What are the absolute best stealth games?

[Keegs]

Are there any stealth games out there you really enjoy? Would you recommend these stealth games to anyone? I haven't played many stealth games myself, but for the ones I have most of them are optional as opposed to going loud. Fallout: New Vegas was fun to sneak around in, the Metro games, TESIVblivion - MGSV:TPP is fun to sneak around in, but I dunno. I guess I prefer games with a stealth option instead of a game surrounded only around stealth. Like I said, I think I like F:NV's stealth the best.

What about you?

 

[Oddball]

Haven't played many stealth games, but iv'e played games with stealth segments. I actually enjoy the stealth parts of games, cause it's refreshing using your head to solve problems rather than just yolo'ing through all the enemies and hoping for the best

I've also found in MMO's you actually get to the objective FASTER stealthed and undetected then unstealthed and fighting everything

 

[Nightblade50]

I don't know about the absolute best stealth games. There is one stealth game I played that I really enjoyed... Shadow Tactics: Blades of the Shogun. Really fun stealth game set in Japan's Edo period. I highly recommend it.

 

[ATT_Turan]

I'm showing my age here, but Thief (and 2) is considered to be one of the quintessential stealth games. The first Deus Ex game was also highly lauded for being able to be played mostly (entirely?) via stealth.

 

[JDevain]

I agree with ATT_Tuarn, the original Thief games were just great. More recently, the Dishonored games are really great, you have all those abilities to choose from. You don't usually have to go stealth, but that's how most people play it I think.

 

[RyeBreadedCooder]

I hesitate to say to say best, but one of my favourites was The Sting. Early 2000s PC game in which you take control of a burglar and attempt to rob various places. My memory is a little fuzzy, but you would plan the heist, pick your getaway car - which could carry different amounts of loot I am sure, pick your tools, and try to steal as much as you can, dodging cameras, guards, etc. along the way. After you made your plan, you put it into action and watched the fruits of your labour unfold. It was great fun, despite what my inability to recall that much may suggest.

 

[ShadowDragon]

outside RPG Maker, I recommend Thief (if you go for stealth achievement)
or even Dishonored 1 (I dont know 2).

both games can be played on high stealth mode (undetected) if you dont want
any alarms or alert anyone as well as a killing machine throughout the game.

Full stealth is challenge in those both, but also a very nice game and story

 

[TheoAllen]

I played several stealth games plus Bethesda games. There are several titles like Styx Master of Shadow, Hitman, Deus Ex, Thief, and Dishonored. They are unique on their own. Unlike Bethesda game which was not actually made as a stealth game, these games were actually a puzzle game and the game is designed around being stealthy.

if I would recommend a stealth game from these titles, I would recommend Dishonored 1 (I haven't played the second). Of course, they should try other titles and see if they also interest in them.

 

[Milk Bar Prophet]

I second the Thief games, especially the first two. The graphics are a bit old but the stealth aspect still holds up very well.

Splinter Cell series - I played only a couple of them but I enjoyed them and they are all about stealth. I liked the Chaos Theory (apparently pretty hardcore compared to others especially later ones) and Conviction (you can play the whole campaing in coop with your friend, which is awesome - one is an American the other a Russian spy, the downside is the campaign isn't very long - but still very satisfying especially when playing together) the most.
I know you can play SC:Blacklist campaign with your friend as well but my SC-specialist mate said it's not as good as Conviction.

From the more recent games, the one that for me got the stealth aspect spot on, and gave me a lot of joy, was Sniper Elite 4. Moving (and shooting) silently in this game is as essential gameplay-wise as it is in Thief games, especially on a higher difficulty. I'd say it's more enjoyable to 'roleplay' and take the enemies down silently and most of all, it greatly prolongs your in game lifespan (I think you get mission achievements for that too) than to go all guns blazing (which can be a lot of fun too, provided you know the map or have some sort of plan). You can set traps and create diversions and all. The maps are huge. Not a lot of them, but their scope and design makes up for that. They are very well planned and satisfying, with lots of enemies of various kinds, including armored vehicles. And to top it all, you can can actually coop the entirety of the campaign with your friend, which practically doubles the fun. Sniper Elite 3 has pretty much the same stealth mechanics, but the maps weren't so good.

Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands: not a stealth game per se, but its stealth aspect is pretty essential to the success of many story missions and if the mission objective is to remain undetected and you'll raise the alarm, then mission failed. In this game when you make too much noise, someone will take notice, there's an everpresent faction called Unidad (a kind of special forces militia that control the whole country) which will always find a way to kill you, so it's advised to remain prone and silent when near them.
GR:Wildlands is one of those rare examples of a game that you can play multi coop every mission on the world map, the whole story campaign and side missions as well, with a group of friends. I don't know what the upper limit is but we had a group of four and it was EPIC.

There are also the old Commandos games* and their western-themed clones Desperados were good, if you don't mind the dated graphics. Rather difficult and time consuming though. Making mistake and alarming the enemy near the end of a mission results in starting it over. I think of all the stealth games I ever played Commandos games were the most difficult / frustrating, but also hugely satisfying. There was also a Robin Hood game based on the same/similar stealth engine, seemed decent but I didn't play a lot of it.
Desperado 3 is the most recent but I haven't played it, might be worth a look.

*I think they require some modern fixes / get-arounds to run on the modern machines properly

 

[Azurose]

Aside from some of the games already mentioned (Thief, Deus Ex) etc I think a very good recent example I wanna mention is Ghost of Tshushima.

The stealth mechanics are rather generic, with tall grass for hiding and all that, but the tools you get to use your stealth and the day/night system make it a lot more engaging.