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Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

Larry Parrish posted:

I like how when coming up for a bad guy in the revolution they picked lenin of all people

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

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Pablo Nergigante
Apr 16, 2002

Larry Parrish posted:

I like how when coming up for a bad guy in the revolution they picked lenin of all people


Lunchmeat Larry posted:

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

Lmao

Lumpy the Cook
Feb 4, 2011

Drippy-goo-yay, mother-gunker!

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

Lol

Larry Parrish
Jul 9, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

Lmfao

Fungah!
Apr 30, 2011

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

lmao

BBJoey
Oct 31, 2012

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

In Syndicate Karl Marx says revolution is bad and you should vote for political parties that will achieve gradual change, so it's consistent

i love ubisoft

Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

Karl Marx's Iconic Beard

Only registered members can see post attachments!

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

"I love hamburgers" - Mahatma Gandhi

Pablo Nergigante
Apr 16, 2002

Seventh Arrow posted:

"I love hamburgers" - Mahatma Gandhi

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ega5Rcct2s&t=43s

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Shadwen





Shadwen is a fairly bog-standard third-person stealth game, with a few twists. In it, you play a pseudo-Scottish she-assassin venturing throughout pseudo-Scotland on your mission to kill the king. On your way, you cross paths with an orphaned youngster named Lily. Lily accompanies you on your adventures, either avoiding guards or slitting throats as you go. If that makes this sound like a giant escort quest, it kind of is and isn't. Fortunately, Lily cannot be discovered by the guards and can do nothing to induce a failure state owing to her actions. So what's the point of having her around? You can only unlock the door at the end of each level with her present so you need to guide her by either distracting the guards or dispatching them as you see fit. Even though she can't be seen, she will act as if she can and will only move from hiding spot to hiding spot if none of the guards have line of sight on her intended path.

That's the first twist. The second twist is that the game also has a SuperHot-esque gameplay aspect where time stops when you're not moving. This is very useful since you have a grappling hook and can leap in midair and then look around your surroundings to determine the best precipice or platform to get around. You can also pull off some nifty moves, swooping down to knife a guard, then using the grappling hook to pull a barrel onto his buddy's head and then swooping up a floor to chuck a bomb at another guard. There are some examples of these kinds of shenanigans here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8hmoqcxQNS0

There's also a key that lets time pass normally if you want to watch guards patrol or whatever. Another aspect to Lily's accompaniment is that her disposition towards you will change depending on whether you go on a murder spree or not (and whether she actually sees you killing anyone). I was stabbing guards left and right and let me tell you, she was downright grouchy about it! The gameplay can be quite fun, but the levels are very same-y; except for the king's castle in the last level, they're all your typical medieval peasant fantasy surroundings. This is surprising for a game by the guys who gave us the Trine series. I'd also like to add that if you dislike stealth games with a binary pass/fail state, you are not going to like Shadwen. A guard being alerted is an instant fail, however the last twist is that you can easily rewind to any point in the current level, even right to the very beginning. This works very smoothly and was great for experimenting with different strategies. You can craft gadgets, but a lot of them are rather situational; the traps are quite noisy so if you're going to use them you need to account for every guard in the immediate vicinity closing in on the area of impact.

Overall I thought it was well done but not without some noticeable flaws. If you're hankering for an old-school third-person stealth game you can't go wrong picking it up; otherwise maybe wait for a sale.

Mr. Sophistication
May 16, 2014

I know this wasn't your original avatar but I just love this game. Cheers, rediscover.
that video makes it look really epic.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Yes agreed, but considering how little the time-stop was used, I wonder how much they had to practice before doing the video.

goferchan
Feb 8, 2004

It's 2006. I am taking 276 yeti furs from the goodies hoard.
Lol that last kill is great

Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

Has anyone played Seven: The Days Long Gone? Looks like it could be pretty cool, heard it was a bit nlbuggy on release but it just got a big update + demo + sale

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Clandestine





Clandestine is a third-person stealth game that takes place in the mid-90s. You play the part of Katya Kozlova, agent of an off-the-records spy agency to do espionage-y things while the CIA & FBI aren't looking. It's a fairly standard stealth game, the gimmick here is the emphasis on co-op. Katya is teamed up with hacker and turbonerd Martin Symborski. Admittedly I didn't play it co-op, but I don't see how the game would be fun for anyone playing as Martin; all you do is hack the occasional door or computer by way of Deus Ex-ish minigames. It's simple enough that you can actually do it in single-player just by opening the hacking screen and playing the minigame yourself, as long as you're out of sight of guards or cameras. Speaking of cameras, these are the biggest challenge/pain in the rear end in the game. The player (or their partner) can only hack one camera at a time, so it's very easy to accidentally mosey into a different room and set off a big ol' alarm because no one thought to disable the camera there. You have a window of time to evade the camera's notice, but it's not very long. Also you can't save whenever you want, the game instead uses a checkpoint system and can sometimes be rather stingy with those checkpoints.

The story is fairly standard spy thriller stuff. One thing that I thought was amusing was that one of your superiors tut-tuts you if you engage in any killing during the mission, but the superior that you actually report to is usually all, "Yes! No living witnesses! High-five!" Also, your Q-guy at one point gives you grenades packed with nerve toxin and makes it clear that using them will cause your victims to die an excruciating and torturous death. But hey, at least they're not in the hands of teenagers, right?! Oh yeah, the voice acting is dire...the only bright spot is that one of your fellow spies sounds like the same guy who played the Alpha Protocol protagonist. There were also some level-crushing bugs that required me to restart a level a few times. Overall, while the setting had some promise, I can't really recommend the game for stealth enthusiasts and definitely not stealth newbies looking to get into the genre. At best, it might offer some cheap drunk co-op fun.

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

Seventh Arrow posted:

Overall, while the setting had some promise, I can't really recommend the game for stealth enthusiasts and definitely not stealth newbies looking to get into the genre. At best, it might offer some cheap drunk co-op fun.

drat, that's a shame - I've got Clandestine wishlisted and was really hoping it would be good. Might need to give it a miss, now.
Thanks for the heads up about its shonkiness, in any case!

(Also, it's not really a stealth game as such, but I totally plan on playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance as a stealth game, when it comes out next week. Sneak into enemy camps at night, poison their food, stab some guys quietly, burn their arrow supplies and leg it - then let the main force mop up the following day)

Shadow225
Jan 2, 2007




I didn't see anyone mention Gunpoint yet so everyone drop what you're doing and go play Gunpoint

Larry Parrish
Jul 9, 2012

by Jeffrey of YOSPOS
Gunpoint owns and i wish there was more of it.

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011
Yeah, it's such a good game! Only problem is the it's just far too short, I feel.
(Although I suppose that's better than if it outstayed its welcome)

Heat Signature is great, too. Totally different kind of game, but it's by the same guy and maintains the same high level of quality, that Gunpoint had.

Major Isoor fucked around with this message at 20:51 on Feb 14, 2018

Sir Mat of Dickie
Jul 19, 2012

"There is no solitude greater than that of the samurai unless it be that of a tiger in the jungle... perhaps..."
The parody noir styling in Gunpoint was very endearing

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Serial Cleaner





Serial Cleaner is a top-down stealth game where you play the part of Bob Leaner, a single dude in the 1970s living with his retired mom. You're an expert "cleaner," meaning that you rush to the scene of grisly murders and clean up any bodies and evidence before the police can process everything. Of course, complicating things is that the authorities are usually on the scene at the time, so you need to skillfully evade them while dumping bodies, picking up evidence and hoovering up blood with your noisy industrial vacuum cleaner. Bob doesn't only work for the mafia though - he's willing to help out serial killers and anyone else who can help him clear out his looming debts.

There are a number of gimmicks that help you navigate your way through those messy police investigations; first of all, there are hiding places like bushes, closets, and the ever-trusty cardboard box. One thing that's interesting about the hiding places is that they are inviolable. The cops can be hot on your heels and see you dive into a closet but once you're there, they'll look around for a bit and take off. You also have shortcuts, which are trapdoors that allow you to essentially teleport from one end of the map to the other; shortcuts can be visible to the cops though, so you have to be careful before using them. As well, there are movable objects, like dressers, cars, automated doors, etc. These can be used to block off a cop's patrol route or field of vision. Finally there are noise distractions like speakers or appliances that will lure the authorities away for a while. Getting to know these gimmicks is essential because you can't take out any of your enemies and you don't have any gadgets like smoke bombs or stun guns to help you get out of trouble. If you get spotted, your only hope is to either grab a shortcut or get to a hiding place.

The game seems fast, especially because the movement is reminiscent of Hotline Miami...however, you can actually go at your own pace and make each level as long or as short as you like. I liked Serial Cleaner quite a bit, but it only held my interest for a level at a time. The levels get to be quite expansive and clever, though, so your mileage may vary - especially because it takes a lot of mistakes to find out the best way around the cops (who have a huge vision cone, by the way) and this may impact your frustration level. That said, if you're in the mood for a unique stealth game that isn't afraid to do things a little differently, then I'd say it's certainly worth a try.

Elusif
Jun 9, 2008

Will there ever be an Alpha Protocol 2?

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

The publisher could barely be bothered to put out a patch for the first game, so probably not.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Interesting interview about Thief 1's growing pains:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qzD9ldLoc3c

Lumpy the Cook
Feb 4, 2011

Drippy-goo-yay, mother-gunker!

E Equals MC Hammer posted:

Will there ever be an Alpha Protocol 2?

No.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Volume





Volume is a third-person stealth game by Mike Bithell, of "Thomas Was Alone" fame. It takes place in a dystopian England and you play the part of Robert Locksley, a young vigilante who wants to arm the populace with the means to overthrow their industrialist oligarchs. He does this by breaking into simulations of government strongholds and broadcasting his efforts as they occur.

The setup for each of Volume's levels is pretty familiar stealth territory. Each level is populated that guards that you have to avoid or distract with an eye towards collecting gems - when you have enough of these, you can head towards the exit. The gems apparently represent goods that Locksley's fellow Brits can swipe in the real-world equivalents. The guards can't be killed, but the game gives you tools to distract, elude or stun them in various ways.

There is the Bugle, a device that bounces off walls and will emit a sound when the player activates it. This way, you can set it off behind a guard to get them to look the other way. Then there's the Oud, which is a similar idea, but it will stick to walls so that you can time your distractions more accurately. Another gadget is the Figment, which creates a replica of you that runs in a straight line, causing the guards to give chase. And there are other items that allow you to become invisible, quiet your steps, or knock out guards. The environments adopt a growing number of challenges as well - there will be, for example, floors with "noise tiles" that create a loud AOE sound when you step on them. There will be locked forcefields and stun-capable electric floor tiles and, of course, deadly timed lasers. There are also an increasing variety of guards but most of the gimmicks here involve larger and wider vision cones.

I thought Volume was a great challenge overall, even if you're already quite familiar with the stealth genre. There are a lot of great puzzles, some of which can be maddening at first but are very satisfying to solve. If there are any complaints to be had it's that the levels esthetics can be very same-y after a while. Of course, the fact that they're all holograms is done - I imagine - because the game is largely a one-man development effort but it isn't helped by the fact that all the interesting stuff happens outside of the level. When you're at the level selection screen, you're given a fantastic tale about how the overwhelming military crushed a rebel force and then it loads a hologram of the military HQ where you steal some data. The hologram HQ looks very similar to a hologram TV studio where you read that a psychotic serial killer picked off her victims before escaping, and so on. Also, with 100 levels I feel like it overstayed its welcome somewhat. Still, you can go at whatever pace you like
or even use the level editor to make your own maps. Of further interest, the soundtrack is great and Andy Serkis voices the game's antagonist.

Volume is completely worth checking out if you're a fan of the stealth genre.

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

Let me just say that I really like all of the write-ups you've been doing, Seventh Arrow! I didn't even know this game existed until reading your post, but it's certainly got my attention now.
I mean, the '100 levels' thing doesn't sound all that appealing to me really, (flashbacks to playing other games as a kid, where the many levels are all a bit same-y) but I do like the look of it and it does seem like there's a good bit of variety and challenge, still.
(I think I'll have to pick it up at some point, although personally I might hold out for the next sale, at its $20 price - especially since I'm trying to cut back and start to actually play some of my backlogged games! :D )

In other news, I, like everyone else, have been playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It's hardly a dedicated stealth game, but I have to say I really like the feel (and risk) of stripping off my armour and sneaking into an enemy camp at night to kill their leader, after silently taking out the sentries. Very dangerous if you get caught out, especially since not only are you outnumbered, but you've got no armour on.
At the moment I'm doing a hybrid playthrough (mostly in plate and fighting with a longsword, but also being sneaky if I need to take on entrenched enemies) but later on I really want to do a 'light-armour only' stealth-focused game, which I think would be quite fun. (Gonna wait for all the bugs, etc. to be fixed though, before I consider a second playthrough..)

Hat Thoughts
Jul 27, 2012

Major Isoor posted:

In other news, I, like everyone else, have been playing Kingdom Come: Deliverance. It's hardly a dedicated stealth game, but I have to say I really like the feel (and risk) of stripping off my armour and sneaking into an enemy camp at night to kill their leader, after silently taking out the sentries. Very dangerous if you get caught out, especially since not only are you outnumbered, but you've got no armour on.
At the moment I'm doing a hybrid playthrough (mostly in plate and fighting with a longsword, but also being sneaky if I need to take on entrenched enemies) but later on I really want to do a 'light-armour only' stealth-focused game, which I think would be quite fun. (Gonna wait for all the bugs, etc. to be fixed though, before I consider a second playthrough..)

This is the first thing ive heard about that game that makes it sound cool

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

Hat Thoughts posted:

This is the first thing ive heard about that game that makes it sound cool

Oh yeah, it's very good - I think I've sunk around 80hrs into it already, which is pretty unusual these days. It's definitely got its problems (it's gotten a lot better though, through recent updates) but I love it; it's just the right M&B:Warband+STALKER combo I was after. I thought I might end up regretting preordering the game (first preorder in ages, too) but it's been worth every cent so far - I just hope they release a couple of big expansions for it, like with The Witcher 3.

(Although one thing is, unless you want combat in the game to eventually become 'easy mode', I'd definitely recommend against getting more than 1-2 of the combat-related perks. They just straight-up buff you, instead of being more interesting and changing the way you play. That has to be my main gripe with the game, at this point)

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Seven: The Days Long Gone







Seven: The Days Long Gone mixes sci-fi and fantasy, as well as stealth and RPG for an intriguing experience. You play Teriel, a low-level thief who plans a grand heist at a local mansion. Unfortunately, an encounter with a strange device leads to him being sent to the prison island of Peh, accompanied by a daemon named Artanak. The story is so-so and the factions are not very interesting, but a lot of the background lore is fascinating and the island itself is more varied than you'd think a prison isle would be. The voice acting is also great, and I really liked the visuals. Despite the RPG leanings, there is no xp and no character levels. You mostly level up by acquiring and upgrading gear (via crafting). The crafting is just kind of there, there's nothing terrible special about it although it's mostly used for upgrading gear that you already have. Getting better gear is usually a matter of taking down stronger enemies and seeing what goodies are in their inventory.

The stealth gameplay itself is pretty great, the first part of the game gives you a proper stealth mission to sneak around in, giving you a good idea of how the mechanics work. There's no shadow-based sneaking, it's all line of sight. Your character can climb up on objects to navigate and to avoid detection; as usual, you can shank guards from behind and also from overhead if you get the jump on them. Guards can be dumb in some ways, while smart in others. Dumb in the sense that seeing a dead body elicits no suspicion on their part...in fact, sometimes they'll helpfully vanish a dead body for you! However, they're a bit smarter in that if they spot you, they'll alert their nearby buddies and also check any nearby hiding places. You can distract them with a thrown rock, but they'll suspect that something's up and will sometimes search nearby hiding places as well. Since Peh is an open world, you're probably not going to be stealthing around all the time - that would get tedious. Mostly, you'll stealth when you infiltrate certain locations. You get a helpful icon on your screen when you're in a prohibited area, so you know when to start skulking about.

I appreciated the lack of fetch quests; there are a few of them there, but overall I found a lot of cool little stories throughout the island. For one, a merchant was having power problems with his cooler and got me to investigate. This had me using Seven's brand of detective vision to follow the cables over the island to find the source of the problem. Along the way, I ran into an insane mage who was wanted by the state for treason. I freed the cops he was holding hostage and we all got in a big battle with him; it was only by ripping his heart out that we were able to defeat him (I then had to return the heart to an computerized questgiver). Another time, I encountered a locked safe; once I hacked the combination, it contained a note that led to another safe, and these led to a few more safes until I finally got a note leading me to a master locksmith on the island. I had to break into his mansion and avoid his guards, whereupon he challenged me to come with him to infiltrate the tomb of The First Locksmith. When we got there, he said a prayer to the God of Lockpicking and we solved a big floor puzzle and plundered the giant neon tomb that came forth. And these are just the sidequests. Another thing I liked is that for you to uncover a set of fast travel nodes, you have to break in to the local police station and hack the primary terminal (called an overseer) without being spotted. One of them was even located in the main police HQ, a sprawling facility where I had to sneak through overhead rafters, outdoor pipes, and training halls just to get to the overseer. I thought that was pretty cool.

Really, if you just burn through the main mission, I think you'll have a short and not-so-immersive experience. Much of the fun is had through exploring Peh and stealthing through its contents. Finally, the game received a bad rap on release due to bugs and playability but apparently they've pushed out six big patches and several minor ones since then. I really didn't have many issues playing it - I did encounter a few crashes but they were all while loading and never interfered with gameplay itself. I really enjoyed Seven TDLG and its wealth of content. I highly recommend it, even at full price.

goferchan
Feb 8, 2004

It's 2006. I am taking 276 yeti furs from the goodies hoard.
That looks really neat, I like the idea of an isometric open world stealth game like that. Thanks for your write-ups OP they're always interesting

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Thanks! It's worth noting that you can stealth around in the open world, but it depends on how much you want to avoid giant spiders or just outright kill them.

I forgot to talk about disguises. The game lets you disguise yourself as a guard, but it's largely useless. Unlike Hitman, you can't really infiltrate an area with a disguise...the only difference between wearing one and not is that guards won't instantly suss you out. Once they see you, though, they'll follow you around and eventually your cover will be blown.

Lunchmeat Larry
Nov 3, 2012

Sam Fisher is back baby. As a DLC mission for Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

Lunchmeat Larry posted:

Sam Fisher is back baby. As a DLC mission for Ghost Recon: Wildlands

Oh wow! :monocle: Is it good? First time I've heard of that DLC for GRW - sounds interesting!

Control Volume
Dec 31, 2008

goferchan posted:

That looks really neat, I like the idea of an isometric open world stealth game like that. Thanks for your write-ups OP they're always interesting

Seconding this, Im extremely picky about my stealth games and having comprehensive write-ups like this helps a lot with the decision making. Seven in particular sounds cool

In Training
Jun 28, 2008

I've been adding cool looking games from this thread to my wishlist so I'll also say thanks for the big rear end reviews.

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Well I started doing my stealthathon before I was writing any reviews for them, so I might go back and replay a few. So which two of the following would you guys most like to see a review of:

NEON STRUCT
Styx 1 or 2
Aragami
Hitman No Subtitle
Deus Ex: MD DLC
Sniper Elite 4

Right now I'm working on Crookz: The Big Heist and then A Ghost of a Tale.

Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011
I've already played through Hitman (which everyone else here should have already too, because it's an excellent game. If not, I suggest that you all rectify that at your earliest convenience - especially as parts one and two became free, recently!) so the below two get a vote from me:

Seventh Arrow posted:

Deus Ex: MD DLC
Sniper Elite 4

To be honest I wasn't really aware that Sniper Elite 4 could actually be played stealthily! Since I played a little bit of SE2 ages ago when it was free, but it seemed like only the start of a level would be stealthy, before you end up needing to shoot someone with a rifle/SMG. (I was probably just doing it wrong, but I'm definitely interested to hear if they've given players more options, when it comes to remaining stealthy up until you take your shot on the target)

Seventh Arrow
Jan 26, 2005

Most of the maps have some sort of loud sound in the environment (like airplanes flying overhead) or ones you can manufacture yourself (causing an engine to backfire) and these will cover up the sound of your sniping. Also, I could be imagining it, but the crouch-walking speed seems to be slower than in 3 so knifing dudes is much more difficult unless they're standing still.

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Major Isoor
Mar 23, 2011

Seventh Arrow posted:

Most of the maps have some sort of loud sound in the environment (like airplanes flying overhead) or ones you can manufacture yourself (causing an engine to backfire) and these will cover up the sound of your sniping. Also, I could be imagining it, but the crouch-walking speed seems to be slower than in 3 so knifing dudes is much more difficult unless they're standing still.

Huh OK, that's interesting. (And good to hear, aside from that crouch-walking bit) So if you don't mind me asking, which do you think is better overall, from a stealth-gaming perspective? Since I'm not really fussed about any incremental improvements in graphics, etc.

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