Why stealth games don't sell anymore?

Games
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One often over looked thing is sound design, which is really important. If you can hear something before seeing it, it helps a lot. You can build in all kinds of audio cues.

The inherent problem with stealth games is it intentionally makes the player vulnerable instead of empowering them, which is why a lot of stealth games are actually hybrids, or simply a gameplay choice.

62

That game was immensely fun imo. I had never heard of it when it came through a humble bundle but I really enjoyed it. It was definitely a unique take on stealth gameplay.

But then again, I recently bought the Thief collection and just finished game 1 and about to play game 2 again (reliving my childhood!) so I’m in that kinda mood these days.

63

A stealth game is like fishing and IMO it’s the same reason why many kids/young adults don’t go fishing anymore… lack of patience, need for instant gratification, fear of missing their Snapchat streak, etc. Ok I’m sure there’s more to it but still… get off my lawn!

64

The last couple of stealth games I played that I had a blast with were the two Wolfenstein games by MachineGames and the Tomb Raider reboot. All three games mixed stealth levels with action levels and went back and forth. And in all three, if I got discovered (stealth failure), it was harder but not impossible to go loud and still get through sometimes.

This also solved the problem that @Ultrazen was mentioning above. It made the stealth sections feel less stressful. The stealth sections are still tense, but you relieve that tension in the action sections and also by trying to improvise when you get discovered in the stealth sections.

65

I really love the horror/stealth stuff like Amnesia, SOMA, Alien Isolation, that sort of thing. Mark of the Ninja was one of my favorite games of recent years, fantastic stealth in that game.

66

Oh yeah, I’m playing Mark of the Ninja these days. I’m enjoying it, but it has that problem inherent in stealth games, which is that it’s pretty stressful, and when I get discovered and die as a result, I feel like quitting and not returning to it for a while.

67

Let’s not forget Invisible Inc, which is probably the best stealth game of the last couple of years (if not ever).

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This is also a really good stealth game.

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I haven’t played Invisibles Inc or Seven The Days Long Gone but I’m definitely interested in both. Hopefully they get good discounts over the holidays.

70

Like others have said, this is why the Assassin’s Creed games have become what they are now. You can play Odyssey and Origins partly as stealth experiences, but that’s literally one-third of the player’s skill tree. The games push you towards open fighting more than stealth. At this point Lara Croft is more stealthy than Ubisoft’s assassins.

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Wow just put Seven on my wishlist. Thanks @BrianRubin.

I think stealth games have a few problems that haven’t been completely ironed out yet:

  1. How do you let the player have situational awareness, since in real life, hiding is really hard? Do you give the player a superpower or make the AI unaware? (Thief has the light gem and sound propagation, Ninja has 2d perspective etc)
  2. How do you let the player get into the coolest part of stealth, which is planning ahead and then executing that plan? This relates to 1, since the player needs some way to get additional information about their environment and see ahead. (Most first-person games can’t pull this off unless there’s an overview area; Hitman lets you play the level and fail until you get the plan right; Invisible Inc lets you plan in turn-based)
  3. How do you make stealth cool for an entire game? You need some gadgets or upgrades, but it’s not clear how to do that. (Thief has gadgets but not enough; Invisible has many upgrades; most games fail here and just turn to action upgrades.)
  4. What do you do when the player is found? Do you transition to combat, or is it game over, or should the player have some abilities to let him escape and reset the level? If you allow for full-on combat, now you’re back to problem 3, because action often feels more satisfying than sneaking. If you don’t allow for combat, you get the added advantage of making the player feel vulnerable, but now you need to provide sufficient tools so as not to encourage save-scumming.

Ultimately though, I think stealth sells less because it’s slow and methodical, and fewer people like that rather than going in guns blazing and getting to the next narrative point.

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There are still good games like Invisible Inc. being done from time to time, yes. But you know, the thread was more in reference to big commercial success.

That said, Shadow Tactics: Shogun sold fairly well for that genre, I had totally forgotten about it.

I was interested in Seven, but time passed and I didn’t buy it. Although… it seems I wasn’t the only one with that attitude:
Owners** : 0 … 20,000 (from Steamspy).

73

Have we mentioned Shadwen yet? Made by the folks who made Trine, it seems like it just disappeared as quickly as it appeared.

…

I mean, it’s a stealth game, but that’s taking things too far! Wakka-wakka!

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This is the problem that I think action games solve so well. That’s why I really enjoyed the stealth in the Tomb Raider reboot and the two recent Wolfenstein games. When you have a pure stealth game, that problem is harder to solve. An action and stealth combination is better.

But even though these games do it well, this was not the case in the past. Anyone remember the forced stealth sequences in Sin and No One Lives Forever where you instantly fail the moment you’re discovered. That was so bad.

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I took a look at the demo and you had to escort someone. While in stealth. As we all know from X-Wing, escort missions are worst.

Escort while in stealth? Haha, no.

Styx had an escort mission as well, and that’s when I quit the game. I didn’t get Styx 2.

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Man, I am usually on top of my games on gaming releases but I have never heard speak of it!
And it looks novel, in how it mixes stealth and physics.

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From reading the reviews, it seems like you have a rewind time ability, like in Sands of Time. I’ve been wondering if someone could do that for stealth games. It should make escort missions much more bearable.

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Styx is a lot of fun, it reminds a little about the stealth elements Dark Messiah had. There is some joy to be had in taking someone out right behind a group of others.

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I really need to play the Styx games. I have them both, and they look great.

80

Good points!

Following up on your power dynamic thought, maybe in Stealth the player loses power on one axis (often combat power) but in good stealth games the player gains the upper hand in another axis (often in controlling information).

So its like this power shift. Maybe bad stealth games dont consider these power weights well enough.