The History of Stealth – Assassins, Thieves, Agents that Made the Genre
Even Death Stranding, a courier simulator, draws on the stealth mechanics. Which actually goes to show how far this genre has come since the 80s. Today, we will look at the most important turning points in the history of stealth games.
Table of Contents
- The History of Stealth – Assassins, Thieves, Agents that Made the Genre
- Metal Gear and Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake
- Thief: The Dark Project
- Metal Gear Solid.
- Aliens vs. Predator
- Hitman: Codename 47
- Deus Ex
- Splinter Cell and Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
- Siren
- Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater
- Assassin's Creed
Deus Ex
- Developer: Ion Storm
- Year of release: 2000
The pioneers don't have it easy. They attempt things that others have not dared to. They stumble, make mistakes, fall short, but in the end – the sum of their achievements eclipses the failures. That was the case of Warren Spector's Deus Ex (the father of System Shock, mind you). He decided to marry an FPS-a with a full-blooded RPG. The ceremony was conducted by priest stealth.
No one had mixed these genres in such concentration before. We were led through subsequent missions by a great, dark and multi-threaded story, in which we made difficult moral choices – way before Mass Effect, The Witcher or Dragon Age were cool. Each mission could be accomplished in a variety of ways – as a hacker, commando, or ghost that leaves no trace behind. We developed a hero, talked, sneaked quietly, and, if we felt like it, we could also shoot anyone in sight.
Sure, the gunplay was sketchy, a few other elements fell short too, but overall, this was a unique, thoroughly original hybrid – Deus Ex justs slammed you into the ground. But it's cult status comes from elsewhere – the game was pretty intense when it came to political messaging, and some of its concepts are still reverberating among some players. This was an important game because it showed that stealth elements can perfectly complement other genres, producing some great outcomes. Just think how many of today's games feature stealth elements.
