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Stealth-Based Mission: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{Video Game Examples Need Sorting}}
The single-mission counterpart to the [[Stealth Based Game]], where the player must sneak through an area infested with enemies. Getting detected may result in automatic failure and/or death or just mean being besieged by lots of guards. Being thrown in an [[Cardboard Prison|easily escapable jail cell]] is also common. Frequently means dealing with guards that have no sense of peripheral vision and may be deaf, so the player may only have to avoid direct line of sight with them to slip past.
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Due to the inconsistent or outright poor way in which stealth tends to be handled in games not specifically designed for it, this [[Unexpected Gameplay Change]] has a high chance of being [[Scrappy Level|received badly]].
{{examples}}
* There is a mission in ''[[Call of Duty: Black Ops|Call of Duty Black Ops]]'' where the first half has you sneak through a facility.
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** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask|The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask]]'' has the Deku Palace and Pirate's Fortress, made laughably easy if one uses the Stone Mask. Although, in places where you were forced to fight, the pirates would always point out that the mask doesn't fool them.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda Oracle Games]]'':
*** ''Oracle of Ages'' does it in Ambi's
*** ''Oracle of Seasons'' has one where you need to follow a Subrosian to a hidden portal without being seen. If she sees you, you have to restart from the beginning.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker|The Legend of Zelda the Wind Waker]]'' has the Forsaken Fortress, in which you lose your sword and are forced to avoid being spotted by the enemies. Unlike earlier examples, there aren't any ways to simply bypass dealing with sentries altogether, but you can hide in a barrel [[Mobile Shrubbery|the same way Snake hides in a box]] to get around them.
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** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks|The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks]]'' has quite a few too, but added the ability to distract a guard while the other character sneaks around.
** ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|The Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword]]'' has the {{spoiler|third trip}} to Eldin Volcano. It's a combination of the ''The Wind Waker'' example and the concept of the stolen gear scenario seen at one point in ''Oracle of Ages''.
*** The Silent Realm segments also probably count, they play somewhat similarly to the ones in ''Phantom Hourglass'' - gather [[
* On the subject of Zelda games, ''[[Star Fox Adventures]]'' is more in the style of ''Zelda'' games... and guess what? You have to sneak around the prison in Cloudrunner Fortress until you can disguise yourself as a SharpClaw and get Krystal's staff back.
* In ''[[Metroid]] [[The Remake|Zero Mission]]'', after finishing what used to be the "[[Video Game Remake|original game]]", Samus flees to her ship and takes off her armor. Uh, bad idea. She gets shot down by [[Space Pirates]], resulting in her being without a ship... ''or'' her armor. You then have to slink around a Space Pirate base as ordinary, no [[Powered Armor]] Samus, armed with only a stun gun. Avoiding conflict is ''highly'' recommended. (Of course, once ''[[Super Smash Bros.]] Brawl'' rolled around, it made Zero Suit Samus into a combat [[Badass]] like her "regular" self, and made her stun gun into a [[Whip It Good|laser whip]].)
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** Also at one point you use a sniper rifle to take out a number of robots, when you've taken down larger robots with two hits.
** The original ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' also contains a short stealth sequence in Shinra HQ, but if you fail often enough you'll just go in guns blazing.
* The PSP [[Turn-Based Strategy]] release ''[[Wild
* One early mission of ''[[Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings]]'' tasks you with getting from Point A to Point B with Vaan and Vaan alone. Short of obscene [[Level Grinding]], the only only way to survive is not to get noticed.
** Surprisingly and [[Guide Dang It|somewhat unintuitively]], it's possible to give Vaan boots that prevent him from being immobilized by the enemies' lightning-elemental attacks, use an ability that temporarily increases his movement speed that you should already have at that point and have him just run through the level with any enemies in tow either not being able to get close enough to hit him or not being able to do enough damage to kill him before he gets to the goal.
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* Chapter 8-2 of ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' finds [[The Hero|Welkin]] and [[Action Girl|Alicia]] trapped in a forest at night with none of the rest of [[The Squad]] around to help them, and [[The Empire|Imperials]] converging on them in every direction. On top of all that, Alicia sprained her ankle and can only limp. The goal is to get from one corner of the forest to the other while avoiding, or at least stealthily taking out, any soldiers, spotlights, or mortars they come across. Not as bad as most, as on-foot-Welkin (he's usually in a tank) and Alicia are both Scouts and have high mobility (even considering her sprained ankle), but that also means their defense isn't that great. Which isn't usually a problem until you run into Shocktroopers, who wield [[More Dakka|machine guns]].
** Or, you can let a spotlight see Welkin next to one of the shocktroopers while he still has a lot of movement left, and [[Hilarity Ensues|watch the poor sap get mortared instead.]]
* Retrieving the Green Hive in ''[[Overlord II]]'' requires the Overlord to possess a Green Minion and lead a group of them into an Empire base. He and his minions then have to sneak around and [[Back Stab]] the forces guarding the base, including the magic detecting Sentinels and the Eradicators, which are [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. This section is pretty forgiving; the Overlord himself can't actually die here (the Minion does, but you can get more) and if you lose a few Minions there are jars with reinforcements scattered about the base. Plus, you get to sic [[Everything's Worse with Bears|Giant Pandas]] on the guards here. One of the more well thought out and entertaining examples of this trope. The mission where you have to rely on the Blue Minions in the sewers isn't so bad either thanks to their ''invisibility'' power. Being invisible makes a
* ''[[Ace Combat]]'' shows that you can have "stealth" in flight action titles; ''3'', ''5'', ''6'' and ''X'' have missions where you have to either fly a plane below a certain altitude, avoid circles on the [[Enemy
** ''2'' manages a mission like this that is completely pointless - you're told to stay below a certain altitude to make a sneak-attack on an enemy base, but you can go above that altitude at the very start of the mission, and the only difference made is when the music switches from downbeat to action mode. The reward for doing it the stealthy way however, are two grounded bomber planes that failed to take off due to your stealthy approach, which, if destroyed, unlocks an optional mission right afterwards.
** [[Ace Combat: Assault Horizon]] has a stealth mission on the first half of a Bomber mission when you play Janice Riehl. Not only the radars are placed in very awkward positioning, it is mandatory for you to do so even when you select the already stealthy B-2 bomber.
* Even [[Armored Core]] is not immune to occasionally indulge in this. The first half of a particular mission in ''Armored Core 3: Silent Line'' requires you to stealth your way through a deep ravine filled with AI helicopters. Getting discovered does not equal instant failure, but you only have two seconds maximum to destroy it before it broadcasts an alarm, which ''does'' fail your mission. Adding to the challenge is the existence of a hidden part within the level, and a bonus part awarded for clearing the sneaking part under a certain time limit (they do not, however, need to be obtained in one go). Thankfully, the helicopters are real pushovers; two small missiles will bring down one, and killing them outright before they spot you is a common tactic.
* ''[[Golden Sun]]'' has a portion where the party has to sneak through a thieves' base in order to rescue the mayor of a large city. The second game has a similar mission where the party must sneak past tribal guards.
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* The level before the battle with Cloe Walsh in ''[[No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle|No More Heroes 2 Desperate Struggle]]'' is a prison complex which you are instructed to sneak through. {{spoiler|Of course, since you're playing as [[Made of Iron|Travis]] [[Blood Knight|Touchdown]], if you're spotted, you're free to simply [[Cutting the Knot|butcher the guards]] and carry on your way.}}
* ''[[Lost Odyssey]]'' features your party getting captured. After memory-wiping the guard and convincing him to let you out of your cell, you must sneak around the enemy [[Cool Ship]] until you find your weapons and can fight back. Getting caught gets you thrown back into the cell, from which the amnesiac guard will dutifully let you out every time.
* ''[[Star Wars]] Rogue Leader: [[Rogue Squadron]] II'' has the "Imperial Academy Heist" stage, or, rather, the first 1/3 of it. You have to sneak into an Imperial base by flying low through a canyon. The catch is, you also have to disable a bunch of sensors with your ion cannons;<ref>or avoid them altogether, your only option if you're playing between real-time 6 PM and 6 AM and thus are playing the night version, in which you use the Snowspeeder</ref>
* A few missions in ''[[Water Warfare]]'' task you to slink, [[No-Gear Level|weaponless,]] past opponents to a point. In one, you just have to make it to the goal. In the second, however, you must take a treasure chest back to your base as well.
* ''[[Vampire Bloodlines]]'' - the Prince orders you to investigate the submarine and the museum unseen and without casualties. Stealth is an option on other missions, but no more or less than brute force.
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* About half the missions in the ''[[Syphon Filter]]'' series. In Rhoemer's Base, unlike most, getting spotted doesn't cause an immediate [[Game Over]], but puts the base guards on full alert, making your task much harder. Another "stealth not explicitly required" mission is the Aljir Prison Escape level, if you alert the guards in the last part, Gregorov will most likely be killed, causing mission failure.
* Several missions in the ''[[Driver]]'' series require you to follow a car without getting to close and alerting them.
* The beginning of ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'''s "Arrival" [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] is one of these. Or, at least, supposed to be. There's no benefit to sneaking through the prison (there's an achievement for getting through it undetected, but that's it); all of the groups of enemies are so easy to kill that it doesn't particularly matter.
** Before the DLC was released, players speculated that the Infiltrator player class (whose special power is an [[Invisibility Cloak]]) would have an unfair advantage, but it doesn't for two reasons: first, the enemies are so easy to sneak past that there's no advantage to using Tactical Cloak anyway; second, even if you do try to sneak past enemies using it, if you enter the area in which enemies would detect you uncloaked, they will automatically attack Shepard once the cloak wears off, [[The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard|even if there's no possible way for them to know you're there.]]
* In a similar vein, ''[[Dragon Age II]]'''s "Mark of the Assassin" [[Downloadable Content|DLC]] contains an extended stealth-based mission that involves sneaking through a mansion, but it's very merciful if you fail (only sending you back a short distance...with whatever goodies you swiped on your way!)
* In the ''[[Medal of Honor]]: Frontline'' level "Operation Repunzel", if the guard at the front desk is "asleep"(which may be a glitch), you can sneak your way through most of the mansion, if he's awake, your cover will immediately be blown. You pretty much have to blow your cover anyway if you're going for the medal.
* Pretty much the entirety of the ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' DLC ''Dead Money'', which will often actively penalize you if you run around willy nilly and fight any enemy you want. {{spoiler|Late in the DLC, after Dog/God betrays you, you literally ''have'' to use stealth to disable his traps or else he will immediately subject you to a gruesome [[Nonstandard Game Over]].}}
* At least three instances in ''[[
* Several ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' missions have you infiltrate a house or building without being spotted, which means you can't kill anyone either. The two stealth missions in ''Rogue Spear'' are [[That One Level|especially infuriating]], and they [[Remixed Level|later become action levels]] that are no less difficult.
* This is essentially what it's like to play [[You Dirty Rat|Twitch the Plague Rat]] in [[League of Legends]]. He is amongst the frailest characters in the game but can do a lot of damage very quickly and does almost always have the element of surprise due to his ability to become invisible for up to 50 seconds at a time. Twitch's role on a team is to roam the map and pick off wounded and occupied targets without endangering himself in the process.
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[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]
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