Thereâs just something special about games that make you sneak. The push, the pull, the contemplative pause⊠and the rush of action. Weâve been spending the last week playing one of the most enjoyable stealth games in recent memory, and so we thought weâd take a closer look at the genre. What makes sneaking so much fun? What do we look for in a game about stealth? Is Metal Gear Solid about the sneaking, or is it about everything else? Short version: Why do we love stealth games so much?
Check your sight-lines and muffle your heels⊠itâs time to ask some Burning Questions
Kirk: Hi, Jasonbro! I bet you didnât see me over here. Snuck right up on you, I did. I thought it would be in keeping with our topic for today: Stealth games, and why we love them.
Jason: You are such a nerd.
Kirk: Youâre just mad because I totally snuck up on you.
Jason: You know what else snuck up on me? Mark of the Ninja! I totally didnât expect that game to be as good as it is.
Kirk: Ha, I wonder how many writers have said that. âMark of the Ninja sure snuck up on me!â Itâs also been quite stealthy on the Xbox games pageâfor some reason, Microsoft isnât promoting it very much. Which is a crime, because this game is fantastic. (Also, readers: Check out Patriciaâs official Kotaku review). I had a feeling itâd be goodâIâve known the gameâs lead designer Nels Anderson for a while now, and heâs a smart dude who really âgets itâ when it comes to this kind of game. All the same, I too am surprised at just how good it is. It is darned good! But letâs get specific. What do you, personally, like about it?
https://lastchance.cc/mark-of-the-ninja-the-kotaku-review-5941288%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I love downloadable games that are polished within an inch of their life.
Kirk: Yes. The first thing I noticed about this game is that it feels really good to play. Sometimes in close-quarters I do the wrong thingâstick to a ledge when I wanted to hide, or grab a body when I wanted to creepâbut overall, the locomotion feels really good. Which is kinda interesting, since stealth games have a history of making motion (and combat) clunky and difficult, rather than lithe and empowering. Sort of as a deterrent to being spotted? But as Iâve written before, Iâll take âpredatory stealthâ every day. I want the thrill of the hunt, and Mark of the Ninja has that in spades.
https://lastchance.cc/stealth-gameplay-isnt-enough-give-me-the-thrill-of-the-5831019%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk: Ha yes, weâll leave the Metal Gear lock unpicked for the moment. I have to admit, I never played either of the Shank gamesâthey just didnât seem like something I wanted. I have enough action games, I guess. So itâs really nice to see Kleiâs animation skills being turned on a genre thatâs not so saturated. (Itâs also cool that they did the animated cutscenes from Torchlight II.) Mark of the Ninja is just so polished, which is my favorite quality in an Xbox Live Arcade game, for some reason. Like Bastion and Limbo, I love downloadable games that are polished within an inch of their life. I canât for the life of me figure out why Mark of the Ninja wasnât featured in Xbox Summer of Arcade, while the unpolished, un-fun Deadlight was. But thatâs a conversation for another day. Letâs talk about MotNâs stealth. Itâs kinda different than other stealth games, right? I almost think itâs like, a mechanical âessayâ about stealth games or something.
https://lastchance.cc/deadlight-the-kotaku-review-5930018%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk: How all of the mechanics are laid out for you, how everything is visible and explicit. You see rings that indicate the reach of every sound you make, every enemyâs line of sight is clearly demarcated. Your character is either dark if heâs in the shadows or lit up if heâs in the light. In most stealth games, the ability to see sound and line-of-sight is usually a late-game upgrade, you know? So, Mark of the Ninja is a stealth game where the mechanics are laid bareâwhich really, is such a smart way to make an arcade stealth game. Itâs accessible in a way that games like Splinter Cell and Metal Gear are not, without sacrificing complexity.
Jason: Right, it presents you with all the information you need. It doesnât try to trick or fool you. Thatâs not to say itâs not challengingâbecause it totally isâbut itâs challenging in a way that tests your speed and skills and ability, not your understanding of some arbitrary set of mechanics. Consequently, every new room or set of obstacles feels like a new puzzle to solve. You have all the tools at your disposal; you just have to figure out what to do with them. How to pick the locks, if you will.
Kirk: Right. And, fittingly, it doesnât get bogged down in low-level shit. For example, you just hold down a button to pick a lock.
Jason: Yeah: no minigames necessary! I wonder if thatâs a byproduct of the fact that this is a small, downloadable game made by a small team for not a whole ton of money. If Mark of the Ninja was a $20 million AAA title made by 200 people, maybe youâd have to match colored blocks every time you wanted to turn off a light switch.
Kirk: If Mark of the Ninja were a AAA game, itâd probably be a lot more like Ninja Gaiden 3. In other words: womp womp
https://lastchance.cc/ninja-gaiden-3-the-kotaku-review-5895492%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk: Which kinda lets us segue to other stealth games. Mark of the Ninja feels somehow niche even among stealth games, maybe because itâs so unabashedly a stealth game. So many games latelyâ Arkham City, Crysis 2, Deus Ex: Human Revolutionâhave had stealth elements, but also feature other kinds of gameplay. We love stealth, but is it best when itâs a main course, or a side-dish?
Jason: Wellllllllll do you really think itâs just an element of Human Revolution? I played that game almost 100% stealthy. When I got caught, Iâd get myself killed and try again. In fact, I felt like the non-stealth elementsâlike those awful boss fightsâwere the side dishes. I loved the stealth in that game.
Kirk: Well playedâyou actually said the thing that I was thinking as I wrote that. They say you can play Human Revolution as an action game, but it sucks to do it. I wonder if anyone actually just guns-blazingâd their way through that game? In that way it was actually closer to the original game than the folks at Eidos may have intendedâcombat was so clunky that everyone played stealth. Which was okay, because Human Revolution had very solid stealth. My favorite thing? The fact that you could do soft-cover with the left trigger and whip out to a third-person camera. First-person stealth can be very difficult, and I love the idea of hybrid 1st-third person for this kind of game. Rainbow Six Vegas did that very well, too. What, specifically, did you love about the stealth in Human Revolution?
One of the really cool things about stealth in Human Revolution is how much itâs tied to the environment. The world is your toy.
Jason: That camera switch is pretty badass. But one of the really cool things about stealth in Human Revolution is how much itâs tied to the environment. You can throw fire extinguishers to get peoplesâ attention, move vending machines out of the way so you can crawl through vents, hack into guardsâ computers for passwords⊠you really feel like a super-spy-cyborg. The world is your toy.
Kirk: âThe world is your toy.â Okay so now weâre getting at why I, personally, like stealth games. Itâs something that I actually thought Anderson articulated well in this interview over at Gamasutraâin stealth games, you âpoke and perturbâ the world. Stealth games sit still for you, and you get to experiment and get creative. Theyâre more about outsmarting the AI, out-thinking the level designer, and generally out-doing the game. Itâs so much less about reflexes and more about thinking. Iâve been playing Arkham City on new game + for a while now, and I think that the stealth segments of that game get me into my more-or-less ultimate video game headspace. Iâm absorbed but not hurried, moving deliberately but thinking about what Iâm doing. Itâs such a rush.
Jason: I donât know that I agree with you about stealth games not involving reflexes. When I play Mark of the Ninjaâsomething Iâve been doing quite a lot over the past few daysâI often feel like itâs challenging the quickness of my fingers. If I hit a button wrong and accidentally get a guardâs attention instead of stabbing him in the back, he suddenly takes out his sniper rifle and BOOM YOU LOSE SUCK IT JASON. Point is: I think itâs a combination of both smarts AND speeds.
Kirk: Sureâreflexes are always required. I guess what I mean is that you choose when to engage your reflexes. You still have to execute the move youâve decided to do, but the pacing is so differentâperiods of contemplation punctuated by action. I like having control over the pace of the game, as opposed to an action game like Call of Duty or Bayonetta, where the pace is dictated to me. Iâve also realized I like the whole hub-world thing even betterâlike how in Deus Ex or Vampire: Bloodlines, how you alternate between stealth, action, and peaceful areas where you roleplay and get missions. Which makes me wonderâdo I like stealth itself, or do I just like the pacing that it inspires?
Jason: Oh man, that hub world stuff reminds me: Dishonored comes out in just under a month. Also a mission-based game, also very focused on stealth. Itâs like Deus Ex on wizard crack. I canât wait to play that game. As for your question: thereâs pacing like that in other games, too. Have you played much of The Last Story yet? It follows a similar hub-based, mission-focused structure.
Kirk: Wait, thatâs two things. The Last Story! And Dishonored! First of all, yes, Iâve been playing some The Last Story and I like it so farâthough I havenât played that much. But yeah, there is certainly a hub-world thing going on in a lot of RPGsâthe thing I think that separates Deus Ex and Vampire for me is the way that the âsneaky/actionâ parts of the hub world are so organically tied to the âRPG/talkyâ parts. That Heng Sha hub in Human Revolution is one of the most purely enjoyable, effortlessly organic video game spaces Iâve inhabited in ages. You heard that Eidos had several more hubs that never made the final game, right? And we still havenât gotten âem as DLC. At this point I hope theyâre saving those for the sequel. More hubs, baby!
But okay yes, Dishonored. Iâve been in sort of a media blackout (as much as thatâs possible in this job) on that game lately, since I know Iâm just going to play the pants off of it when it comes out. Though I gotta say, I was kind of bummed when I heard there werenât hubs or particularly deep RPG elements. I finally played it at PAX (it was that Lady Boyle party mission) and yep: This game is totally my jam.
https://lastchance.cc/a-night-of-deadly-improv-in-dishonored-5932170%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Kirk: Oh is there? I thought I remembered them saying that there wasnât really a hub, or at least, not a Deus Ex-style hub where you roam around. See? This is what happens when you media-blackout yourself. I guess Iâll just find out when the game comes out.
Jason: Yeah, itâs definitely structured differently. Youâd like the hub in The Last Story, though. Thereâs one big city and itâs super lively. Lots of quests, NPCs, fun things to see and do. You must play more!
Kirk: Clearly! I wonder if youâve heard of this disease Iâve come down with. Itâs called Toomanygamesitis. I hear itâs catchingâŠ
Jason: Sounds nasty. You should get that checked out.
Kirk: I think thereâs only one cure: Play lots and lots of video games.
Jason: Speaking of lots and lots of video games, we should really talk about a series with lots and lots of video games in it: Metal Gear Solid
Kirk: I was hoping youâd transition to Metal Gear Solid. And as transitions go, that was a pretty artful one. So, okay, yes. Tell me your thoughts on MGS. Where does that series fit in the stealth-game pantheon?
Jason: I really dig the series, even though I like to make fun of it. While it does some things poorlyâthat control scheme, for example, is a total nightmareâit also takes you to some crazy places and makes you get through some really difficult stages. And few heroes are as badass as the legendary Mr. Snake.
Kirk: Right. I keep having this thing with Metal Gear that feels like cognitive dissonance. I have such fond memories of playing the games, playing MGS2 in college, burning through MGS4 right after I got a PS3⊠and yet when I go and actually play the games, itâs such a roundly unpleasant experience. I mean, compare the genuine moment-to-moment pleasure of playing Mark of the Ninja with controlling Snake in MGS3
Jason: Yeah â the camera angles in MGS3 were so hard to deal with that Konami revamped them in the re-release. (Thatâs a thing with Metal Gear Solid: all the games get re-releases that improve their controls, add new features, and make them better games all around. Although I donât think #4 has gotten one yet, oddly enough.)
Is it that something changed when Kojima started chasing Hollywood and added the âSolidâ to the series?
Kirk: Though it did get achievements! But okay, I feel like weâre doing a disservice to Metal Gear here. Leigh Alexander will be very mad at us if we donât talk about it a little bit more. I mean⊠what is it about this series? Is the appeal more in the themes and the story than in the gameplay? Or is that something that changed when Kojima started chasing Hollywood and added the âSolidâ to the series? Is the stealth the heart of Metal Gear, or is it all about the sheer audacity of it all? Why do people love Metal Gear?
Jason: Itâs a very ambitious series, and the stealth is really interesting and enjoyable. There are so many different gadgets at your disposalâgadgets I often wind up hoarding and never actually using because I think Iâll need them laterâand so many types of weapons you can use as super-spy Solid Snake. You can snipe every soldier in the game. You can stick to tranquilizers and do your best not to kill a soul. You can sneak around corners and plant C4 and even throw pornographic magazines to distract guards from their patrol routes. Pornography! Itâs the greatest!
Kirk: Yeah, there really are an absurd amount of different tricks and traps in the game. And I do the same thingâI get gadget paralysis and never use any of them, because Iâm saving them up. Which seems like a design flaw, no? I just wish it all worked better, that it was easier to use some of the stuff in the gameâsetting up a porno trap for a guard is such a laborious process, far harder than it would be in real life. I have to wonder if, come Metal Gear Ground Zeroes, Kojima will finally give us the ease of control that I, at least, have been craving. MGS4 certainly controlled closer to my comfort-zone than MGS3 did. And surely someone at Kojima is taking notes from Platinum on how theyâve made Raiden so fun to control in Reveangance. Everything about Ground Zeroes seems ambitious, but with so many great stealth games out there these days, itâs actually going to take a lot for Kojima to win me back.
Kirk: Oh, I do too! Donât get me wrongâI think the stories, characters, and even the weird pacing of the MGS games are all lovely. I like the stories more than the games, really. I find the games so frustrating that Iâd rarely say Iâm having fun, or feeling satisfaction from playing them. Theyâre loose when I want them to be tight, overly complex when I want them to be intuitive, and I constantly feel like Iâm fighting them. But the stories, the picture they paint, the goofy language and hidden meanings and all of thatâI really like that stuff. And the most powerful moments of a Metal Gear game rarely have anything to do with sneakingâhammering a button to crawl down an irradiated tube, or pulling a trigger, those are the most memorable moments of the game. As opposed to Arkham City, where my fondest memory is of swooping down behind an unsuspecting guard and taking him down, then watching his friend freak out.
Jason: Yeah, thatâs fair. That crawl through radiation in Metal Gear Solid 4 was certainly memorable, wasnât it? Not very stealthy. But memorable! In fact, thinking about that sceneâand the desert, and that crazy army scene on the water, and all the other cool shit in MGS4âis really making me want to go re-play it. If only I had more spare time!
Kirk: My friend, it sounds like you may have a case of Toomanygamesitis. Might want to get that checked out.
Jason: I do. I do. The only cure is Unemployment.
Kirk: Quick, say something mean about Stephen!
Jason: ummm⊠he has a stupid face.
Kirk: OH MAN YOU ARE SO GETTING FIRED
Jason: Stupid Stephen and his stupid face.
Kirk: OH MY GOD I CANâT BELIEVE YOU WENT THERE HE IS EXTRA SENSITIVE ABOUT HIS FACE
Jason: Well he should be. Itâs stupid.
Kirk: I hope you enjoy your coming unemployment. So okay, I guess that about wraps it up for stealth games. Though once again, I managed to go an entire stealth article without mentioning Thief. Sorry, everyone! I am aware that it is a blind spot, and have downloaded it. Itâs just⊠well, I have this sickness I may have mentionedâŠ
Jason: Herpes?
Kirk: Yep.
