What The Hell Happened To The Stealth Genre?!

No School Like The Old School

So by now, we've had the rise and decline, the sidelining and the gradual return of the genre we know as stealth. From its early days as painfully methodical to the more hybrid, faster paced offerings, it's had a marked shift from how it started. Some might call it needed, others might deride it for its deviation. But one thing was for sure, it was coming back one way or the other.

So it would be fair to say that by 2015, all hopes were on Kojima to deliver with the next Metal Gear Solid, the fifth in its numbered series, The Phantom Pain. The biggest fear was it going sandbox, over its more corridor-based approach we were used to. Whilst it took some getting used to, with its haphazard mission and hub structure, the sneaking was just what we needed.

Yet, Metal Gear wasn't the only series making a much-needed comeback around that time. Shortly afterwards, near the start of 2016, IO Interactive brought back Agent 47. Promising a return to "the glory days" (aka Silent Assassin and Blood Money), this new adventure saw a welcome return to the gameplay we loved. Admittedly it suffered with its episode layout, but that was rectified with the sequel in 2018.

Both offerings were wildly divergent games in comparison: one taking on a bold new approach to stealth gameplay, the other going back to what it did best. Normally, this would sound unfavourable but in this case, it was the opposite. Despite their respective flaws, both franchises were given the respect and credit due to what they brought back.

All we need now is Splinter Cell and Thief to sort their acts out... oh.