The stealth genre may not be as popular as the straight action-adventure FPS or third-person shooter like the Call of Duty franchise or the Uncharted series respectively, series but its mechanic depth has been incorporated into most modern action games. It offers players that prefer more strategic and even slower-paced gameplay an alternative kind of adventure game.
There is also a sense of empowerment that comes with tackling mission using stealth and taking down enemies and slipping back into the darkness without being seen. It’s only the stealth genre that can make gamers feel like they are the Batman, James Bond, and Solid Snake. Let’s take a look at the ten best stealth games of the decade according to Metacritic.
10 Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes (Metascore 80)
Metal Gear Solid: Ground Zeroes was released in 2014 on the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and the PC. The game served as a prologue for the main entry Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain which was released the following year.
Since its release, many fans of the series have come to prefer Ground Zeroes over The Phantom Pain due to its excellent Hitman-like level design that allowed for a lot of replay value and depth especially for those that enjoy trophy and achievement hunting.
9 Sniper Elite 4 (Metascore 81)
Sniper Elite 4 was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the PC in 2017. It’s considered the best game in the series, and its popularity with gamers meant that developers Rebellion released a remastered version of Sniper Elite V2 and that they are working on VR adaptation of the series.
The fourth entry in the series is by far the most refined and the most open in the series. The open level design offered players many ways to take down their targets in addition to sniping. Players can get up close and personal with stealth takedowns or planting explosives, setting up traps, and even blowing up bridges from a safe distance.
8 Splinter Cell: Blacklist (Metascore 82)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist was released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Nintendo Wii U, and the PC in 2013. Even though fans were initially disappointed that longtime voice actor Michael Ironside was replaced with a younger actor named Eric Johnson in the role of Sam Fisher, Blacklist was a return to form for the stealth series.
The game’s mission design was far more open and offered various playstyles to suit all kinds of players offering lots of replay value. However, the most challenging and satisfying way to play the game is the non-lethal and undetected approach.
7 Hitman 2 (Metascore 82)
Hitman 2 was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the PC in 2018. It was a direct sequel to the rebooted Hitman released in 2016 that was developed by IO Interactive. It brought several improvements to its predecessor with even larger levels, improved visuals, and mechanics.
The game is made up of 8 chapters but the missions are huge with near-endless opportunities and hours of replay value. Furthermore, the developers keep adding new content and targets for players to tackle within the same missions in the form of “elusive targets”.
6 Hitman: Absolution (Metascore 83)
Hitman: Absolution was released in 2012 for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and the PC. The game was a more cinematic approach for the series with many of the levels focusing more on unavoidable shootouts and action than its predecessors.
It was a departure for the series that didn’t prove to be very popular among fans despite scoring well with critics. As a result, developers IO Interactive released a prequel/reboot in 2016 simply named Hitman which took the series back to its stealthy open-ended roots.
5 Hitman (Metascore 84)
Hitman was released in 2016 for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and the PC. After the disappointing sales and negative feedback from fans after Hitman: Absolution failed to live up to expectations, Hitman took the series back to its roots but released the game’s chapters in episodic form.
The episodic nature of the game allowed fans time to fully explore every level and unlock everything for each map. Each mission offered fans so much content in its open missions that they felt like full self-contained games in of themselves.
4 Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction (Metascore 85)
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Conviction was released in 2010 for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and the PC. It was the first game in the series to use the “Mark and Execute” mechanic which was used again in its sequel Blacklist in the lower difficulty levels.
Splinter Cell: Conviction was a more linear and action-based game than its predecessors which divided fans of the series. In addition, there are fewer gadgets and devices for Sam Fisher to use and the missions are more linear with less replay value.
3 Mark Of The Ninja (Metascore 91)
Mark of the Ninja was released in 2012 for the Xbox Live Arcade and the PC in 2012. The game received an HD remaster in 2018 which was released on the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC formats.
It’s a 2D stealth game that puts players in the shoes of a nameless ninja as they work their way through cleverly designed levels while staying out of the sight to execute their enemies. The game’s atmospheric use of light and shadows need to be used to player’s advantage giving levels an almost puzzle-like feeling of accomplishment.
2 Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain (Metascore 95)
Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain was released in 2015 for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One and the PC. It was the last game in series to be developed by Kojima Productions due to the developers parting ways with the publishers Konami.
The parting of ways, unfortunately, meant that the game’s story was left unresolved and many parts of the game were unfinished. Despite these drawbacks, however, the stealth-based gameplay is one of the best of a generation.
1 Batman: Arkham City (Metascore 96)
Batman: Arkham City was released in 2011 as the sequel to 2009’s Arkham Asylum. It was released on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC with a Nintendo Wii U version to follow a year later. The game received an HD remaster for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One in 2019 as part of the Batman: Arkham collection.
Despite being a more open-ended experience than its predecessor, Arkham City was still a tightly packed and cleverly designed world that gave Batman near-endless ways to sneak up on and take down enemies. Developers Rocksteady once again showed fans that they fully understood exactly what the Batman character was all about and successfully made players feel like they were the man himself once again.