Stealth Games That Allow Pacifist Runs

As a video game developer, it takes a lot of courage and confidence to conceptualize, program, animate, and fine-tune a feature that a large chunk of the audience will likely ignore or miss. In most situations, studios want their players to use and experience every facet of their game and will railroad players into seeing accordingly. However, players looking to get into an action game usually want one thing: ultraviolence. However, stealth fans are typically split between two approaches: the ghost and the assassin.

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On the one hand, there's something primally satisfying about getting the jump on prey, stealing their life away silently, and dragging the body back into the shadows without a peep. On the other hand, some sneaky types enjoy moving through whole levels like greased mist without as much as raising a sentry's suspicions, never mind a weapon. Thankfully, a few excellent stealth titles allow players to make the call, giving them the option to slip by unnoticed regardless of how fun it would be to snap necks or pop windpipes.

Dishonored

No Honor In Vengeance (But Plenty Of Chaos)

There is no right or wrong way to play Dishonored. There are only consequences. If the player opts to play the game without embracing their new reputation as an assassin, the streets and future outlook of Dunwall can look as clean and as clear as Corvo's blade and conscience the day he returned to the Empress. However, if players choose to bleed, battle, and blood-frenzy their way through each challenge using Corvo's dark, otherworldly powers, they will usher in a darker world, and not just at the end of the game. Each level becomes progressively gorier as the rat plague takes a firmer grip on the city of Dunwall.

Low and high chaos aside, every effort was made to make either option equally compelling. While freezing time, taking possession of the shooter and placing them in the path of their own bullet before blinking-busting into the witnesses' ribcage is a riot, figuring out how to "off" a target without resorting to slaughter is equally fun and works out like a reverse (or anti) murder mystery. In some cases, the mercy option comes with lore tidbits about how the society and law of Dunwall operate, and other times, the victim's punishment is as bad (or worse than) death.

Thief

More Stoic Rogue Than Mad Assassin

Thief's legacy in the stealth genre is hard to overstate, as it is widely considered one of the genre's oldest and most important ancestors. One of its central design pillars is the ability to complete objectives without murder. Although players can choose the tip of their blade over the tips of their toes, doing so is not only discouraged at higher difficulties but is explicitly a failure condition. However, a "no-kill run" is not mandatory in Normal or Expert runs, and playing on any difficulty is a legitimate way to enjoy Thief or its two sequels.

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However, the highest difficulty strictly forbids Garrett from "making a mess" by leaving any bodies behind. That isn't to say that players can't make use of blunt-force trauma to silence a sentry, but on Master difficulty, his blade should be sheathed for all jobs other than creating a distraction or tearing any secret passage-obscuring decor. Without stealthy superpowers or objective markers, Thief: The Dark Project (or Thief Gold as it is known in modern releases) should present enough of a challenge for modern players, even without increasing the challenge level.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Leaving The Approach To The Player One Last Time

A promotional image of Sam Fisher from Ubisoft's Splinter Cell Blacklist.

Perhaps as a way to address the complaints some fans had about the previous game being too "combat-oriented," Splinter Cell: Blacklist never once puts players into a position where they have to kill, at least not if they're stealthy enough in their approach. Although players could complete the previous Splinter Cell games with minimal carnage (besides Conviction), there was always the one-off assassination objective or cutscene kill, but Blacklist is the first time where a true zero-kill run is possible, at least as Sam Fisher.

Sam himself isn't ever depicted as a peace-loving pacifist, but he isn't a rampaging killer, either, and the exact balance between those two points is left to whoever holds the controller or keyboard. There is a moment where players inhabit other characters whose kills are not added to the "kill counter." This technicality may be a dealbreaker for true pacifists, but the game still awards an achievement for finishing every mission without a kill as Sam. Blacklist may not be a fan favorite, but it admirably gives players a choice between violence, stealth, or something in between.

Clandestine

Innovative, Co-operative Stealth Pacifism

While it is (perhaps suitably) less well-known as other stealth titles, Clandestine leaves a strong impression, whether played as a single player or with a friend or in its innovative asymmetrical co-op multiplayer mode. With or without the "guy (or girl) in the chair" as the mission guide and hacker, it's up to the player how they want to approach the completion of their objectives. Given how deadly direct enemy encounters are, it is preferable to stay well out of sight with the gun holstered.

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However, one of the best things about Clandestine is that whichever method the player takes, bloody or clean, the game reflects their actions as the plot unravels. There are achievements available for taking different non-lethal approaches, such as ghosting or foregoing the use of firearms before or during a mission. However, Clandestine also provides an array of deadly (and cruel) weaponry should the player wish to use them, including depleted uranium rounds and nerve-gas grenades.

Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns Of The Patriots

When Warfare Grows Old

Hideo Kojima has always had a penchant for giving players a choice on how to tackle the mission, and neither has he shied away from the violent horror of combat and war. However, it wasn't until Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots that players were given the option to take on the whole game without taking a single life. In Metal Gear Solid, although Snake could sneak past most sentries, there is a moment early on where Snake has to shoot down a group of guards. In Sons of the Patriots and Snake Eater, a few moments force the player's hand to spill blood, the final bosses in particular.

In MGS4, no encounter or boss fight has to be resolved in a fight to the death. Thanks to the tranquilizer gun and the lack of scripted kills, bosses and guards alike can be beaten by knocking them unconscious. In prior games, beating the game non-lethally would result in a higher-end score or a slightly different post-fight cutscene, but Guns of the Patriots makes the result of the player's benevolent actions obvious. That all being said, Snake has a plethora of violent means with which to carry out his mission, from remote-controlled explosives to the age-old knife-enabled "neck fillet."