There isn’t a whole lot spanking new in the stealth genre I happen to love dearly. Which is why events like this week’s Stealth Fest on Steam come in very handy to talk about the good old, and perhaps the obscure too. Here are my top tips on what to grab with juicy discounts.
Sniper Elite 4. Why fourth? The latest, fifth, installment in the low-tech WW2 stealth series is just more of the same and, in my humble opinion, not as well executed. Plus, one can’t argue with fat 90% off the normal price here. My GOTY 2017 nominee clocks in at some 40 hours and is well worth checking out.
Far Cry: Blood Dragon started off as an April Fool’s joke. In mere six months of development, it’s grown into an unusually refreshing entry in a franchise hopelessly stuck in a rut, devoid of any passion or invention, a poster child of Ubisoft’s pathetic for-profit copy-paste map icon hunts. You are going to have to deal with the unbelievably crappy proprietary launcher I like to call Udon’tPlay, but at Stealth Fest’s 75% off it’s an absolute bargain. It’s got Michael Biehn‘s voiceover, it’s got a banging synthwave aesthetic, and it’s got dinosaurs with lasers, okay?
Matt Dabrowski’s indie community darling Streets of Rogue (2019) is imaginative, fabulously varied, witty, chaotic, and funny. It’s to be had with 80% discount bringing its price to laughable EUR 3.90 or your regional equivalent. Buy your friends some copies whilst you’re at it too, no need to thank me!
Next up between the stalls of Stealth Fest, we have something oddly familiar here. If you call yourself a video game afficionado, 2021’s Unmetal will ring a bell. Or two. Or it’ll set off a concerto like you may come across over Florence on a Sunday noon. Definitely not inspired by or hilariously parodying any 1987’s game you’ve ever heard of, Unmetal is 60% off, 64 if you’re eyeing the soundtrack bundle too.
Indie pixel art is where we linger on for a little while before the usual suspects and heavy hitters enter the stage. Stealth Fest sees Intravenous at one third of its normal price. The top-down Hotline Miami-like sports some truly hard core stealth mechanics that you can take for a spin in its demo.
Show of hands who knows Deux Ex. Every entry in the immersive sim series is to be had at absolute daylight robbery prices, but let me pick out the best one. And yeah, I know I’ll probably gather some flak for this, but I won’t budge and happily die on this hill. I don’t think Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director’s Cut just beats the ground-breaking original, I think it’s one of the best video games ever made. And you can get it at 85% off, for EUR 2.99. That’s two euros and ninety nine cents.
Now. Remember when I said that there’s little truly new on the stealth front? That’s because it’s true. My final Stealth Fest tip is when the genre saw proper innovation last, and that’s just a straight-up fact. It also happens to be the best video game adaptation of film material that’s ever saw the light of day. Not that you’ll be seeing much of light, or day, in the immaculate Alien: Isolation. With a hefty 80% discount, there’s never been a better opportunity to witness what could have been in stealth games since 2014. Diapers not included.
This year’s Stealth Fest runs on Steam now, all the way through to 31 July 2023. Plan your tactical approach carefully.
