What The Hell Happened To The Stealth Genre?!

If Not Into The Light, Then At Least Close Enough To Bask In It

Fast-forward to where we are now, towards the end of 2020. We've seen the birth of a genre centred in subterfuge and sneaking, watched it progress unto acclaim with several series, before being sidelined in favour of supporting gameplay sections. We, the hardcore fans, thought it was in danger of being relegated, but with the return of MGS and Hitman brought new hope.

It's hard to watch franchises come and go. Dishonoured seems indefinitely shelved, Thief saw its fourth offering tank, and Assassin's Creed is doing whatever the hell it wants with different historical time periods with tenuous assassin connections. The fate of Metal Gear Solid seems uncertain, with rumours abound of the first Solid (1998) being remade but not confirmed.

As for Sam Fisher, well... Ubisoft keep teasing us by whacking him in games like Rainbow 6: Siege and Elite Squad. Yet due to Blacklist "not meeting sales expectations", we're no closer to a standalone return to Splinter Cell. They know we want it, but they won't give it to us.

Hitman is seeing a third offering in its rebooted series next year on the new generation, promising to continue the solid framework it's made for itself recently. Yet Deus Ex has gone quiet after the short but well received Mankind Divided, sadly. So in terms of old and newer franchises returning, it's anyone's guess.