Following the stealth explosion of the early noughties that came with Metal Gear Solid 2, Splinter Cell and Hitman 2: Silent Assassin, we had our three founding pillars of the genre for all to build upon. On the one side, the ludicrously OTT plots and hilariously experimental A.I.-fiddling of MGS and Hitman, and on the other, the super-serious, Tom Clancy-framed exploits of the leather-clad Sam Fisher. Sure, there had been stealth games before, but none quite so perfected as these three, and going forward you can point to any game with any stealth element, and trace it back to what these three games nailed so perfectly, some after immensely important first instalments. Going forward all three series' have maintained high pedigrees, but as the industry slowly started to feast on its own tail by pursuing endless military shooters and open-world third-person action adventures (one of which, Assassin's Creed, had a far more stealthier start), the genre as a mainstay has become fairly underrepresented. Or has it? Like the best shadow-clinging heroes of the genre itself, some of the best examples of the label have been under your nose this entire time...
12. Tenchu Z
Eight years before Assassin's Creed: Unity would try and fail at the same premise, Tenchu Z bravely pioneered the idea of group infiltration over Xbox Live. By outfitting your custom ninja with all manner of appearance tweaks and ability modifiers, you could then team up with people across the globe to take on a huge amount of missions. Alternatively, solo play was exemplary, too. Customisation carried across no matter what your assassin was up to, and where Tenchu Z excelled over its contemporaries was through a staggering away of items and animations. With the series' occasionally supernatural bent, enemies ranged from standard thugs all the way through to mystical warriors, and you were free to cling to vertical surfaces, concoct various bombs and distractions, perform in-air kills and kite enemies into kill-rooms of your own design. All this whilst dabbling in an innovative multiplayer that nobody else would attempt for almost another decade? Just what you'd expect from the developers of Dark Souls.
