The Best Top-Down Stealth Games

Stealth mechanics have long been present in all manner of video games. Sneaking around dangerous enemies and avoiding detection provides players with rising anticipation that's often thrilling, and the stealth genre takes full advantage of this. From old-school classics like Metal Gear to later editions such as Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell, the stealth genre has a variety of experiences on offer.

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However, the Metal Gear franchise eventually evolved with the times, taking on a 3D aesthetic and launching the Metal Gear Solid series. Many games followed suit, providing players with immersive 3D environments and characters. In spite of this, top-down stealth games are still being made, primarily as lower-budget indie titles, many of which take full advantage of their unique perspective.

6 Serial Cleaner

Unique Stealth Gameplay That's Atmospheric And Easy-To-Read

• Platform(s): PC, Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch
• Released: 2017
• Developer(s): Draw Distance
• Genre: Stealth

Serial Cleaner is a top-down action stealth game that plays like a stealth-focused take on Hotline Miami, with a clean, angular art-style that's both stylish and easy to read. This allows each encounter to feel fair, while remaining consistently pleasing to look at. More importantly, however, Serial Cleaner features slick stealth gameplay that's consistently fluid and frequently fast-paced.

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Serial Cleaner features a rich, 1970s setting and music to match, making the game surprisingly atmospheric despite its top-down perspective. Players are tasked with removing bodies and other evidence from crime scenes, cleaning up each location while avoiding the police. This results in a unique gameplay loop that's light on action and heavy on strategy, but maintains a brisk pace thanks to its real-time gameplay.

5 The Escapists 2

Light Stealth Mechanics With A Focus On Careful Planning

The Escapists 2 is a largely-improved version of the original top-down prison escape game, featuring the same emergent gameplay and sandbox elements that allow players to formulate a variety of escape plans. The Escapists 2 features all manner of gameplay mechanics and systems, all in the name of player choice, allowing players to naturally develop strategies as they play.

Stealth, while not essential to the moment-to-moment gameplay, is an important aspect to The Escapist 2's overall loop. While players will spend much of their time in plain sight, plotting their escape, executing their plan will often require them to sneak around guards. To be successful, players will have to carefully plan each and every part of their route, leaving no stone unturned.

4 Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine

Top-Down Heisting With Stylized Shadows And Online Co-Op

This top-down indie game features a unique aesthetic that takes full advantage of its stylized shadows to provide players with a one-of-a-kind challenge. Monaco: What's Yours Is Mine tasks players with pulling off all manner of challenging heists in single-player or, preferably, in online co-op. Monaco: This game is a careful combination of strategy and chaos, and although it gives players plenty of room to be strategic, they will need skilled teamwork to succeed when playing in online co-op.

Monaco also features a variety of playable classes that improve the gameplay variety and add a level of strategy to the game. This allows players to strategize over team compositions and ensures everyone has a distinct role to fulfill during each heist.

3 Heat Signature

A Clever Combination Of Immersive-Sim And Action-Stealth

Developed by Suspicious Developments (the studio behind games such as Gunpoint and the upcoming Tactical Breach Wizards), Heat Signature is a clever combination of immersive-sim gameplay with action-stealth mechanics and a roguelike structure. This results in a fast-paced experience with heaps of emergent gameplay that constantly gives players decisions to make, and an abundance of tools with which to enact their plans.

Heat Signature puts players in the shoes of several randomly generated characters, each with their own personal mission to complete. These missions are often difficult, however, and players will need to gather stronger equipment through breaking into ships and completing side missions. During these missions, players are often outnumbered, so brute-force action is almost never the right way to go about things. Instead, Heat Signature rewards strategic thinking and cautious stealth, only occasionally giving players the room to let loose with high-powered weaponry.

2 Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake

A Seamless Blend Of Action And Stealth

Arguably improving on the original in more ways than one, Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake set the standard for future Metal Gear games by seamlessly blending action and stealth, with a focus on the latter.

With a useful mini-map that allows players to plan ahead, and the ability to run and hide from enemies (rather than battle it out in a gunfight), Metal Gear 2: Solid Snake is a frequently rewarding stealth game that's surprisingly lacking in frustrations despite its age. However, some of the game's puzzles and trial-and-error design have arguably aged worse than its action-stealth gameplay, making it a game that's best for patient players and existing Metal Gear fans.

1 Intravenous

Gritty, Hyper-Violent Action-Stealth From A Top-Down Perspective

• Platform(s): PC
• Released: 2021
• Developer(s): Explosive Squat Games
• Genre: Stealth

Featuring a gritty, albeit cliché narrative centered around a plot for revenge, Intravenous is a dark and hyper-violent action-stealth game with an aesthetic akin to Hotline Miami. However, though the character designs, perspective, and action are similar, Intravenous trades out the bright, vivid colors of Hotline Miami for a dark, drab, and shadowy look.

Intravenous rewards slow, methodical players who approach each encounter cautiously. However, the game also features slick top-down shooter mechanics, allowing players to enjoy each and every chance at a firefight. They can approach encounters from an action-focused angle, but the game becomes tremendously challenging if players ignore the old-school stealth mechanics.