Hitman vs splinter cell vs metal gear solid vs deus ex vs dishonoured vs thief on stealth

Thief 2: The Metal Age is still the gold standard of the genre to this day.

Splinter Cell? You mean original? I chose Dishonored because the stealth is equal balance and there are many different pathways and choices you can opt for. Most games either do one or the other really well but it's so rare that they do both really well and Dishonored achieved that to perfection.

SC 1 and 2 were good, I liked the gadgets and sticky camera was fun. But Dishonored did stealth in better proportion imo because of Ai. It was kind of scripted and dumb in SC series.

Thief games were pure stealth, they had dumb AI so you could just kind of run up behind them quick enough to knock them out before they respond but really the game didn't even do stealth all that great, mostly because of Ai.

I like MGS the most. And Splinter Cell maybe second... But the original Thief had the best ideas if we're talking pure stealth. Yes, the original. I think it's better than Thief 2. It's just sad that it is so old by now, and imo that is starting to show. A.I. behavior is very hit or miss compared to modern titles. Hit detection, too. and in some of the missions it's too hard to find the objective for its own good.

This video lists some very good reasons why I liked the original so much, and was a little disappointed by games like Dishonored, as a stealth game. Still as a game, I really liked Dishonored. I don't like how much he harps on about modern AAA gaming being so bad, but he's great at dissecting every reason I liked Thief so much in its days, and why I am missing something in all modern stealth games. I recommend using the time markers in the description. Or not watching at all, these are the things I liked so much about Thief.

Removal of elements: Focusing the gameplay to be good at something, not trying to be a bit of everything.
The maps: Handdrawn and incomplete, out of date. Part of the story, not just the UI. You actively figure out where you are and where you want to go. You can get a little lost. And with no quest markers or minimap, you aren't just 'sleepwalking' through the world.
Level design: The maps make a bit of sense in their layout and item placement. They are not build according to a formula to provide perfect pacing, and exploratory rewards. In its time it really felt like you were exploring a world, not a stage. Instead of doing what you always do, you think about what places are even interesting or rewarding to go to, before trying to get there. Restrictions were more natural than 'you can only use this at a place with this UI icon on it'.
Story telling: No need to cut to cinematics during a level. You come across context and story while playing the game. Not just through dialogue, but also through the houses you explore.
Vulnerability: You have a choice of where to go and what items to use, but the choices are never empowering. It doesn't use crazy moves under the push of a fake silicon button to make you feel powerful. Tension exists only if you are vulnerable. (Something lost from Assassin's Creed and Dishonored.)

MGS is the best.

Splinter Cell is a complete failure for the simple fact Sam can't crawl.

Crawling is essential in a stealth game. The fact Sam can't crawl underneath a laser beam alarm or step over it is game breaking.

I could crawl underneath those way back in MGS2.

Sam has to waste 3 days hacking a PC when he should be able to simply crawl or step over it.

I remember finding Splinter Cell very disappointing after playing MGS2. At the time, MGS2 was still the king of stealth.

I mean, it is silly that Sam can't go prone outside of context sensitive situations, but that's certainly not a reason to discount the great games that SC has brought to this genre.

Sure Sams move set can seem limited compared to Snakes in some ways. But if we're gonna go there, Snake can't even jump with any sense of verticality. Up until Ground Zeroes he couldn't even climb objects that are more than waist high lol. Dude still can't truly scale anything that isn't a ladder (or now cracks in a rock face), while Sam has been going all Spodermun on the environment for years.

Pre-MGSV, all the Snakes moved like grandpas compared to Sam. And even if Sam can't go prone, it never took away from the game design.

As an aside, it's pretty much absurd to compare the laser grids from MGS2 with what the SC series has done with laser grids. The act of navigating obstacles in general has always been heavily stacked in SC's favor, it's never been a strong suit of MGS games.

Seriously bros, MGS, Thief, and SC all have their shares of ups and downs when it comes to mechanics and player movement. Granted MGSV now makes the rest of the genre look like amateur hour, but it's not like the mechanics in any of those games were ever poorly handled for the type of game they were going for.

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And yeah I'm with you Jags. MGS2 was way the **** better as a stealth game than most people gave it credit for. Up until GZ, not only was it the most stealth focused game in the MGS series, it was still one of the best stealth games around. I think many people were deceived by the fact that Kojima doesn't enforce a strict rule set. But you set that shit to Euro Extreme and be prepared for one brilliant stealth puzzle after another. The thought that was put into the level design, player mechanics, and enemy AI, and they way they compliment each other, can be pure genius at times.

Because Thief and Splinter Cell are better stealth games.

Which is great.

If we're talking purely on a mechanical level, sure. And even if you cut away all the dead space and bloat, MGSV still dwarfs other games in the genre when it comes to the sheer volume of masterfully designed areas to infiltrate. And of course MGSV offers a level of freedom and emergence that all these other games lack. When Kojima said that any two players can stealth a mission and come away with a completely different experience he wasn't lying. The stories that stick with me from MGSV aren't the stories that Kojima was telling me, but the stories that happened through the gameplay systems. It's excellent.

Trust me dude, I LOVE MGSV. I'm coming up on 300 hours in the game. I'll uninstall it thinking I'm done and find myself re-installing it a week later. I'll dick around for what seems like 30 minutes and find that 4 hours have passed lol.

All that being said? There are PLENTY of reasons to prefer games from other franchises in this genre. There are even reasons to prefer other MGS games like MGS2 and MGS3. It's not like all of these games are doing the same thing and one happens to be better. They all offer different experiences. MGSV isn't going to give you what the classic Thief, Splinter Cell, or Hitman games give you. And within its own genre it's not going to give you the puzzle like nature of MGS2, or the slower jungle creep predator and prey feel of MGS3. Shit, even Ground Zeroes, based on a slightly shoddier version of MGSVs mechanics, still offers up a different experience than MGSV with it's own set of positives.

It just can't be boiled down objectively man.

No, they're not. And I beat the original SC trilogy on their respective highest difficulties. MGS V stealth mechanics (including A.I.) are the best and thats not even debatable. Its a FACT

I respect your point and all but what we're debating here is who's best at stealth mechanics, are we not? Unless I misinterpreted the topic, wich is possible...

Well, OP didn't really give us much to work with lol.

I took it at as stealth gameplay in general. To which mechanics, while very important, only make up a part of the bigger picture.

Things like level design, enemy AI, and the overall scenarios that you are tasked to deal with are all just as important.

And in that sense, sure I'll give MGSV the win for mechanics. Level design? All these franchises have put up masterful examples. Enemy AI? MGSV is pretty good, but unlike Ground Zeroes which had a hard difficulty setting, MGSV is constantly on normal. Meaning the enemy AI is squandered by being way too short sighted in many of the open areas. (Modding MGSV to change this shows how great the AI is, but that's a mod, shouldn't count). And the scenarios are just like the point with level design. All of these franchises have done some really cool shit.

I can't pick a favorite stealth game because there are too many that I adore. MGSV is certainly in the running, but I also favor what some of these other games bring to the table as a complete package.

But it is debatable, Metal Gear Solid is loosing.

Most hardcore gamers don't even consider it on a par with Splinter Cell, let alone the masterpiece genius of Thief (which is amazing).

Really, the biggest selling point of Metal Gear Solid is that it's weird and makes little kids feel like Rambo.

Well, those "hardcore" gamers are factually wrong if we're purelly talking about mechanics

But Thief is mechanically perfect, more innovative, and unmatched by it's pretenders.

All in all, it's great to see such as obscure old game get more respect than Metal Gear solid.

Nice on Gamespot.

"it's great to see such as obscure old game get more respect than Metal Gear solid"

Its getting voted cause GS is filled with wanna be hipsters that consider that "everything new isnt as good as the old stuff no one played but since they havent played it they cant rebuttal what I say"

well, unfortunately for you I played Thief 2 and Deadly Shadows (admit never played the 1st but I know for a fact its mechanics are more or less identical, so I know wtf I'm talking about). Was it fantastically thoughtfull for its time? Definitely, but one had to be out of his freakin mind to ever think its still better mechanically than newer games.

And thats why its getting more votes, cause users are voting with their hearts and not with their heads.

But I'll end this discussion here and now, cause I know talkin to you is like talkin to a brick wall

I meant stealth mechanics,A.I,level design and the scenarios

My vote is for MGS, I really thought the game consistently came up with interesting and innovative stealth mechanics across the series, and while they all had aspects that were kind of iffy, I appreciated them for what they were...that and I'm a hardcore Kojima fanboy....so that probably biases my vote a bit...

Honourable mention to the early stuff in Splinter Cell, I entered the series with Double Agent, and immediately fell in love with it (and went back to the prior games and realised they were BETTER)....the reason it doesn't get the top spot is that Conviction and Blacklist sort of lacked the same magic the prior games did and became a little too focused on combat for my liking...

I take early Splinter Cells and Hitman in general as my favorite stealth games. I am also sad no one at least listed the Commandos series. They were some insanely tough stealth games, some of my favorites also.

I prefer Thief 3 modded. I did a thorough replay of the entire series last year complete with some good mods. And 3 still can look pretty darn good to this day and the mods really help with the textures and gameplay. The level loading that so many once hated, with todays ram and ssd was very painless. It definitely felt like a true sequel in all respects with the mods, it's not nearly as outdated looking as Thief 1 and 2 while managing some pretty good atmosphere.

Thief 2014, I did enjoy as it's own thing. It lost some things for certain but the atmosphere in that game is top shelf. It has it's issues such as dumb locations of jewlery and coins, suffered the same stupid AI that the previous had, quite scripted but the atmosphere was very vivid. Playing it in VR with VorpX is a treat as well. You really have to separate the new thief from the old ones to find it's enjoyment but few seemed to be able to do that which is why there will never, ever be another Thief game created. The franchise is officially dead as Dishonored pretty much has taken it's place.

Now that's some fine choice. Commandos was absolutely fantastic series.

Obviously Thief 1/2 are the best pure stealth games. 3 wasn't a bad game but suffered from consolization.

Chaos Theory & Blood Money were def pretty good games though.

MG has way too much random world conspiracy bullshit for me to handle.

While Thief and MGS have set the bar in stealth, i still think Hitman is the most fresh and exciting shit that ever happened to the genre.

I'm not sure I'd agree with including Hitman into that list. In Hitman you hide in plain sight. There's not much stealth mechanics involved there.

ALT ME ASAP!

Of all the games I know or have played:

1)HITMAN (2016)

2)Hitman series

3)Rise of the Tomb Raider (guerilla combat)

4)Assassin's Creed series

5) Batman Arkham series

6)Splinter Cell series

7)Thief series

Uncharted has good stealth elements, would have placed it in 4th place. Splinter Cell and Thief series have to be separated cause they are so bad.

I also think that Metal Gear can be placed above Splinter Cell

@kvally: what does it mean

Pandora Tommorrow>all

Best of the best of the best... Sir!!

I know it's a 6 months bump but don't confuse stealth with sneaking.

@FreedomFreeLife said:

Splinter Cell is not stealth, more like action shooter game. I say Hitman because it allows you to become someone else and make everything look like accident.

Yeah, agreed. Hitman is the most "realistic." Not my fave, but def has the stealth crown compared to others listed.

knack-ro

The last Hitman game shat on everything.

inb4 necro lock

MGS AND SPLINTER cell series for me

I'm not very big on stealth based games, but Splinter Cell and Dishonored, Deus Ex I had a lot of fun with, its on a case by case basis with me. I dont mind a little stealth but I need the game to let me be aggressive if I want. Those games did that well I found.

Deus Ex is the best game. Thief has the best stealth.

Thief - decent stealth, but not the best game

Hitman - great gameplay and replay value, takes a very realistic approach to stealth with disguses and limited weapons.

Splinter Cell - never played these games, but i've seen a lot of gameplay and looks in the same vein as the later MGS games

Dishonored - very different type of stealth, using power and magic, combat is way too overpowered in these games, stealth is fantastic.

Deus Ex - never played deus ex, but it looks another very different type of game, with more mechanics than all of these games combined.

MGS - my favorite type of stealth game overall, perfect military grade games, great weapons, great missions styles and structures, awesome replay values and characters. I just love sneaking around in MGSV bases and doing everything silent assasin style. My choice.

Yup. I just bought it recently and its the best stealth game I've played in a long time.

Why on Earth did someone resurrect this Turd?

TheStealthMaster alt above with 1 post brought it back to life.

I played Dishonored purely in stealth. You have options but it plays amazing well In stealth and just as much so as any of the Thief titles or original Splinter Cell.