You don’t always know what to expect from first-person shooters. They can offer bombastic experiences that throw waves upon waves of enemies at you, or they can be more grounded and realistic. A handful of them even try their hand at stealth. This doesn’t always work out, though, with the limited view offered by the perspective can make sneaking around difficult.
The games below do a decent job with it, though. A couple of them are even considered the best in the stealth genre, while others feature it heavily or give gamers the choice between going in undetected or making a loud and aggressive entrance.
When Wolfenstein came back in 2014, it surprised everyone with its plot and polished FPS action. Though you can take out dozens of enemies in seconds with big guns, stealth is sometimes offered as an alternative at the start of levels or sections. Sneaking around is simple but effective and doesn’t become frustrating.
you’re able to take out enemies at a distance with silenced weapons or get up close for some silent takedowns. You will want to go for certain enemies first since they can call in reinforcements. The sequel, The New Colossus, similarly has stealth segments.
The developer’s experience with killing nazis and stealth will assist them greatly in their younger project, Indiana Jones and the Great Circle.
Developer Arkane is famous for itsimmersive sims that offer countless gameplay possibilities. Deathloop, like the developer’s previous classic Dishonored, gives you plenty of powers for you to play around with. Most of these are based around stealth and help you sneak around enemies.
The time-loop mechanic around which the story revolves means you will go through the same scenarios multiple times as you perfect routes and experiment with the possibilities on the map. It’s not difficult, but the point is to play around in the sandbox more than being challenged by the enemy AI.
The multiplayer invasion mechanic also throws a fun wrench into a run. It’s impressive to see how the world reacts to two players at the same time.
Ubisoft took the Avatar series and mixed it up with Far Cry to produce Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora. The combination mostly works, thanks to how beautiful Pandora looks in the game and the traversal mechanics.
Like Far Cry,much of the combat outside of missionsinvolves sneaking into enemy encampments and destroying an objective, making for a relaxing yet engaging gameplay loop. The stealth here is more interesting than most Far Cry games because of your agility. The game encourages you to find the high ground and pick enemies off from above.
4Thief
Focused Purely On Stealth
Thief is one of the first FPS games based entirely around stealth. It came out in 1998, which is when the genre was finally maturing to focus on more realistic settings and more often combined gameplay with the narrative. This was the same year as Half-Life, after all. Enemies patrol levels as you sneak around using all the tools at your disposal.
Movement was also more complex in this game than in its contemporaries. Light and shadow play a large role in your ability to remain undetected. Unlike many of the other games on this list, direct combat is mostly discouraged, and you don’t stand much of a chance against large groups of enemies.
3TimeSplitters 2
A First Mission Where Stealth Is Recommended
TimeSplitters 2’s single-player campaign contains a ton of variety. The levels take you through different time periods and subgenres. The first level is a standout mission for its length, scale, and focus on stealth. You start at the base of a dam with the enemy unaware of your presence.
You have a silenced weapon and the ability to bring up a radar reminiscent of theSoliton Radar from Metal Gear Solid. If you are skilled enough, you can sneak your way through most of the level, at least until the zombies show up.
The debut entry differs greatly from its sequels, being more focused on multiplayer, while the campaign is simple, straightforward, and lacks cutscenes.
2Deus Ex
An Immersive Sim With Heavy RPG Elements
The original Deus Ex gives you so many choices in how to develop the protagonist’s abilities. Combine that with the open levels ripe for exploration, and you have a recipe for one of the most influential first-person shooters ever made. You can develop a character that is tough enough to take enemies on directly, or you can choose stealth over action.
The game makes sure that every choice you make is valid, and there are multiple ways to approach every challenge. Deus Ex: Human Revolution from 2011 offers a similar level of choice in the gameplay. Still, complaints were directed toward the boss encounters that mostly focused on action and put stealth-focused players at a disadvantage.
The Dishonored series made Arkane a cult favorite among gamers. It features the best elements of the immersive sim genre, presenting levels with multiple ways to complete where no solution feels worse than the other. It’s all about how you want to play. Like Deathloop, the tools at your disposal encourage experimentation in the levels.
Those intimately familiar with the game can complete some levels extremely fast with techniques and routes some of the developers might not have realized were possible.
