The best stealth games of all time

The stealth genre has somewhat faded into the shadows as more and more games integrate stealth mechanics without fully embracing what makes the genre so special. Plenty of the best FPS games and best horror games all give you the option to be sneaky but also give you plenty of ways to fight back or ignore stealth entirely. True stealth games make it either impossible or prohibitively difficult to get through them without staying silent, unseen, and unnoticeed. All your tools and skills revolve around concealment, awareness, distraction, or incapacitating guards. There’s no greater feeling than infiltrating an area, completing your objective, and slinking back out without there being a single shred of evidence you were ever there. These are the best stealth games of all time that deliver that feeling like nothing else.

While not as common, there are a few stealth titles on our list of upcoming video games that could end up on this list in the future.

Note: We will only include one entry per franchise.