Best stealth game franchise?

People will argue about Splinter cell , MGs , Hitman , Thieaf and Ass creed , but for me it's Tenchu.

The game is built around trying to be a ninja , gives you lots of items to use and as a stealth game i like it.

I'll go with Splinter Cell cause I really enjoy those stealth games and follow by Metal Gear Solid and Tenchu.

The original Thief games.

I've enjoyed more Splinter Cell games than any of the others on the list.

Deus Ex should be there as well.

MGS followed by Tenchu.

Lol at Assassins Creed.

Deus Ex all the way.

It's interesting how all the previous games of these franchises have been better than the newer ones--except for maybe Metal Gear.

We have new tech and updated graphics, but they just keep catering to the idiots with the stealth mechanics. Gee, let's take these games that were open-ended and non-linear, and let's make them linear and require you to do one specific thing to pass an area!

Except for Assassin's Creed, you don't really have to do anything specific in those games; you only had to get close to your target, and it was barely a stealth game.

Eww stealth games.

What about Tenchu?

Factually speaking, it's Thief.

but thief has 2014 game that is very bad so Hitman which is still alive

Splinter Cell is my absolute favorite. Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory remain as some of my favorite videogames. I, unfortunately, haven't gone around to play Blacklist. I would also mention, Tenchu Z, as terribly as it performed through reviews, I found it to be extremely enjoyable, and just plain fun.

Agreeing with you is a rare thing indeed

Dude I loved Tenchu. Remember the samurai guards if they thought they spotted you and you slipped out of sight? "Which way did he go?" LOL I can still hear that

I voted MGS because that is the series I enjoy the most with Splinter Cell close to it. Thief was great also.

If only the OP didn't read 'franchise' I would of agreed with you. My vote goes to Hitman.

Actually I had choices of how I wanted to handle things in Blacklist. That game was great fun imo. As for catering to the idiots, all that new tech and graphics that even the non idiots want costs a lot of moola. Of course they need to cater to a broader audience.

Hmm, thinking about it Im gonna have to give it to Splinter Cell. Chaos Theory in particular has exceptional level design. Now, MGS3 has some fantastic gameplay. Its one of my favorite games ever. And I honestly didnt enjoy Chaos Theory as much, but I can still appreciate realistic and authentic feeling level design and gameplay.

@vvulturas: Blacklist is really really good. I think its right behind Chaos theory, although I personally liked it the most outta all the ones I played. Only major negative was the new voice actor.

Thief is still the greatest stealth franchise of all time. No competition.

Hahahaha , man just messing with the AI is fun in it's own.

I do Mimicry and Spiders Nest non stop.

It's amazing, was wondering for a second what the results would be but the actual great franchise (Splinter ell) seems to be winning.

I know it was just one game but I'm surprised Dishonored was not on the list. Also Assassin's Creed Unity and AC were the only two to be truly about stealth the rest were run in and be awesome feasts. Back on topic Splinter Cell wins.

Spliter Cell, easily. MGS games are good but their gameplay has always been shit

Rare Goldeneye and Perfect Dark

Kind of strange to see SC taking it as a franchise.

One amazing game. A couple of good games. A bunch of meh games.

I had played the original Thief trilogy in their day I'd probably vote for that.

However I grew up on Splintercell and enjoyed all of the entries except the PC version of Double Agent - the PS2 version was pretty good though - and I didn't play Conviction.

MGS has been the most consistent in quality while the others in the list not so much.

Yeah, I heard Blacklist was decent, but I also heard it wasn't as good as Chaos Theory. It's on my list to play. But, we still have Double Agent, and Conviction--which were both pretty horrible.

Um, no, that's not how game design works. You can make a "puzzle" or "scenario" with multiple ways to finish them, and making one of the ways to finish them painfully easy for the people who don't like to use their brain. What happens in games today consists of catering to a broader audience AND destroying ties to your old fans; that's called bad game design, not simply just catering to a broader audience.

Good game design consists of achieving high scores with critics, pleasing old fans, and making it accessible to new fans, or the brainless(this is optional). Without that, it's just bad game design.

Well you can do those things you mentioned. But with time in development eating dollars its really business 101 that the corporations are going to take the shortest road possible. So trying to manage budget, and give the main thing people generally look for, graphics which costs, they are going to go for what most consumers will go WOW over. Just go read that UC4 graphics thread. Look at the responses. Pics of the Order 1886 and raves about graphics king. A paper crown for a mediocre game. But people are championing it.

I may not know how game design works by you, but I owned my own business and I have an idea how that works. More money coming in than was put into the product and if the estimate is it will take X amount of time to get the game the graphics hype which many love, then your real game design takes a back seat financially.

The early Splinter Cell games were some of my favorite games of all time.

If we could get an old-school Splinter Cell and Ninja Gaiden, I would be in heaven.

Most pathetic results of a GS poll ever. Both Thief and Splinter Cell, merely garbage franchises in comparison to the divinity that is Metal Gear.

Comparing Metal Gear to other stealth franchises is like comparing a Rolls Royce to Japanese cars in terms of luxury, comfort and prestige.

I am really not into stealth games, too impatient.

Metal Gear is my favorite franchise of the bunch, but when I think "stealth' I think more of what Thief (especially Thief) and Splinter Cell were doing at their peak.

Metal Gear and Hitman are dope, but they are as much action games and playgrounds at times, and Metal Gear has at least always been up front about the whole tactical espionage action thing. Thief and Splinter Cell have a purity to them that I really like. Funny enough all of them had games release on the 360 and PS3, and none of them were as good as Mark of the Ninja or Gunpoint, two 2D games. What a world.

IDK man, Mark of the Ninja was cool but I kind of had to force myself to play it. I dont even remember if I finished it. Gunpoint was really fucking funny but thats more of a puzzle game in my eyes. I thought Blacklist was really fucking fun and a perfect evolution for Splinter Cell.

Stealth games by their very nature are puzzle games so I don't see how that invalidates the pick. The general idea stays the same: don't get spotted, you are physically weaker than your competition, failure usually revolves around getting spotted and being out gunned.

Conviction is trash, and while Blacklist is Conviction done well, it's still missing a variety of moves that Fisher had in Pandora Tomorrow and Chaos Theory. More appealing in the sense that it gave me the options I'd like? Yes, but the same brand of cerebral and tense gameplay that the first 3 games provide (the first one being not so good)? Nah, man. And suck less at Mark of the Ninja, that game is rad.

Conviction is dope. Wtf are you smoking? Its the best 24 video game ever made. Do you hate America?

So would you consider Portal a stealth game? Because that seems a lot like a 3D Gunpoint. There are puzzles and people/robots you have to avoid to reach the end of the level. I wouldn't consider Portal a stealth game though.

My difficulty finishing MOTN had nothing to do with the difficulty of the game. I just got kinda stale for me. I think I just hate pure stealth games now.

Splinter Cell Blacklist is the most underrated game of recent history. If you're a stealth fan go get that.

SC overall is my favorite stealth franchise, it's great overall (minus the hate or love conviction). Hitman is also amazing, Thief is decent (Deadly Shadows was dope). AC isn't really traditional stealth to me, but I enjoyed Black Flag.

Thief 1 & 2 are the best obviously. 3 was decent, but the level design wasn't nearly as good.

Chaos Theory and Blood money were really good too.

Metal Gear just got beyond retarded with all the random paranoid world conspiracy bullshit.

MGS by far.

MGS and Tenchu.

Shit, we need more Tenchu. From get off Dick Souls for a while and do some fucking Tenchu.

That's a ridiculous example and you know it.

And Conviction sucks, get the **** out of here. It is anti-american that Canadian piece of shit.

@jg4xchamp: how so? Stealth is just as much a part of portal as gunpoint

I haven't played the Thief games, so i'll go with Splinter Cell... Especially given that Chaos Theory exists.

MGS, there's a reason why its still relevant, unlike the rest.

Pre-2014: Thief > Splinter Cell > Hitman
Post-2014: Splinter Cell > Hitman > Thief

@DragonfireXZ95: except for Splinter Cell. While Conviction was awful, Blacklist is back to Chaos Theory levels of quality.

And in answer to tc, i think Splinter Cell is the best stealth series, such fun. I wish there was a new one

To be fair, there's few things in the world as unreliable as a System Wars poll.

Hitman

I interpreted this question as "which is the best franchise out of these choices." And the answer is MGS, easily. All of the other franchises listed have had at least one shit game or a bunch of shit games, or are largely irrelevant. The worst MGS game is MGS4, which should give you an idea of how fucking consistent the series has been in quality.

If you're asking which franchise has the best pure stealth gameplay I guess it's Splinter Cell, even if the games dropped in quality after Chaos Theory. But the gameplay in GZ felt more fun and fluid than any Splinter Cell game.

@ReadingRainbow4: not gonna happen. Miyazaki is head of From Software. You'll see Dark Souls 4 and new ip's in souls skin. From software wants to make money and souls makes money so no tenchu. They're gonna milk souls dry. it has been happening since demon's souls turned out to be a huge success.

you could play Shinobido games. These are basically the evolution of tenchu and they play much faster. You can attack and escape very quickly exactly like a ninja. Tenchu lacked that aspect in gameplay. But overall the quick movement in Shinobido doesn't make the series better. In the grand scheme of things Tenchu is still superior overall.