What do you NOT want in a stealth game?

[Nobody]

What are the things that stealth games do wrong, in your opinion? Are there annoying elements in every game that are universally hated? Or, are there things certain games tried to do that failed in execution?

[Lar Dass]

depends on what the stealth game is going for and how much stealthing is used overall as well as game story and map layout, such a variety of them do stealth relatively the same but small mechanics are added or changed which change how stealth is done
comparing MGSVs stealth to hitman 3's stealth is a big example
however since this is hitman 3 forum i will say one thing that is specific to hitman 3 only, and that is having so many damn unsuppressed weapons, as soon as a gunshot is heard every guard or cop is running to that location now if the map is big enough like miami its not a problem but on colorado, get ready for a firefight you will definitely lose
if anything, something i dont want in stealth is actually the lack of tools/weapons that favour stealth more, which means it is something added i would want to a stealth game
so dishonored or splinter cell could work well with hitman's distraction system and hitman could work well with MGSV traversal and prone system

[wicked lester]

Two words: Boss fights.

Nothing kills my momentum in a stealth game faster than a boss fight. It's a completely different style.

[SkyL3R]

Waiting around too much is what I hate about stealth games.
In hitman I can grab a disguise or do a bullet distraction and run right through, which is cool.

[dbond1]

Abilities that allow you to see through walls, X-ray vision, hearing/vision cones and that sort of thing. These abilities take away much of the difficulty of making your way stealthily through a level. Too easy to time your moves, or know what lies in wait around the corner.

[Nobody]

Originally posted by SkyL3R:

Waiting around too much is what I hate about stealth games.
In hitman I can grab a disguise or do a bullet distraction and run right through, which is cool.

I definitely feel that, especially in WoA. Having to sit in hiding and wait for guards or NPC's to finish their flavor text dialogue before I can move is painful, but necessary if want a suit only/silent assassin run.

[Z0MBE]

Omniscient ai that instantly spots and targets you or instantly alerts every guard around you when they see you or like the entire maps npc guards all start frantically trying to get you

[Z0MBE]

Generally, very inconsistent ai that doesn't act stupidly consistently. I want an ai that's legitamately kind of stupid, or reactive - hitman does this well in some ways - in games like dishonored I want shock or surprise when they see an enemy, because that's how people should behave -

So a problem is when they have an incredibly ready reaction to spotting you, like they don't hesitate at all to alert other guards or call for help - I honestly want it to be varied but it's not realistic when they do that.

[=_X_=™©]

"What do you NOT want in a stealth game?"

silencers , i absolutely hate them , like what are they even doing in this game

[Eekhoorn]

"Must have been the wind" situations (in the broadest sense).

Although I must say, Hitman doesn't take itself too seriously so it doesn't look as stupid as in other games.

But yeah... in general, it's a real immersion breaker and never fails to make me laugh.
Not sure how you would solve it... it's so ridiculously gamy but we have all accepted it.

[Freaksay]

Originally posted by wicked lester:

Two words: Boss fights.

Nothing kills my momentum in a stealth game faster than a boss fight. It's a completely different style.

MGS3 has great boss fights though.

[wicked lester]

Originally posted by Freaksay:

Originally posted by wicked lester:

Two words: Boss fights.

Nothing kills my momentum in a stealth game faster than a boss fight. It's a completely different style.

MGS3 has great boss fights though.

That's why, IMO, Splinter Cell and, especially, Thief are the best stealth games out there. Boss fights are anathema to true, pure stealth games. You know how people complain about forced stealth missions in action games? Same exact thing, in reverse.

[Bankai9212]

The question is loaded since outside of thief and splinter cell how stealth is handled varies from game to game. It’s why hitman is great since it’s more social stealth then anything above. Also metal gear outside of 3 wishes it had actual stealth mechanics.

[Hyperion Biga]

X-ray vision and HUD crutches. Luckily in Hitman, they can be disabled

I also dislike the idea of "point shooting", it lowers the skill too much. In Hitman, shooting shouldn't be encouraged by making it automatic. If you must shoot, do it yourself

Tunnel-like level design, like Absolution and the newest Thief game. Stealth games should be about freedom of approach, because approaching something (in a clever way so that nobody notices you) is the only thing you are doing, basically.

Bad AI is of course critical for stealth. Hitman has pretty good AI, while it doesn't behave like real human, it needs to have some predictability to make the gameplay consistent. There's still room for improvement though

I'm curious how AI in next Hitman will be. Hopefully leap in AI also improves AI in games