WHY OH WHY Do So Many Modern Games Have Stealth Sections?!

[jerseystyle]

Grrrr.   I was playing through Stray- fun game: good graphics, fun world building, interesting concepts, etc.  Then, towards the end of the game, they throw in a STEALTH portion.  Bog standard- vision cones, red "alert" lights, hiding in boxes.  Ugh- it was awful, so disappointing, totally pulled me out of the game.  I stopped playing and haven't picked it up since. For the record I hate stealth sections in games (its like the Shark! Shark! of modern gaming tropes) and I REALLY get annoyed when games that aren't advertised as such throw it in.  Gross.  I remember the first Life is Strange did this as well, as did Observer . . . all these good games, ruined . . . 

 

This annoy anyone else or am I just becoming the old man who yells at clouds?

Edited August 10, 2022 by jerseystyle

[Mikebloke]

I think there can be awkward moments like this in many types of games. In Zone of the Enders 2 (PS2, need to try the PC version to see if its the same!), you have a mission where you need to NOT kill a mech but go through a daft process of blocking their moves so they get "stunned". Can I do it in any difficulty other than Easy? No. Can I complete every other part of the game in any other difficulty? Yes.

 

I think there are less obvious examples though, Assassins Creed games usually has something stupid that requires reprogramming your own brain in doing something different that you've already hard wired it to do. Assassins Creed 3 is a good example of this in a generic way - for Ass Creed 1, 2, Bro, Rev, PSP game and even the android game, you can go hide if you do something silly and get caught. In 3, its near impossible to get out of sight of anyone to be able to go hide. You spend so much time running up things, trying to blend in with crowds or sitting down on benches that you then realise, the best and quickest thing to do is to butcher an entire platoon of British soldiers in plain sight in daylight in front of loads of civilians. Most of the series has a token mission where you just want to give up on the 10th attempt though.

[+Atari_Warlord]

Stealth is still better than escort missions. 

 

In Stray are you having trouble with the apartment section or the factory?  The factory is all about just using the environment to block the search lights.  The apartment requires a route that goes across the courtyard as well as using a couple boxes.  I also found that I can run through the danger zone and if you jump in a box before getting shot they will cool down and go back to their route in fairly short order.

[jerseystyle]

9 minutes ago, Atari_Warlord said:

Stealth is still better than escort missions. 

 

In Stray are you having trouble with the apartment section or the factory?  The factory is all about just using the environment to block the search lights.  The apartment requires a route that goes across the courtyard as well as using a couple boxes.  I also found that I can run through the danger zone and if you jump in a box before getting shot they will cool down and go back to their route in fairly short order.

Yeah I hate escort missions also. I did both of those above mentioned parts, but with gritted teeth- it’s in the jail where you have to get 2 sentinels locked up. My enjoyment of the game basically ended once the factory started so seeing that continue into the jail and then the whole “trapping” bit… it’s like the game turned into “generic PlayStation hallway action game” for no reason. That shift really turned me off.  Big mistake on their part, IMO.

[MrMaddog]

I hated stealth missions when I played Return to Castle Wolfenstein. There is this one level in an open field you had to snipe the guards before they spot you and hit the alarm...which was an instant Game Over.

 

I said screw that crap and went back to playing the original Wolfenstein 3D where I can mow down nazis with chain guns instead... 😆

[zzip]

13 hours ago, MrMaddog said:

I hated stealth missions when I played Return to Castle Wolfenstein. There is this one level in an open field you had to snipe the guards before they spot you and hit the alarm...which was an instant Game Over.

Just one section?   In the original Castle Wolfenstein and Beyond Castle Wolfenstein, the entire game was like that.  They were among the earliest stealth games.

[Leonard Smith]

If the game's main premise is stealth, then I am all for it.

Tenchu and Splinter Cell did it right.  If it's tacked on as additional element to another game, then meh. 

Not going to lie, but I do miss the Splinter Cell series.  

The first 2 were pretty groundbreaking and fun...you could find multiple creative ways to proceed through a level.  

 

[jerseystyle]

7 minutes ago, Leonard Smith said:

If the game's main premise is stealth, then I am all for it.

Tenchu and Splinter Cell did it right.  If it's tacked on as additional element to another game, then meh. 

Not going to lie, but I do miss the Splinter Cell series.  

The first 2 were pretty groundbreaking and fun...you could find multiple creative ways to proceed through a level.  

 

Oh, totally- like I’m not gonna complain about Metal Gear or AC cause that’s mostly the point. But it’s just so frustrating when other games randomly include it. The most annoying for me was Life is Strange (that soured me in the whole game and made NO sense) but the latest Spider-Man game has that as well and it drives me nuts. 

[Steven Pendleton]

I think the worst one I've ever seen is Star Trek Bridge Commander. Not sure who thought doing a super annoying stealth thing in a Sovereign-class starship that you don't have precise control over even when flying manually would be fun, but that's how it is. Pretty sure you can game over from being detected, as well, so you can't just kill everything and actually succeed.

[roots.genoa]

Usually, I don't even like stealth based games because I suck at them (I tend to panic when I need to make quick decisions), except immersive sims like Dishonored because they provide superpowers that make it easier and fun (at least most of the time). Or more precisely you can choose which superpower is more fitted to your style (teleporting, invisibility, etc.). The Batman games also made it easier imho (and probably the Spider-Man games too since it's inspired by them), but I still screw up on a regular basis. 😅

 

The thing is stealth in video games can feel unfair because the AI is tricky to get right; you don't want it to be completely dumb but you don't want it to notice your toe just because your 3D model is not completely hidden by the bush. 😩 And obviously, when it's limited to just one sequence of a game, it's not done as well as if it was a full stealth based game, so it can get very frustrating.

 

That being said, I remember that stealth sequences can actually be somehow "refreshing" (in a stressful way 😉), like in Wind Waker for instance. But I agree it's quite rare.

[Lord Mushroom]

I don´t like stealth either. I want to come out guns blazing. Stealth games are like a racing game where you are supposed to drive slowly and not hit anything. Boooring!

 

Stealth is like playing red light.

[jerseystyle]

1 hour ago, Lord Mushroom said:

I don´t like stealth either. I want to come out guns blazing. Stealth games are like a racing game where you are supposed to drive slowly and not hit anything. Boooring!

 

Stealth is like playing red light.

That’s the perfect way to say it, haha. I prefer that, if a game insists on a stealth section, it’s designed in a way that following the “rules” makes it much easier but you can still muscle your way through if you want.  Like how AC4 handled most of the stealth encounters. Whenever I’m looking into a game if it talks about “stealth” or “survival” I usually nope out. So that makes it soooo disappointing when they show up anyway. Like Observer was a good game but the stealth sections were infuriating.

[orange808]

There's nothing inherently wrong with stealth. In many cases, it's favorable when a game openly advertises stealth as a core mechanic.

 

Although, the best stealth games won't necessarily tell you how to play. It's most satisfying when gamers can choose how to play. The Dishonored series is the obvious example of a modern stealth design. Don't miss those games. Both combat and stealth are options and I found them equally satisfying. Additionally, the second game wisely removed the stupid "ending" penalty that shamed gamers for using the combat option.

 

The real problem is when game designers take a clumsy approach and "bolt on" stealth elements to an existing action game with little thought or polish. Enemies spotting me with their backs turned is bullshit. There's also the enemies that can't see me staring directly at them down a hallway because I'm outside an arbitrary circle surrounding the baddie--like it's an N64 game. That sucks.

 

And, of course, the "instant fail" mission mechanic is almost always jarring and frustrating. That kind of rigid "pass or fail" design is inappropriate outside of achievements. Games are fun. It's supposed to be entertainment.

 

Quality stealth game play has to be a core design mechanic with deep roots in the inital concept of a game's development. Often, that's not the case and that's where stealth gets a bad name.

 

Escort missions are the devil. It only works in multiplayer games. "Computer" controlled allies are almost always unsatisfying.

 

I don't understand how so many well known shitty game mechanics and scenerios keep repeating themselves and reappearing--when it's clear that people hate them. Stealth works well in Dishonored. Prince of Persia The Sands of Time managed to tie the princess into the game for narrative purposes without the player suffering through too much "escort" game play.

 

Quicktime events suck, too. Did Space Ace or Dragon's Lair ignite a huge genre of blockbuster games? Nope. That's because pushing buttons during a cutscene is a bore. Even worse, I encountered games on PC that didn't account for potential latency--and the input windows for uninformed gamers using borderless fullscreen and a laggy Xbox controller were unplayable. I had to help a friend get things configured properly to pass some sections of the Tomb Raider reboot. Not really a Tomb Raider game, though. The new ones stink. The exploration and puzzles are replaced with a clumsy marriage of cliche, paint-by-numbers, mass murder, game mechanics and Space Ace. Yuk. And, of course, they also threw in some clumsy buggy stealth for good measure.  🙂

Edited August 23, 2022 by orange808

[+Razzie.P]

I played a game with a stealth section once.   At least that's what I'm told.  I didn't see it.

 

🤣

 

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whatever, you know that crap's funny

[SlidellMan]

I don't mind stealth segments in non-stealth games as long as they are well-executed.

[MrMaddog]

5 hours ago, SlidellMan said:

I don't mind stealth segments in non-stealth games as long as they are well-executed.

 

Except they're not...

[SlidellMan]

@MrMaddog I actually admit that Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker's stealth segments were meh.