If you’ll excuse me, I have a letter to draft to Ubisoft. No, Ubisoft, putting him in every other Tom Clancy game but his own does not count. It doesn’t feel like the stealth genre is on the way out, rather that it’s difficult to find a “straight” stealth title that isn’t interspersed with other conventions, like an open world or open-ended approach that gives the player plenty of choice on how to approach obstacles. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing — adaptation and evolution is part of why Mario is still as beloved as ever. Praise, however, that is deserved. You play as Naked Snake, who is deep behind enemy lines during the Cold War in a tale of love, loss, and bullets. To survive, he must sneak around the dense jungles with a wide variety of camouflages and nibble on his fair share of crocodile. Of all the games on this list, Chaos Theory may be the purest in terms of stealth. It will punish your simple mistakes with its relentless AI, so you will not just be able to light up all witnesses with a hail of gunfire. It’s a game about patience, just an absolute load of door bashing, and iconic green goggles. The immediate comparison that springs to mind when you load up Mike Bithell’s Volume is — if you had a good childhood — Metal Gear Solid: Special Missions. It has an aesthetic not a million miles away from Kojima’s weird side-content, though Volume has its fair share of original ideas to make it worthwhile.

This means that Shards of Darkness contains plenty of trial and error gameplay, which may frustrate some. For anyone who’s played an old-school stealth game, however, it’s a joy. It’s been all quiet on the Syphon Filter front since then with its developer and originator, Bend, going on to produce portable Uncharted games and also Days Gone, which actually seems to be in the same universe. If you squint hard enough, Deacon actually even looks a little like Logan, too. I have 100 in sneak, all the sneak related perks, light armor, level 22 (although I have other characters that are max level and they have the same issue), no pip boy light or radio on and I get detected outside, inside doesn't matter. Ghost of Tsushima is, despite some minor blemishes, an impressively sharp swansong for the PlayStation 4.”One method is to buy training from trainer-merchants, who also buy and sell goods, and who will then have far higher gold reserves for buying your more expensive items. You want it, I want it, everyone wants it. The only problem with a new Splinter Cell game is that we’d have to buy it and, judging from the franchise’s most recent entries in terms of sales, it might be a risk that Ubisoft are averse to taking. If they were to make a new Splinter Cell game and have it be a success, all they need to do is look at Chaos Theory: the third entry in the series. By stretching the tech limitations of its generation of gaming to almost breaking point, Kojima and co. were able to create one of gaming’s most adored franchises with its zenith. Considering the calibre of almost everything with the Metal Gear name, that’s high praise.

Failure in most stealth games simply means trying again (or losing your mind and massacring everything in sight), but not with Invisible, Inc: death is as debilitating and fearmongering as it is in something like XCOM. The stakes are high no matter the mission, so playing strategically is key — you’ll be afraid to fail, but you should be prepared for the inevitability of it.While Manhunt was ahead of its time in many regards, time hasn’t caught up to it too harshly and is still a bloody joy to play. It may even still make you feel a bit queasy, despite its triangular nature. The arrival of Turtle Beach's new flagship Stealth Pro wireless gaming headset this year has meant that the company's first true multiplatform gaming headset, the Stealth 700 Gen 2 Max is much more affordable, and a real bargain as it means if you own multiple consoles and devices, you only need the one headset.

Playing as Jin Sakai, one of the last remaining samurai in his native land, you must repel Mongol invaders through whatever means necessary. Whether you want to fight with honor or not is up to you, but there’s something to be said for clearing out a camp full of foes without raising the alarm, your katana glinting as you dash from invader to invader. These standards, and their truly innovative triathlon products, have resulted in XLAB becoming an industry favourite, among amateurs and athletes alike.If I have 100 in sneak and I equip armor that gives a bonus to sneak, does that add up past the 100 limit? Because that's about the thing that might make a difference.