This game got a lot better once I gave up on stealth

[Malidictus]

I tried to play this game "as intended", I really did. I used mines, scanner overload and sniper shots to stealth my way through locations, avoiding combat as much as I could. And it was a miserable, time-consuming, boring slog. Was "this" close to just throwing in the towel and counting it as a loss.

As a last resort, I decided to give up on trying to be sneaky to any significant degree. I'd still snipe aliens and lay mines, but if I got into a fight, then so be it. Shoot what comes, then run around gunning down eggs and picking additional fights while the Hunt was still going. Spam Reprimand to avoid my guys flipping out and hold out with turrets whenever a "massive wave" showed up. I'm sure this won't work very well on higher difficulty settings, but on the one I was running, it was fine. Was able to deal with maximum aggression without too much issue as long as I had a decent spot to hold out.

All of a sudden, the game got fun again. I was no longer spending massive amounts of time waiting, I was no longer constantly backing off to let patrols pass, I wasn't having to run around the entire map laying mines. Just go forward, snipe them if I can, shoot them if I can't. The game won't actually spawn extra enemies when I alert the hive. Just the existing ones on the map will come to me. New enemies will still spawn, but they spawn fairly slowly. Besides, the AI doesn't actually know where I am. If I kill the first few that show up and move away, they can't find me.

I personally think that making this a "stealth" game was a mistake. Stealth mechanics are really clumsy and the actual stealth gameplay is aggressively boring. If I ever have the patience to do another run, I'm not going to bother to any significant degree.

[Zoopy]

Sounds like a preference issue, tbh.

Without the stealth mechanics, this game would get incredibly boring fast. It would just be a top down action game in a world swimming with action games. The stealth and strategic planning elevates this game, imo.

[Narrowmind]

Boring? Sounds like a death sentence, to be honest. lol We'll see how long that "preference" lasts.

[Sir Wagglepuss III]

I think the issue here is perception. Folks seem very inclined to throw the label that Dark Descent is a stealth game.

If you want to play it that way, sure it is. But it's also very viable to push your way through contact and use the hunting time to your advantage if you're smart about it, like our thread poster here found out.

I've personally found that the answer lies in the middle. There are times for being quiet to take your time, and there are times to buckle up and punch through. I imagine that's part of why the game drills into you that it's continuous - there's a level of expectation that you're going to get into fights and that you should be taking breathers and rotating squads as a result.

[Jhea]

on my first playthru i was as stealthy as possible.
on my second i'm playing as this dude

just picking fights and blasting away.

both playstyles work.

[Wizurd_Merlin]

There dose seem to be some situations where stealth is by far the harder option. Like all the sleeping drones your supposed to sneak by. When you get to the end of all that sneaking and your messing with the hive, if you get caught you have to run back out and all the enemies you stealthed by will just attack you anyway, making it feel hopeless trying to escape.

So I reloaded it, whent into each room guns blazing, cleared the path, then when I had to turn around it was a easy stroll out. 100% easier and faster.

[skill issue]

dunno how u avoid stealth on higher difficult except normal. because on nightmare on medium level threat its spawn like 15 drones at u and i caught out of guard u screwed so fast

in some dark tunnels where u have 2 seconds to decide where to run

[Arani]

Thanks for the writeup OP. I'm honestly considering moving more to that direction myself too. I like stealth, but after mission 6-7 or whatever it gets absolutely insanely tedious to do. Every mission has like 10 aliens and 20 cultists patrolling every which way, the maps are MASSIVE, and it just feels like the joy of exploration that was there in the start is gone and has been replaced with punishing tedium. I'm honestly growing quite tired of it myself. And then those damned eggs. It takes forever to snipe them all, and sniping itself when it doesn't just get bugged and require a load game so you can even use it, is still annoying because you have no control over where that one sniper will move, and for some reason every time all 4 other soldiers have to enter the LoS until the sniper gets in last for that shot. Would be different if I could send them in alone to do what needs to be done, but there's just so much hassle. And the mines too! How many times have I started setting down a mine for some alien to spawn right next to me and I'm spamming cancel and move away and they just chill and take their time and I get stuck in combat again.

I mean this game is amazing, it really is. But it does come with its cons to be sure. I think I'll try this approach too. Stealth at first, and when it gets to another "you have to fiddle around for 2 hours to explore these 10 rooms next to each other because of the infinitely spawning patrols", imma just go gung ho and walk right through.

[BlackjackGT]

If you think about the source material, when the marines in Aliens are cocky and think they can blast their way out of everything, they get mauled.

That said, wouldn't it be nice to at least have *some* campaign missions where the objectives were more of an aggressive bug hunt? Just for the sake of some variety. :) Not saying everything should be that way.

[Moffin Bovin]

Originally posted by Malidictus:

The game won't actually spawn extra enemies when I alert the hive.

it does tho. once the mission threat level ticks over to hard you basically have to leave. As soon as the hive gets alerted you get swarmed and your squad gets rekt.

if you alert the hive, the best thing to do is is either run to the nearest safe room and weld a door shut or race to the nearest elevator to immediately stop the hunt..

OR...

go full rambo and try to do as much carnage as you can before the hunt timer expires if enemies see you after the hunt has started it doesn't really matter, be being detected again after its finished starts raising the threat again.

[Coyote]

Beat the game on nightmare and the entire time i didnt know you could lure enemies across the map with the deployable sensors.... I figured it was a small radius.

So i got into LOTS of fight with aliens... Maybe thats why i enjoyed it so much :p

[kyu bey]

I never really bother doing the stealth part until very sweaty mode.
^this isn't fun for me. The tutorial (+ round 2) where you need to play sneak&hide isn't fun for me.
I just do it in moderation.
So far i never even use the blow up sensor function & sniper for easier stealth.
Only recently start semi-spamming mine because the constant game crash makes me grumpy.

Just play with the method that give you the most fun.

[pRaX]

I also started out with stealth and it's apparent the devs want you to do it and do it alot.
But it's also not like they don't give you the option to face the threat with violence either.

Also, the stealth is sometimes a bit jank and currently there is alot of bugs with the game that make it sometimes a bit miserable to use.
The squad micro being so limited also doesn't help to overcome some of that jank.

Next playthrough, when the patch came out, I'll go alot more aggressive aswell and show these xenomorphs that humans are the actual scariest species someone could think of and are the real monsters.

[FuscusNight]

Stealth becomes a bad chore half way through, just now with mission 6 that i just finished i started disliking it heavily and it feels almost as if the game doesn't want you to do it anymore at this point. So many rooms have eggs and ♥♥♥♥ that you'd need infinite command points take em out stealthy if you want to grab 100% of the resources on the map and in general so many more patrols and enemies are everywhere too.

I do some stealth still but i am starting to reduce it more and more because it's starting to sap the enjoyment from the game.

[Grizz_FMJ]

Stealth is the best part. It is no so much as stealth as it is tactical awareness. The Marines would not sprint around knowing there is a hive of xenos lurking around. I think it is more so a personal preference on your part but a game like this shouldnt be a run and gun. Also , slower gameplay builds immersion for the game.

[Team Triss]

I feel like the game was originally supposed to be a more action oriented experience; just look at the videos of the store page, it's all guns blazing and flamers out and ♥♥♥♥, but then Tindalos was like "wait we forgot our stacking death clocks" and here we are.