Bajo speaks: Let’s get sneaky

AS HUMANS WE ARE PROGRAMMED TO TAKE THE PATH OF LEAST RESISTANCE. EVEN IF THAT MEANS STABBING, GARROTTING, OR APPLYING A LIGHT TASER TO EVERY GOON ALONG WAY.

I WOULDN’T SAY stealth games are the most popular genre. They are in essence, strategy games and they’re also hard to get right. It takes a particular mix of mechanics and ideas to make a stealth game great. A combination of variety, flexibility and punishment. A true, pure stealth game won’t let you stab or shoot your way out of every situation. If you’ve ever played the original Thief series and been spotted by a guard, you’ll be more than familiar with what true fear feels like. Those encounters were so scrappy and scary, you had about a 50/50 chance to get out alive. The way it should be!

Stealth games are also usually slow and methodical, which suits the kind of gamer who likes to make a plan, execute it perfectly, and abort when things go to hell. And there’s a real balancing act for developers when designing a sneaky game. The recent trend was to always let you have the option to ‘run and gun’. I get why developers do this, so they’re more accessible. But giving us the action hero option takes away from the overall sneaky experience. It’s just not as satisfying to stealth until you’re busted, then just become a mass murderer.

The key factor of any great stealth game is the artificial intelligence of goons. Enemies need to be predicable, but not appear to be. Usually, guards walk in a loop, with plenty of opportunities for you to take cover and wait for your backstab chance. It pulls you out of the moment when you notice such obvious patterns. The trick for designers is making AI

which seems like they’re just going about their business, but also predictable enough for you to plan an attack. ere’s a few good ways to do this, mostly through subtle variety, and progressive difficulty in the enemy setups. Each enemy you face can’t be designed as a unique encounter because that inconstancy will confuse the player. Also, I would guess that it’s not practical from a programming point of view either. But when games add just a touch of variation, in dialogue or placement, it can keep players on their toes and engaged in the idea of hiding in the shadows. I bang on a lot about Hitman : Absolution whenever I get the chance, and it makes sense to mention it here because it does all this so well.

But, the Splinter Cell series is the master when it comes to creating stealth set ups that force you to use the tools you’ve learned, and adapt on the y. Sure, you o en have so many gadgets that using them all is nearly impossible. And the plot of nearly every SC game is full of geo-political white noise (and o en terrible acting).

But the series manages to hit that tone of encouraging perfect stealth runs. And they do it without o ering you much reward. It’s more about the principal of the thing! What I nd most interesting about stealth games, is when they shame you into restarting. A er all, you’re meant to be role playing a super cool stealth covert undercover assassin, and there’s nothing more depressing than getting a D on your report card when the mission is over. I wish games shamed us more. Shame is a powerful motivator, and a tool that video games are uniquely able to wield.

If you’re in the mood to catch up on some AAA stealth games which are still fantastic to play through today, I recommend the following: Hitman : Absolution, Splinter Cell : Conviction, Splinter Cell : Blacklist, Assassins Creed 2, Assassins Creed Black Flag, Dishonoured.

Moments later, this man was attached to a balloon and sent into the sky. Because MGSV is weird.

First thing they should teach in goon school – check the closet. Always.

Conviction was a more personal story for Sam, as he investigated his daughter’s death. They used some interesting techniques to display your objective on the world around you. An expected highlight in the series to date.

No other stealth game plays with costumes like Hitman.

Blacklist is awesome. I never tire of these Splinter Cell games, they just get better with every iteration (except for the nonsensical plot, of course)