10 Small Details Video Games Still Can’t Get Right

8. Enemies Having Goldfish Memories

The cat-and-mouse nature of the stealth genre means that being seen and regrouping is part of the moment-to-moment experience (because if you hit a game over simply for being seen it would hardly be any fun), and that means these titles let you reset and try again without being kicked back to a checkpoint.

What we currently have is better than the alternative, but guards quickly going from being on the alert to returning to their regular patrol like nothing ever happened after a fight is always jarring. An enemy might catch you bang to rights, but then give up after 30 seconds of pursuit only to say "I guess it was my imagination" and return to their post (to get stabbed in the neck ten seconds later).

It's always those comments that are the most immersion breaking though. An enemy might spout that your presence "must have been the wind" despite seeing a half-naked dude with an eyepatch wielding an LMG inches from their face.

While we're here we might as well throw in enemy patrols not seeing anything unless it's right under their nose as well, or not being bothered about the corpse of their friend lying in the corner of the room. It's maybe a necessity to avoid frustration, but there must be a more elegant way of masking how dumb the A.I. is.