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Any stealth game recommendations for a ghost run/ no kill?

Requesting suggestions

I just replayed Thief 4 and I loved it (I know boiling hot take) I loved it because I was playing it one no kill/no knockout plus no detection and tons of other difficulty modifiers on. So now that im done are there any games that I can replicate that with? I've tried to play Dishonored but I kinda hate the stealth in that game.

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Styx: Master of Shadows and Shards of Darkness are great for ghost run/no kills.

u/dsled avatar

Was gonna be my suggestion too, great game for ghosting

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u/creepyounguy avatar

There is an indie Thief clone (based on the first two games) called Filcher. Knockouts are very hard so ghost is encouraged.

u/dsled avatar

Easily one of the best stealth games I've played recently. Awesome atmosphere and very challenging

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u/MagickalessBreton avatar

Assassin's Creed Chronicles: China flows great when you have a little practice, and it has some still quite challenging moments (it also comes with a complete stealth/playstyle ranking system, so it's easy to check how well you did)

Filcher is unforgiving and kinda like Thief 4 in that you can't jump, but you still have a lot of mobility to work with using the slide action. It's closer to the original Thief trilogy, but you should definitely give it a try!

Shadwen is a very different experience, but it has the most interesting form of ghosting in my opinion. You can use a grappling hook item to both climb and tarzan your way through levels, but also to move objects around, making guards think there are actual spirits messing with them. It's sort of a puzzle game/escort mission, but the rewind mechanics and sneaking opportunities are awesome!

For a really completely different brand of stealth, I also want to recommend the Hitman series, starting with Hitman 2: Silent Assassin. The more recent Hitman 3 (with Hitman 1 & 2 as DLCs) is a very good starting point, as would be Blood Money, but Silent Assasin and Contracts are really fun to ghost as well

u/CovertOwl avatar

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory

u/xButterschnitzel avatar

The Dark Mod

u/dsled avatar

Arguably the best free game I've ever played

downloading it rn thanks for the reminder this thing exist

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The OG Thief games, with their fan missions and also The Dark Mod (what many consider to be the actual Thief 4). On the highest difficulty levels, no killing is a rule by default and the detection systems are very very good. If you liked Thief reboot, you should fall head over heels for the old games. Requires a PC tho ofc

Also, The Black Parade campaign mod for Thief Gold is one of the best Thief mods ever, recently released!

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I've been playing MGS5: Ground Zeroes (the "prequel" or first chapter to MGS5) recently.

After missions you are rated, and one of the categories is how many enemies you killed. That implies no-kill runs should be possible. I'm not sure whether no-knockout is possible though (I'm rather liberal with lethal takedowns myself).

(Be aware that Ground Zeroes by itself is a small game and relies a lot on replaying missions over and over while challenging yourself to do better. The stealth mechanics and level design etc are fantastic).

To add to that, MGS5: The Phantom Pain allows you to play the mission as creatively as you want. You can play the entire game except 3 mission out of 50 without killing anyone or anything. You can even do the missions without alerting or knockouts. As for that ranking system, the best way to get an S rank is seems to be by either speed running or no kills, no detections, no knockouts, no reflex mode, all objectives complete, and main objective complete. Plus the cool gadgets, camouflage/sound system, and adaptive enemies really helps each mission feel unique/engaging. Especially when deployment time and how well you know the map/which entrance you choose will affect how smooth your mission plays out. Plus what buddy you take with you.

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You could try out Ereban: Shadow Legacy. Similar to Aragami (which is also ghostable without kills, iirc), but more open mission designs and no boss encounters. Just finished my non-lethal playthrough

u/dsled avatar

Intravenous

Absolutely. The game may have broken something inside of me whilst going for a ghost run, but man, was it a great challenge.

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MGS4

Deus Ex Mankind Divided is a bit like Dishonored but I think it's ghost stealth is a rush. Also MGSV has some unrealistic but satisfying Pure Stealth gameplay. Walk right down the middle of a base swarming with Russian Soldiers and bipedal robots while riding a horse side-saddle to complete a mission in record time. What a thrill.

With darkness and silence through the night

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Try Dishonored 2. You can tell the Outsider to piss off at the start of the game, which means you don't get any powers and the game plays much more like Thief. Much better than the first game.

that sounds pretty fun actually

I think you'll really enjoy it! It's often on sale for very cheap on steam, probably on consoles too if you play there. It's the only Dishonored game where you can reject powers, so savour it!

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Evotinction is coming out.

You can play the metro games without killing any of the human enemies aside from one of the final missions. To the best of my memory anyway.

love the Metro series and I already did a very stealth-focused run for exodus and it was tons of fun

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Metal gear solid 4, haz fun.

Wrong

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u/Meechee83 avatar

If you don’t mind a female lead “Velvet Assassin” got me into stealth games!

u/Loginnerer avatar

But isn't that pretty much the opposite? Isn't it a heavily takedown-oriented game?

u/Meechee83 avatar

It’s honestly been a FEW years, but I recall no kill being an option…just difficult to do start to finish.

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Are there people that "mind female leads"?

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u/EddieTheBunny61 avatar

Thief and Splinter Cell are stealth purist titles. Those are probably the best bet. Thief especially(The older ones).

u/1cereals1 avatar

Idk if it counts:
Payday 2.
That's if you wanna play something with little to no story at all(iirc)

I love payday 2 i have like 500 hours in that game and i love the wonky ai and stealth, it just makes the game better

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u/Valentonis avatar

Alien Isolation

Thief 4 was awesome first of all. What about deus ex or cyber punk? Death stranding is almost specifically no kill and stealth is almost always the better option. As someone else mentioned, splinter cell or metal gear.