WHAT TO PLAY
Stealth games
57 games in the catalog
A stealth game rests on a simple trade: the player is weaker than the world around them, so they have to avoid it. Instead of a fight you get observation, patience and route planning around patrols, cameras and lights. It is less a separate kind of action than a way of building levels, one in which moving quietly is a sensible choice and not just the slower option.
The roots go back to the early 1980s, when the first games about sneaking past guards appeared, such as Castle Wolfenstein in 1981. It became a genre of its own in 1998, when Metal Gear Solid, Thief and Commandos all came out, each taking the idea in a different direction: cinematic, through the eyes of a thief, and as real-time tactics.
It lasted because it gives the player the feeling of having made a plan. A clean infiltration pays off more than a shootout, and today stealth is part of action games of every kind, from consoles to virtual reality.
Today (2015 onwards)
12 games in the catalogAfter 2015 sneaking split in several directions. Metal Gear Solid V offered an open world where the player chooses how to approach a base, and the new Hitman (2016) released large levels in parts and expected them to be replayed. Virtual reality gave sneaking a body: in Budget Cuts you teleport and peek around corners with your own head. There were playful twists too, such as Untitled Goose Game, where stealth is used to annoy people. And remakes like Metal Gear Solid Delta show that the old methods still hold up.
Switch 2 Hitman World of Assassination - Signature Edition
The complete Agent 47 trilogy finally runs on Switch 2 without needing to stream.
PS5 Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater
A faithful remake of Kojima's classic about Naked Snake; camouflage, CQC, and cooking food in the jungle.
Series Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection Vol. 1
Five key entries in Konami's stealth series together in one package, including development materials.
PS4 Sniper Elite 5
Odstřelovačský stealth z Normandie na PS4, s plným obsahem ale hrubší grafikou.
PS4 Hitman 3
Závěr trilogie o agentu 47 doběhl i na starší PlayStation, jen s delším nahráváním.
Quest Espire 1: VR Operative
Stealth action inspired by Metal Gear Solid; a robotic operative with manual weapon reloading.
Switch Untitled Goose Game
A short, infectiously funny game about a devious goose terrorizing an English village.
PCVR Budget Cuts
A stealth VR action game with a portal that reveals a room before you step into it.
PC Hitman 2
A return to sprawling sandbox levels where Agent 47 finds dozens of ways to reach the target.
PS4 Assassin's Creed Chronicles: India
A 2.5D stealth platformer outside the main series; Arbaaz Mir gets caught up in a dispute between the British, Sikhs and cults.
PS4 Hitman
Jediná verze, která hned v roce 2016 nabízela bonusový příběh The Sarajevo Six.
PS4 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain
Hideo Kojima's last game under Konami, and the series' first entry with a truly open world.
The HD generation (2005–2014)
19 games in the catalogWith stronger consoles stealth stopped hiding only in dark corridors. Hitman: Blood Money (2006) was built on large levels where a killing could be staged as an accident. Splinter Cell: Conviction (2010) changed the rhythm: you mark targets and then take them out quickly. Batman: Arkham Asylum brought sneaking into superhero action, and Dishonored added a short teleport and a chaos system where the world changes with the number of people you kill. Mark of the Ninja (2012) showed that sneaking works in 2D too, and Ground Zeroes (2014) moved it into an open base.
PS3 Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes
A compact prologue to Phantom Pain; infiltrating Camp Omega hinted at the direction of the whole game.
PC Thief
A reboot of the 1998 stealth classic; Garrett returns to a dark steampunk city.
PS3 Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time
Sly Cooper travels through time to save the vanishing pages of his family chronicle.
Wii U Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Blacklist
The last entry in the stealth series; the command aircraft Paladin serves as a base for missions.
X360 Dishonored
Supernatural powers and total freedom of approach in the plague-ridden Dunwall.
PC Hitman: Absolution
Agent 47 moves closer to cinematic storytelling; a new Instinct ability helps read the environment and blend into crowds.
3DS Metal Gear Solid: Snake Eater 3D
A port of Snake Eater to 3DS with stereoscopic 3D and camera control via the Circle Pad Pro.
PS3 Metal Gear Solid HD Collection
A remastered trio of MGS2, MGS3, and Peace Walker with modernized controls.
PS3 Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker HD Edition
Kapesní Peace Walker poprvé s druhou páčkou a velkým obrazem v obýváku.
PSP Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker
Almost a mainline entry in the series; base building + co-op.
X360 Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Conviction
The series' most pronounced turning point; Sam Fisher trades quiet stealth for fast, aggressive strikes.
PS3 Batman: Arkham Asylum
One night in an asylum taken over by the Joker; the Freeflow combat system defined the genre.
The arrival of 3D (1995–2004)
20 games in the catalogWith 3D graphics guards finally looked in a real direction and the player could stand in shadow. 1998 brought three takes at once: Metal Gear Solid with cinematic sneaking and a radar, Thief with a burglar who relies on light and on the sound of his steps on different floors, and Commandos with real-time tactics and vision cones. Hitman added disguises, Splinter Cell around 2002 a visibility meter and dynamic shadows, Manhunt slow, quiet kills. Boktai stayed an oddity, with the real sun affecting the game through a sensor in the cartridge.
Xbox Hitman: Contracts
The third Hitman, framed as the feverish memories of a wounded Agent 47 on the brink of death.
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
Considered by many the pinnacle of the series; a Soviet jungle, camouflage, and hunting for survival.
Xbox Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
The second Splinter Cell deepens the stealth-in-shadows gameplay; Sam Fisher against bioterrorism.
Xbox Thief: Deadly Shadows
The only entry of the trilogy about the thief Garrett on a console; it rewards sneaking more than fighting.
GCN Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
The second installment of the spy series starring Sam Fisher; shadow and stealth remain the core of the game.
GBA Boktai: The Sun Is in Your Hand
Stealth action using real sunlight (the original had a solar sensor). A Konami curiosity.
PS2 Manhunt
One of the most controversial titles of the generation; a prisoner kills for a snuff film director.
Xbox Metal Gear Solid 2: Substance
An expanded version of Kojima's Sons of Liberty with content the PS2 version never had at all.
PC Hitman 2: Silent Assassin
Deliberate sandbox murder; disguises and staged accidents replace noisy shootouts.
Xbox Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell
It made agent Sam Fisher famous; the game calculated incoming light for perfect hiding.
PS2 Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty
Kojima's narrative audacity - after the famous prologue, the inexperienced Raiden takes over from Snake.
Win9x Hitman: Codename 47
Introduced the bald hitman; each level is an open-ended murder puzzle.
8- and 16-bit (1986–1994)
4 games in the catalogIn 1987 Konami built Metal Gear on the idea that the player should avoid a fight: the soldier Solid Snake enters an enemy base without weapons, and guards watch their own field of view. Each screen was a small room that could be crossed one at a time, which was enough for the hardware of the day. The 1990 sequel added a visible cone of vision on the radar, crawling, and noises that could lure guards away. Meanwhile in Britain games like The Great Escape appeared, where a prisoner had to follow the daily routine so as not to arouse suspicion.
MSX Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
A sequel years ahead of its time - the radar and ideas the world wouldn't see again until the later Solid Snake.
NES Metal Gear
The cornerstone of the stealth genre; here Kojima first showed that running away is better than fighting.
ZX Saboteur II
The sequel to Saboteur! starring the ninja Nina; stealth action before the term even existed.
ZX The Great Escape
Patient planning of an escape from a POW camp instead of a shootout; attentiveness is the weapon here.
The beginnings (until 1985)
1 games in the catalogIn the early years there was no special word for sneaking. Computers had little memory and simple graphics, so a guard usually just walked a fixed route and the player had to slip past at the right moment. Castle Wolfenstein (1981) added disguises in stolen uniforms and searching fallen guards, but it was still mostly about action. Saboteur! in 1985 sent the player into a warehouse as a ninja who steals a disk and runs, mixing quiet movement with close combat. Stealth was a side tactic then, not a principle of its own.
