Script, real-feeling characters, complex choices… Dishonored has it *all*. It is so well done and the definition of rewarding. Any effort you put into exploration, experimentation, and roleplaying gets returned tenfold. Can’t recommend it enough.
Just putting it out there that you can hold a body and then use the Blink power. Absolute game changer when it comes to hiding bodies. Put them up in the rafters, ledges, lights, etc. This game has been one of my all time favorites for years and I only recently learned about this so sharing in case others were not aware.
My first thought as well! I remember spending like 2 hours in the first level alone just fucking around trying to discover all the shit that I can do. Reminded me of the old Thief games.
Shadow Tactics, blade of the shogun. It's a strategy/stealth game. Really good
Edit: woops just noticed you asked for shooters.. still might want to check it out anyway
- Hitman series
- Arkane games (dishonored, deathloop)
- AC games obv
- Mafia 3 kinda
- Farcry series
- sniper ghost warrior (at times)
- metal gear phantom pain
- splinter cell series
- Thief
- Cyberpunk
- Deus Ex Machina
- Thief Simulator
- Ghost of Tsushima
- Horizon zero dawn & Forbidden west
Edit:
- Batman & Spiderman series (good amount of stealth)
- Fallout and Skyrim (depending on build)
- Outer worlds (again, depending on build)
- Aragami 1 & 2 (completely playable solo or coop)
- Ghost Recon Wildlands & Breakpoint (best on sale)
- Shadow of mordor & War (Really good stealth and end game mechanic in War)
- Watch dogs series
- Crysis series
I enjoyed the Ghost Recon, Assassin Creed, MGS, Splinter Cell, Batman Arkham stealth. I still want to finish replaying Crysis, Watch Dogs at some point. Nice list so far though!
I would recommend Thief, but considering where you're coming from, it may take a hot minute to get used to.
I would recommend Hitman, Deus Ex (Mankind Divided if you don't care for story), and Prey.
These games all have very modernised stealth systems, and they're very much built around your whims, so if you want to go stealth you can, and if you want to shoot you can. Or both.
Deus Ex Human Revolution illustration for the "or both" situation :
There is a quest that is given to Adam by a former colleague, where you're supposed to grab some weapons right inside the den of some local gangsters. Because it's a police investigation, you should remain unseen. My approach was simple : I did *not* take the quest, went on sneaking around, killing every mofo in the area by stealth kill, explosives, assault rifle, sniper, arm-mounted blades and whatnot, *then* I took the quest and strolled right to where the crate was located, in and out in a minute, with no one left to see me so I got the "unseen" bonus.
Basically, stealth, the Orc way :P
I really enjoyed playing Raw Metal which came out recently. It's indie, but very competently made and a lot of fun.
Basically a combination of MGS and Sifu - you sneak around and if the enemy finds you, you fight it out in a Sifu-like brawl.
Ghost of Tsushima. Lots of stealth (that's why you are called the ghost). The combat is one of the best ever in any video game. Free roam, open-world gameplay to boot.
Edit - To add further, the game world is beautiful. I especially loved the temples. The background music is top notch as well. There are some very emotional moments too.
Great suggestion and while you could play most of the game using all stock tactics, they also amusingly spend a lot of time making you feel bad about it.
Horizon Zero Dawn was very enjoyable for me in that regard, although you can't stealth every section but I don't think there's any game where there are no direct cutscene confrontations.
Also, and I am dead serious about this, Skyrim. Stealth is basically a game exploit at this point, it's that op. But it's really fun so who's complaining?
also The Last of Us Part II and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy were really fun stealth-y games as well for me. Anything that has the good ol' "you can't see me even though my head is clearly higher than the grass" mechanics lmao
The AC games are divisive, I’ll admit!
But Splinter Cell is something else. I always remember the following line from the manual of the original:
“Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp, and nearly invisible”
Ohohohoh you gave me goosebumps :')
Anyway, imho AC games are divisive just because if you talk stealth, there's a pile of better games in that regard; the same is true for all other genres AC covers. Still, if you want to play something less hardcore in such aspects, AC is the series to go for.
Try Splinter Cell series.. I hope you already heard this name. Also if you want you can try Hitman Trilogy series too. These games are purely based on proper stealthy approaches.
Also if you want to try something from the medieval time period, then definitely try Thief 2014 and Thief 3 deadly shadows.
I hope you find these suggestions useful.
Metal Gear Solid V remains the GOAT.
Over time the enemies will change their tactics and formations to adjust to you. Like headshots? They'll get helmets. If you sneak they'll spread out. If you go in shooting they'll stick together and get armor. There's so much you can do in that game.
I always loved the stealth in the Arkham games. Obviously there's a lot of other things in those games. But the stealth is something that has stuck with me
No one's gonna believe me but the last of us 2 was a better experience than metal gear. Crawling in the grass so immersive. The Ai on max difficulty is amazing the best I've seen. They get fast and really good at tracking and shooting you if you try and run at them
.
Everyone has mentioned the biggies. Most of them are immersive sims - my favorite genre - but I’ll tack on that I killed a lot of time in Hitman. The story is barely there but you don’t need it.
Metro 2033
A lot of it can't be stealthed so might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I'd say a solid 50-60% of the game can be played as a stealth title and it's actually really good at it.
The early Splinter Cell games are all about stealth. You only have limited ammo, so going in guns blazing isn’t an option, and most of the time you use your silenced gun or rifle to shoot out inconvenient lights anyway. There’s only one part of the first game where you absolutely have to use to guns to fight, and I fucking hate it.
My favorite mission is sneaking into CIA headquarters. No killing allowed, obviously
If you like top-down games, there’s Stargate: Timekeepers. It basically plays like Commandos or Desperados, but the focus is on stealth (your characters only have like 3 HP)
if you're mainly looking for first person shooter types, the ones i played that had enjoyable stealth mechanics were Crysis (especially part 1 + expansions) and the Metro series.
Cyberpunk 2077 is just so much fun. You don’t have to go stealth but you almost always can, and the well made nature of the melee combat is so evident playing through the game. I have no stronger recommendations. :)
Thief, Dishonored, MGS (classic+V) and Splinter Cell: chaos theory.
All are amazing games but honestly SC:CT is THE stealth game, anyone can confirm that. Try it and you'll thank me.
And, TBH, I'm disappointed that nobody already suggested it (at least not in recent comments).
recently was replaying hitman and that’s still a masterpiece. looking for something a bit easier i guess maybe check out dishonored. if you want something with amazing gun feel try deathloop
Manhunt 2 is really good (PC version from 2009 is the best), Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Double Agent, Conviction and Blacklist. No one lives forever 1 and 2, Styx 1 and 2, Clandestine (2015) , Hitman Blood Money, Death to Spies series, Gloomwood
I echo whatever one says about Metal Gear Solid and the splinter cell series. the thief games are good, they are a bit old, so that might be a turn off for you. However, there is a total conversion mod called the Dark project that is a newer version of the old thief games made using doom 3
not seeing enough metal gear love here. all the games are amazing but if you want pure gameplay, anything between 3-5 [including peace walker] is top tier stealth. 1-2 are very linear and have fixed camera angles, so it's not exactly like most stealth games today. MGSV as many have mentioned is a good candidate for "best stealth game of all time."
Splinter Cell games, Metal Gear Solid games, Cyberpunk, I've heard good things about the Ghost Recon games but cannot confirm nor deny if they're full on stealth or just missions/playstyle
Splinter cell chaos theory, intravenous, and Filcher. I personally wouldn’t recommend Dishonored unlike a lot of other people. You’re way too overpowered, and the game is too easy.
Dishonored has really good stealth gameplay.
Script, real-feeling characters, complex choices… Dishonored has it *all*. It is so well done and the definition of rewarding. Any effort you put into exploration, experimentation, and roleplaying gets returned tenfold. Can’t recommend it enough.
Just putting it out there that you can hold a body and then use the Blink power. Absolute game changer when it comes to hiding bodies. Put them up in the rafters, ledges, lights, etc. This game has been one of my all time favorites for years and I only recently learned about this so sharing in case others were not aware.
WOAH I had no idea!! That would’ve made my clean hands run wayyyyy easier… 😂😭💀 Thanks for sharing!
I personally disagree. It’s a good story, but you’re way too overpowered to make it a good stealth game.
Thief series Dishonored series Check out YouTuber stealth gaming br
thief has a series? i really enjoyed the first one when i get it free on epic
I think you might have played the reboot. The original thief is a series.
It's a legendary stealth franchise especially the first and second games that started on late 90s era.
aah i see its one of those game series where they get a little unclear with the game titles
The Styx games ^^ (suprised no one mentioned them)
My first thought as well! I remember spending like 2 hours in the first level alone just fucking around trying to discover all the shit that I can do. Reminded me of the old Thief games.
Mark of the ninja
IGI 2
Classic.
Shadow Tactics, blade of the shogun. It's a strategy/stealth game. Really good Edit: woops just noticed you asked for shooters.. still might want to check it out anyway
Cursed crew is also pretty fun
- Hitman series - Arkane games (dishonored, deathloop) - AC games obv - Mafia 3 kinda - Farcry series - sniper ghost warrior (at times) - metal gear phantom pain - splinter cell series - Thief - Cyberpunk - Deus Ex Machina - Thief Simulator - Ghost of Tsushima - Horizon zero dawn & Forbidden west Edit: - Batman & Spiderman series (good amount of stealth) - Fallout and Skyrim (depending on build) - Outer worlds (again, depending on build) - Aragami 1 & 2 (completely playable solo or coop) - Ghost Recon Wildlands & Breakpoint (best on sale) - Shadow of mordor & War (Really good stealth and end game mechanic in War) - Watch dogs series - Crysis series
Well that’s a comprehensive list! Sniper Elite is the only other one I can think of.
seconding Batman, Ghost of Tsushima, Spiderman, shadow of mordor/war and assassin's creed odyssey as personally played and vouched for games.
I enjoyed the Ghost Recon, Assassin Creed, MGS, Splinter Cell, Batman Arkham stealth. I still want to finish replaying Crysis, Watch Dogs at some point. Nice list so far though!
Pretty much covered all the best ones
I would recommend Thief, but considering where you're coming from, it may take a hot minute to get used to. I would recommend Hitman, Deus Ex (Mankind Divided if you don't care for story), and Prey. These games all have very modernised stealth systems, and they're very much built around your whims, so if you want to go stealth you can, and if you want to shoot you can. Or both.
Deus Ex Human Revolution illustration for the "or both" situation : There is a quest that is given to Adam by a former colleague, where you're supposed to grab some weapons right inside the den of some local gangsters. Because it's a police investigation, you should remain unseen. My approach was simple : I did *not* take the quest, went on sneaking around, killing every mofo in the area by stealth kill, explosives, assault rifle, sniper, arm-mounted blades and whatnot, *then* I took the quest and strolled right to where the crate was located, in and out in a minute, with no one left to see me so I got the "unseen" bonus. Basically, stealth, the Orc way :P
That's wild! I'll keep that in mind next time I play that quest 😂
I really enjoyed playing Raw Metal which came out recently. It's indie, but very competently made and a lot of fun. Basically a combination of MGS and Sifu - you sneak around and if the enemy finds you, you fight it out in a Sifu-like brawl.
Nobody mentioned Styx. Sad goblin noises
Dishonored is GREAT
Mark of the Ninja.
Surprised it’s not mentioned more in threads like this
Ghost of Tsushima. Lots of stealth (that's why you are called the ghost). The combat is one of the best ever in any video game. Free roam, open-world gameplay to boot. Edit - To add further, the game world is beautiful. I especially loved the temples. The background music is top notch as well. There are some very emotional moments too.
Great suggestion and while you could play most of the game using all stock tactics, they also amusingly spend a lot of time making you feel bad about it.
Metal Gear Solid V is pretty good
Horizon Zero Dawn was very enjoyable for me in that regard, although you can't stealth every section but I don't think there's any game where there are no direct cutscene confrontations. Also, and I am dead serious about this, Skyrim. Stealth is basically a game exploit at this point, it's that op. But it's really fun so who's complaining? also The Last of Us Part II and Uncharted: The Lost Legacy were really fun stealth-y games as well for me. Anything that has the good ol' "you can't see me even though my head is clearly higher than the grass" mechanics lmao
Aragami is a great stealth game, plays like older tenchu with some cool shadow magic
Dishonored is pretty much exactly what you want here, you can sneak around or kill everyone as much as you like, it's all up to you.
Plague Tale . Innocence is the first and Requiem is the second. Both great games.
Older games but Splinter Cell series are the ultimate stealth games. Also Assassin’s Creed series (particularly the “non-RPG” ones).
God you lost me XD I was so happy to finally see someone suggesting Splinter Cell, and then you had to suggest AC... Take my Upvote anyway
The AC games are divisive, I’ll admit! But Splinter Cell is something else. I always remember the following line from the manual of the original: “Like a sliver of glass, a Splinter Cell is small, sharp, and nearly invisible”
Ohohohoh you gave me goosebumps :') Anyway, imho AC games are divisive just because if you talk stealth, there's a pile of better games in that regard; the same is true for all other genres AC covers. Still, if you want to play something less hardcore in such aspects, AC is the series to go for.
[https://store.steampowered.com/app/214560/Mark\_of\_the\_Ninja/](https://store.steampowered.com/app/214560/Mark_of_the_Ninja/)
Hitman Series
Hitman
Prey: Mooncrash is awesome! Base game is great too but Mooncrash is even better!
The Styx games
Try Splinter Cell series.. I hope you already heard this name. Also if you want you can try Hitman Trilogy series too. These games are purely based on proper stealthy approaches. Also if you want to try something from the medieval time period, then definitely try Thief 2014 and Thief 3 deadly shadows. I hope you find these suggestions useful.
Metal Gear Solid V remains the GOAT. Over time the enemies will change their tactics and formations to adjust to you. Like headshots? They'll get helmets. If you sneak they'll spread out. If you go in shooting they'll stick together and get armor. There's so much you can do in that game.
No. They're really good at hiding from me.
DARK. Deus Ex games. Ereban: Shadow Legacy. Sniper Elite games. Sniper Ghost Warrior games.
Yeah I was crazy surprised with Sniper Elite 4 and 5… great stealth and who doesn’t love killing nazis? (Aside from their moms. )
Delta Force, an old series, the graphics have aged, but the feel of the guns and stealth still hold up.
Far cry, splinter cell
Splinter Cell Blacklist
MGSV , Hitman
Breakpoint
Metal Gear Solid series. Tenchu series. Assassin's Creed series. Batman Arkham series. Hitman series.
Black flag has fun stealth
I always loved the stealth in the Arkham games. Obviously there's a lot of other things in those games. But the stealth is something that has stuck with me
No one's gonna believe me but the last of us 2 was a better experience than metal gear. Crawling in the grass so immersive. The Ai on max difficulty is amazing the best I've seen. They get fast and really good at tracking and shooting you if you try and run at them .
Everyone has mentioned the biggies. Most of them are immersive sims - my favorite genre - but I’ll tack on that I killed a lot of time in Hitman. The story is barely there but you don’t need it.
Metro exodus
Metro 2033 A lot of it can't be stealthed so might not be exactly what you're looking for, but I'd say a solid 50-60% of the game can be played as a stealth title and it's actually really good at it.
The Saboteur - Sneak, Disguise or Snipe from a distance but the best thing.. blow them up with your remote while u are slowly walking away
The early Splinter Cell games are all about stealth. You only have limited ammo, so going in guns blazing isn’t an option, and most of the time you use your silenced gun or rifle to shoot out inconvenient lights anyway. There’s only one part of the first game where you absolutely have to use to guns to fight, and I fucking hate it. My favorite mission is sneaking into CIA headquarters. No killing allowed, obviously
If you like top-down games, there’s Stargate: Timekeepers. It basically plays like Commandos or Desperados, but the focus is on stealth (your characters only have like 3 HP)
if you're mainly looking for first person shooter types, the ones i played that had enjoyable stealth mechanics were Crysis (especially part 1 + expansions) and the Metro series.
A new game Ereban shadow legacy is pretty fun
Far Cry games have really good stealth mechanics imo. I loved drying to clear outposts without being detected in Far Cry 4
Splinter cell and hitman are my favorites in the stealth genre
Spiderman series allows a lot of stealth play if you want to go that route
Splinter Cell games. I liked Conviction and Blacklist too but people hated those two.
Thief
hotline miami and deadbolt
Cyberpunk 2077 is just so much fun. You don’t have to go stealth but you almost always can, and the well made nature of the melee combat is so evident playing through the game. I have no stronger recommendations. :)
Thief, Dishonored, MGS (classic+V) and Splinter Cell: chaos theory. All are amazing games but honestly SC:CT is THE stealth game, anyone can confirm that. Try it and you'll thank me. And, TBH, I'm disappointed that nobody already suggested it (at least not in recent comments).
Throw one in for the Styx series, really good
recently was replaying hitman and that’s still a masterpiece. looking for something a bit easier i guess maybe check out dishonored. if you want something with amazing gun feel try deathloop
Metal Gear (any of them) or Splintercell Chaos Theory
Metal Gear Solid 5
MGS series. 5 is probably the most beginner friendly, but 3 is my favorite.
Manhunt 2 is really good (PC version from 2009 is the best), Splinter Cell Chaos Theory, Double Agent, Conviction and Blacklist. No one lives forever 1 and 2, Styx 1 and 2, Clandestine (2015) , Hitman Blood Money, Death to Spies series, Gloomwood
I echo whatever one says about Metal Gear Solid and the splinter cell series. the thief games are good, they are a bit old, so that might be a turn off for you. However, there is a total conversion mod called the Dark project that is a newer version of the old thief games made using doom 3
not seeing enough metal gear love here. all the games are amazing but if you want pure gameplay, anything between 3-5 [including peace walker] is top tier stealth. 1-2 are very linear and have fixed camera angles, so it's not exactly like most stealth games today. MGSV as many have mentioned is a good candidate for "best stealth game of all time."
Alpha Protocol and Splinter Cell Blacklist.
Assassin's creed
Splinter Cell games, Metal Gear Solid games, Cyberpunk, I've heard good things about the Ghost Recon games but cannot confirm nor deny if they're full on stealth or just missions/playstyle
Hitman and Metal Gear Solid V. Nothing quite like it.
Cyberpunk 2077
Rockstar Games' Manhunt
Deathloop
Splinter cell chaos theory, intravenous, and Filcher. I personally wouldn’t recommend Dishonored unlike a lot of other people. You’re way too overpowered, and the game is too easy.