Stealth in video games is a long-running tradition that comes up again and again in a wide variety of games. From fighting games where the object is to sneak up on enemies to horror games where remaining undetected is the only method of survival, stealth is a huge deal.
However, there are some games where stealth mechanics that are introduced throughout the game or in certain sections of a game feel completely unnecessary. There is often a stealth section introduced into a big game that fans wish hadn’t been included, and sometimes stealth mechanics that run throughout a game can damage the love fans have for it.
7 Spider-Man (PS4)
The Spider-Man game released by Insomniac has seen massive success and managed to garner multiple sequels already. However, some of the stealth mechanics are definitely frustrating to fans of the games. While players are able to use stealth in combat while playing as Peter Parker, there are some missions where they are given control of MJ or Miles Morales instead.
In these missions, without powers or combat abilities, the player instead has to sneak around undetected in missions that many fans have described as frustrating and slow-paced. These missions are downer moments in an otherwise much-beloved game that has fans clamoring as they wait for the release of Spider-Man 2 and the continuation of stories begun by this game.
6 Grand Theft Auto V
It feels strange that in a game where the characters are very good at being loud, abrasive, and criminally insane, the object is sometimes to be so quiet. Grand Theft Auto as a franchise is at its best when the players get to drive around crashing into things, shooting at people, or blowing things up.
So it feels like a particularly strange mechanic to introduce that there were stealth missions in GTA V. While these sections did nothing to hinder the game’s massive success over the last decade, it is a feature that fans have complained about in the past as unnecessary in a game where being as noisy as possible is often encouraged.
5 The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
It isn’t a massive part of the game, but a piece of Ocarina of Time that many fans hated greatly was the Gerudo Fortress, where the player is jailed immediately if caught in a particularly frustrating area. This is not the first time either that a Zelda game has contained a brief but highly irritating stealth section which continues to irritate speed runners to this day.
Zelda games are known for including many puzzle aspects to spice up various areas and not relying too heavily on combat in-game. While Ocarina of Time is another hugely-beloved game, even this one is a sufferer of unnecessary stealthy additions which frustrate players to no end.
4 Life Is Strange
While Life Is Strange is yet another game that will be incredibly well-remembered for the hugely impressive story and mystery it tells, as well as being generally quite peaceful, there are sections of this game that tread too deeply into plodding stealth instead of well-nuanced episodic teen drama.
The more egregious case of these stealth exploits comes in the finale when Max’s insane nightmare labyrinth becomes a prison for players, many of whom have spoken out to shame this sequence in particular for being so out of place and so incredibly dull to work their way through.
3 Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag
It may sound ridiculous in games that are as much about stealth as about action to complain about the stealth mechanics. But the Assassin’s Creed games are notorious for including “follow” missions where the object is to remain undetected while tailing somebody. Fans have often complained about these missions in the various games in the franchise which included them.
But an even more ludicrous attempt at adding more stealth to the franchise came in Black Flag when the player has to tail other ships on their pirate ship, which is a very large vessel. Sailing in pursuit of another ship and remaining undetected the entire time is one of the stranger sights in any of the Assassin’s Creed games. In spite of this, Black Flag does have great ship combat.
2 Far Cry 3
Far Cry 3 is similar in some ways to Grand Theft Auto V in that the majority of the game is about the player blasting their way through a variety of enemies with a huge arsenal of weapons on an abandoned island. However, once again the game feels the need to include a section where players are forced to completely tone down their style for what many refer to as a boring section.
The much-hated mission, called Doppelgänger, has become so infamous in the Far Cry 3 community that many have searched for ways to trick their way around the mission with cheats or glitches instead of having to actually play it. The massively slowed pace of progress is a dampener to players re-treading the ground of the wonderful Far Cry 3.
1 The Legend of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Breath of the Wild, while being one of the very best Legend of Zelda games ever to be released, also isn’t excused from the curse of introducing stealth where stealth isn’t needed. Breath of the Wild includes the Yiga Clan Hideout, an area where Link has to hide behind walls to remain undetected.
Unfortunately, the mechanics for this area are fairly weak, and when Link presses up against walls to try and hide behind them he often accidentally climbs them instead. Players have been hugely frustrated with this area in an otherwise amazing game that has amazing mechanics and areas.