond "honestly, I did play it, I prefer SC, let me". If you can't merely discuss, don't fake it or play the victim. Well, too late, after pages of deflecting and showing an inability to rationally explain yourself, even if you now make up some actual reasoning like specific flaws in mission and level design, or some other actually critical aspect of it with more than just "poorly outdated" and other meaningless expressions, it won't justify your behavior.
 
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