What The Hell Happened To The Stealth Genre?!
Slow And Steady...
When you think of a stealth game, many immediately think of the mid-nineties are the "beginning" of the stealth genre. Whilst it would be fair to say the likes of the aforementioned certainly propelled it to a wider audience, it origins go further back than that.
Take the Wolfenstein series, for example. It's remembered fondly now for its over-the-top 3D first person shooter carnage. Yet did you know that the first title in the series, Castle Wolfenstein, was a stealth-focused espionage affair? This 1981 title and its sequel paved the way for the likes of 1987's Metal Gear and Saboteur (the 1985 title, not the more modern one).
Even in the more "simpler" times of console gaming, these titles were well received for their ingenuity. The focal shift from action and cheap movie tie-ins to sneakabout gameplay was well received, perhaps not in terms of sales but in reception.
It may not have led to an immediate boom for the genre, it certainly lit the spark. The Metal Gear series was on a slow burn for great things, whilst Wolfenstein went on to become what we know it as today.
Things seemed quiet going into the nineties... but all that was about to change in 1998.