Open-world gamesare one of the best blessings that modern gaming has bestowed upon all of us. Not only because we have been able to visit some truly magnificent places, but also because of the newfangled mechanics and addictive activities that have made exploring these worlds so satisfying.
10 Best Open World Stealth Games
Explore the world from the shadows.
However, not all of these inclusions spark joy, and in fact, some of them can feel like afterthoughts, crowbarred into the experience as a half-baked idea or one that feels crammed in there out of obligation to tick all the boxes.
In case you haven’t guessed, we are talkingabout stealth in open-world games. Something that can enrich an open-world campaign but, in a lot of cases, tends to slow the pace down, frustrate players, and often comes out of left field, too.
So, to make sure you aren’t caught off guard, here are some great open-world games that happen to feature some awful stealth sections and/or mechanics.
10The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
No Need For Potions of Invisibility
I want to tread quite carefully with this one, as we all know that the only way to properly play Skyrim is by taking on the role of a stealth archer. But, there’s a reason for that.
You see,stealth in this game is pretty much broken, as players will be able to pick off enemies from a distance, and even if you do shoot them and they live,the pointy arrow sticking out of their penetrated stomach still might not be enough to alert them to your position.
Combine this with the fact that,when leveled up, stealth becomes so useful that you may effectively walk right through enemy camps without any need to be sneaky, and you have one of the most laughable stealth systems ever made.
Credit where it’s due; it’s fun to play around with, but in terms of authenticity, it’s not going to sate the appetite of true stealth fans.
9Kingdom Come Deliverance 2
Shadows Hide You, Blacksmith
Kingdom Come: Deliverance II
Kingdom Come Deliverance 2is a masterclass in RPG game design and could easily be a contender for this year’s GOTY. However, even though most of the game is flawless, the stealth mechanics leave a lot to be desired.
The issue here is that, unlike a lot of the intentionally cumbersome mechanics on offer in this realistic RPG, the stealth mechanics are temperamental and unfair most of the time.
The enemy line of sight is hard to decipher; stealth takedowns are very inconsistent no matter how masterfully you catch your foes off-guard, and the various stealth perks do very little to help make stealth less of a burden.
Plus, unless you change into your sneaky clothes, you’ll alert the whole camp of enemies before you even emerge from the bushes. It’s a brilliant game, but it’s very much in spite of its rather underwhelming stealth.
8STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Nowhere To Hide, Literally
STALKER 2: Heart of Chornobyl
When it comes to Eurojank games, it seems that most gamers are all too willing to accept these games for their shortcomings, merely writing them off as ‘part of their charm.’
But, this is a cop-out I don’t align with, and in the case of the most recent STALKER title, provided you don’t do the heavy lifting yourself and fix it with mods, the stealth within the game is piss poor.
The AI is not up to standard in this title, as they can spot you from miles away, and always seem to know your position, no matter whether you’re behind cover or peering just over the horizon.
Plus, the brutal nature of the game then punishes you immediately with groups of enemies melting your health in an instant, even if you couldn’t have feasibly been any more inconspicuous.
So, here’s a tip. Just go in guns blazing because laying low won’t do you much good anyway.
Better To Be Bold & Brash
As you might have seen in my recent review,I showered praise on Atomfall, Rebellion’s new immersive sim. Mainly due to the emergent gameplay and player freedom, but also because of the strong combat foundations borrowed from the Sniper Elite series.
That said, one thing the game does not implement well is stealth. It’s an option in combat, and, situationally, can work wonders.
However,due to the enemy AI being rather unintelligent, the sound design not allowing players to decipher where enemies are, and the alternative of gunning them down often being much more viable, there’s little call for stealth here.
The fact that enemies won’t attack on sight and the ability to play passively is a nice touch, but in terms of actually trying to be a silent assassin, you’ll struggle as the game simply doesn’t give you enough tools for the job.
6Star Wars Outlaws
Better, But Still Boring
Star Wars Outlaws
While updates after release have made Star Wars Outlaws a much better experience in terms of stealth, it’s still worth looking back at just how awful it was on launch, as remnants of a boring, frustrating stealth system still linger today.
At launch, the game featureda series of forced stealth sections where players would need to take out enemies without being spotted, and if you were, then you’re pushed right back to the beginning to try again.
This was infuriating, mainly because the enemy detection was inconsistent, but even now that stealth is optional, you would never choose to engage with it.
The stealth approach lacks depth, and usually leads to you breaking out your blaster anyway, so why would you waste time trying to ghost through enemies?
It’s better now, but it’s still another example of a paint-by-numbers open-world game we have come to expect from Ubisoft.
5Days Gone
Freakers, Not Sneakers
You would think that, with games like The Last of Us as inspiration, not to mention the novelty of zombies to play around with, that Days Gone would be a masterclass in stealth design. But sadly, this is far from the case.
It’s another story of a game with inconsistent enemy sight lines, rudimentary stealth mechanics, world design that is crafted for wild combat as opposed to careful, methodical stealth, and various story missions with annoying fail states for being spotted.
Essentially, it’s all the things you don’t want to see when engaging with stealth, but what makes it so upsetting is that it’s clear that the game has so much potential for stealth design.
Sure, there are some fun moments where sneaking up on Hordes and downing them in one fell swoop will perhaps fool you into thinking the stealth is magnificent. But in truth, it’s okay at best and irritating at worst.
4Assassin’s Creed 3
Assassin’s Creed III
For a series that prides itself on allowing players to embody various stealth assassins from generations past, Assassin’s Creed has a pretty patchy track record when it comes to offering games that excel in stealth design.
The series has provided excellent stealth, and even the polarizing recent title AC Shadows achieved such feats. But, for every high, there has been a low, and for me, AC3 is probably the worst offender.
Combat was much more effective than stealth in this game, completely going against the blueprint of games that had come before.Plus, enemy detection was awful and there were various moments where you could become ‘desynchronized’ and would be forced to retry sections.
AC Valhalla definitely runs this one close, but for me, AC3 is a game that, intentionally or not, actively tries to deter the player from using stealth. Which, in a stealth-based game, is a pretty big fumble.
3Hogwarts Legacy
No Invisibility Cloak Required
Hogwarts Legacy
As a lover of the retro Harry Potter movie tie-in games, I can say that I know firsthand how well stealth can work with regard to the Harry Potter franchise. However, it seems like the developers of Hogwarts Legacy knew this just as well as I did; they just didn’t have the follow-through to implement it well.
In the older titles, you would not be able to go out at night, you’d have to avoid prefects or lose house points, and there was a genuine sense of tension in the air.
Hogwarts Legacy tries to match this, but in reality, it’s only something that applies in a few select quests but never really affects your time in the overworld, and it’s a damn shame.
It’s an example of a half-baked premise that would undoubtedly elevate the experience had it been given more time in the oven. But alas, it remains a lukewarm, unfinished feature that promises a lot but delivers very little to this day.
2Elden Ring
If You Go Down To The Woods Today…
Elden Ring
While there are very few stealth sections in Elden Ring, the one that does feature in the game is enough of a sample size for us to know that we never want to see another FromSoftware stealth section ever again.
This section appears in the Shadow of the Erdtree DLC, specifically in the Abyssal Woods, as you make your way toward Midra, Lord of the Frenzied Flame.But, to get anywhere near this boss, you’ll need to navigate a mandatory stealth section through the woods, avoiding the cheap Untouchables that call this place home.
It’s so out of place as it slows the pace down drastically and goes against the gameplay principles established across the vanilla game and the DLC. Plus, the choice makes the Abyssal Woods a horrible place to explore because of having no access to Torrent.
I can’t fault Elden Ring for many things, but this is one small area in which FromSoft dropped the ball. I guess they are human, after all, huh?
1Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
When Can I Be Spider-Man Again?
Marvel’s Spider-Man 2
The modern Marvel’s Spider-man series is like poetry in motion, as players can embody the friendly neighborhood Spider-man and swing through the streets of NYC with style and grace. Then, if you need to stop some crime, bust some skulls, or inexplicably catch some pigeons, you can do that with just as much style and grace.
However,the cathartic swinging and action-packed fun comes to a grinding halt when Peter’s love interest, MJ, gets involved.
These sections are instant fail stealth sections where you must play as MJ, who is only able to down enemies with silent attacks with a taser. This, in theory, is a fine setup, but sadly, the AI patterns and the enemy detection are awful throughout these sections.
Playing as MJ is nothing more than a chore that gets in the way of doing what you want to do, and while she enriches the plot from a gameplay perspective, she only serves to drag down the whole experience.
