Looking for hide in plain sight games

[templar1138a]

I recently started playing Assassin's Creed for the first time and have confirmed something I learned when I played the Saboteur and (to a lesser extent) Prototype: I love hide-in-plain-sight games. Assassin's Creed's gameplay has a great open-world feel, I like the environment, I like the suspicion system, I like how - if I play it right - I can fight off a whole squad of soldiers with a knife, and I even like how obnoxious the beggars can get when I'm trying to murder my target.

But that's ALL I like about the game. I don't like the Sci-Fi elements that are behind the annoying Desmond interludes, Altair's outfit is ridiculous and not the slightest bit inconspicuous, and I hate how every target I murder has a dramatic "There's more to this than you realize, boy" speech. It's tiresome, it's melodramatic, and it's made me lose interest in the game.

So, assuming you don't want to burn me at the stake for heresy, can any of you recommend other games on PC with an open world feel where the strategy is to hide in plain sight? Regular stealth games are all well and good, but I really like being able to go in, cause some mayhem, and leave my pursuers confused when I seem to disappear.

And no, don't recommend the sequel games. I've seen Yahtzee's reviews. Those get less about assassination and more about real estate development by all accounts, the only redeeming quality being that they finally kill Desmond in the third game. Edit: I will remind people that the big reason I don't like the first game is because of the plot and premise. If I don't like the plot or premise of the first game, why would I like the plot or premise of the sequels?

Edit: I appreciate the feedback so far. I gave Hitman: Blood Money a try. I like it, but when I discovered that my in-mission saves mean nothing when I have to quit out of the game, that pissed me off quite a bit. I don't want to have to go through all the previous missions just to pick up from where I left off. Any other suggestions?

 

[Ronald Nand]

You are going to love the Hitman Series. Its all about hiding in plain sight, the core mechanic is disguising yourself as the enemy to get closer to your target and killing them silently, you can use a variety of disguises such as guards, waiters, drivers to get close to your target and assassinate them. For example one level you could:
-Knock out a chef, take his disguise and poison the targets food.
-Knock out a guard take his disguise get to your targets room, garrote him, hide the body and just walk out of there.
-Knock out a driver, take his disguise, place a car bomb in the targets car blows up the car when he leaves.
Levels are open-ended and there multiple ways to get to each target and kill them, its very satisfying calmly walking out of the level with no-one knowing you killed the target.

On console there's the Hitman HD Collection and Absolution, on PC all the games are on Steam, the first three are on GOG so you can get some of them DRM Free.

I recommend you start with Blood Money, its the most accessible game, the older games can be quite unforgiving, especially the second one. Story isn't a big part of the games so you can just jump into the series from any game you want.

Leave Absolution to last, the disguise mechanic is quite poor in that game, also people say the first game isn't very good haven't played it myself though. When you finish with the Hitman series, check out the Death to Spies series, its got the same gameplay mechanics although its quite difficult.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

Yep you want to take a look at hitman. It's not open world, but it has open levels and is quite fun. I would also recommend you try out some more of the AC games too. Ya they do add some unnecessary mechanics around building houses, but they also have the staby goodness too. Try AC2 or brotherhood and see if you like it. Outside the ones you mentioned, I can't think of really any hide in plain sight games. It is kind of a underused idea.

 

[josemlopes]

The best really is Hitman but then you also have Death to Spies, its in WW2 and while it isnt as polished as the Hitman games (the first Hitman is terrible, though) it still has some unique mechanics.


And to a much, much lesser extent, The Saboteur.

 

[antidonkey]

If you want a goofy multiplayer experience you can always snag Prop Hunt. It's an add-on for Gary's Mod that lets you assume the form of the items in the stage while others try to find and kill you. Never played it myself but have seen some rather funny videos on it.

 

[TheSYLOH]

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and third the recommendation for Hitman.
It's like a CSI episode played backwards, you know who the murderer is, you just don't know what zany way the victim gets taken out.

Absolute favorite method of killing someone was in Blood Money.

Spoiler: Minor Spoiler

There is one mission where you assassinate an opera singer who is playing Tosca. The opera Tosca climaxes with the titular character trying to fake his own death by firing squad, he believes the squad was issued blanks, but since this is an opera the executioners have live bullets and Tosca dies tragically. One of the options is to replace the prop gun with a real gun.
Soooo.... you assassinate an actor who is playing an actor who think the gun has blanks but shoots bullets, by replacing a gun that shoots blanks with one that shoots bullets, hence turning a pretend execution of a pretend execution which turned into a real execution into a real execution. And somewhere Christopher Nolan is blowing a horn...

 

[vipLink]

And no, don't recommend the sequel games. I've seen Yahtzee's reviews. Those get less about assassination and more about real estate development by all accounts, the only redeeming quality being that they finally kill Desmond in the third game.

I'll mirror what everybody's said and tell you to go with Hitman.

But also I LOVED Assasins Creed. I LOVED everything about it. The first one was just really repetitive, and yes the Desmond Sections where just "Here read something story-sensitive".

I still loved the first one, but I know it had it's crap moments.

Assasins Creed 2 is hands down everything you wanted from AC1 only Awesome. It goes downhill from there. Like really really far down. I refuse to buy anything Assasins Creed related because after how awesome AC2 was, it's a huge disappointment to see what they've done with the series.

I know you didn't want to hear this, but try AC2 and immediately stop there.

 

[AmberSword]

And no, don't recommend the sequel games. I've seen Yahtzee's reviews. Those get less about assassination and more about real estate development by all accounts, the only redeeming quality being that they finally kill Desmond in the third game.

I just wanted to tell you that you probably shouldn't base purchase decisions on Yahtzee's reviews alone, because he mostly finds faults within a game and slams them. While I'm not saying his style is bad, on the contrary I really like ZP, it would probably help if you consulted other more in-depth reviews or first impressions like those from TB/ Angry Joe to really get a feel for the game.

In this case you're right though, if all you want to do is be an assassin, then ironically "Assassin's" Creed won't do jack shit to satisfy that craving.

Hitman is pretty much your only choice, its not my type of game because I suck and have OCD so it takes hours for me to finish levels, but I am very sure you will be satisfied.

 

[josemlopes]

Yeah I'm going to go ahead and third the recommendation for Hitman.
It's like a CSI episode played backwards, you know who the murderer is, you just don't know what zany way the victim gets taken out.

Absolute favorite method of killing someone was in Blood Money.

Spoiler: Minor Spoiler

There is one mission where you assassinate an opera singer who is playing Tosca. The opera Tosca climaxes with the titular character trying to fake his own death by firing squad, he believes the squad was issued blanks, but since this is an opera the executioners have live bullets and Tosca dies tragically. One of the options is to replace the prop gun with a real gun.
Soooo.... you assassinate an actor who is playing an actor who think the gun has blanks but shoots bullets, by replacing a gun that shoots blanks with one that shoots bullets, hence turning a pretend execution of a pretend execution which turned into a real execution into a real execution. And somewhere Christopher Nolan is blowing a horn...

I thought you were going to say this:

Spoiler

Kill the woman in that mission in the suburbs with a coin

 

[templar1138a]

I just wanted to tell you that you probably shouldn't base purchase decisions on Yahtzee's reviews alone, because he mostly finds faults within a game and slams them. While I'm not saying his style is bad, on the contrary I really like ZP, it would probably help if you consulted other more in-depth reviews or first impressions like those from TB/ Angry Joe to really get a feel for the game.

I'm aware of Yahtzee's method. He and I have very different tastes in games. I base buying decisions on his reviews, however, because he's very good at describing gameplay mechanics and tone. Yes he rails on about the cons, but he always at least tries to mention pros as well. Several games I've bought and liked are ones he hated, and I bought them because I liked the sound of some of the features he mentioned. Even though he hated those features.

 

[OneCatch]

So, assuming you don't want to burn me at the stake for heresy, can any of you recommend other games on PC with an open world feel where the strategy is to hide in plain sight? Regular stealth games are all well and good, but I really like being able to go in, cause some mayhem, and leave my pursuers confused when I seem to disappear.

Yeah, another vote for Hitman. Not openworld, but the levels are superbly detailed, and it's easily the best example of a disguise-based stealth franchise.

A slightly odd suggestion; what about GTA or Sleeping Dogs? Not so much stealth, but they are openworld, and with some emphasis on escape and evasion, and with plenty of non-hostile NPCs to blend in with. Possibly also Watch_Dogs, though I have not played it and I'm loathe to recommend it given the various controversies surrounding it.

There's also stuff like Far Cry 2 and 3 which are openworld. Although almost everyone is hostile on sight they've got fairly short view distances and there's emphasis on guerilla-style evasion and ambush.

 

[hermes]

And no, don't recommend the sequel games. I've seen Yahtzee's reviews. Those get less about assassination and more about real estate development by all accounts, the only redeeming quality being that they finally kill Desmond in the third game.

You do make it sound a lot worst than it is.
Truth, they shift some of the focus from assassinations, but the "real estate development" is like a 5% of the entire game. If you enjoyed Assassins Creed 1, you should at least try the second game. It is a better game in almost every respect.

 

[nomotog_v1legacy]

So, assuming you don't want to burn me at the stake for heresy, can any of you recommend other games on PC with an open world feel where the strategy is to hide in plain sight? Regular stealth games are all well and good, but I really like being able to go in, cause some mayhem, and leave my pursuers confused when I seem to disappear.

Yeah, another vote for Hitman. Not openworld, but the levels are superbly detailed, and it's easily the best example of a disguise-based stealth franchise.

A slightly odd suggestion; what about GTA or Sleeping Dogs? Not so much stealth, but they are openworld, and with some emphasis on escape and evasion, and with plenty of non-hostile NPCs to blend in with. Possibly also Watch_Dogs, though I have not played it and I'm loathe to recommend it given the various controversies surrounding it.

There's also stuff like Far Cry 2 and 3 which are openworld. Although almost everyone is hostile on sight they've got fairly short view distances and there's emphasis on guerilla-style evasion and ambush.

Watch dogs doesn't have costumes or blending in of any kind, but it dose have a bit of the feeling with the camera hacking system. "I'm just standing her playing with my phone well everything explodes around you hehe." The game has some problems though.

Far cry 3 has you pick up an enemy uniform at the end island that lets you hide in plain sight. It's not the focus of the game and the mechanic isn't very deep.

 

[OneCatch]

Possibly also Watch_Dogs, though I have not played it and I'm loathe to recommend it given the various controversies surrounding it.
There's also stuff like Far Cry 2 and 3 which are openworld. Although almost everyone is hostile on sight they've got fairly short view distances and there's emphasis on guerilla-style evasion and ambush.

Watch dogs doesn't have costumes or blending in of any kind, but it dose have a bit of the feeling with the camera hacking system. "I'm just standing her playing with my phone well everything explodes around you hehe." The game has some problems though.
Far cry 3 has you pick up an enemy uniform at the end island that lets you hide in plain sight. It's not the focus of the game and the mechanic isn't very deep.

Yeah, I didn't really want to mention the uniform in Far Cry 3 because it's only there for about a quarter of the game, and as you say it barely qualifies as a disguise mechanic, more a vehicle for the plot.
Good to know about Watch_Dogs - I'd assumed it was a bit more stealth and evasion focussed than it is by the sounds of it.

 

[templar1138a]

A slightly odd suggestion; what about GTA or Sleeping Dogs? Not so much stealth, but they are openworld, and with some emphasis on escape and evasion, and with plenty of non-hostile NPCs to blend in with. Possibly also Watch_Dogs, though I have not played it and I'm loathe to recommend it given the various controversies surrounding it.

There's also stuff like Far Cry 2 and 3 which are openworld. Although almost everyone is hostile on sight they've got fairly short view distances and there's emphasis on guerilla-style evasion and ambush.

Those aren't hide-in-plain-sight. I've played GTA, and it's a crime sandbox, meaning no one cares about you until you start the mayhem, and then all you have to do is get far enough away from the cops. In HIPS games, there are mechanics that revolve around suspicion and subtlety.

And guerilla evasion and ambush is pretty standard for stealth games in general. I'm more interested in a game that requires observing my environment more thoroughly rather than just sneaking until I'm spotted, loading a previous save, then taking the guy who spotted me into account.

 

[templar1138a]

And to a much, much lesser extent, The Saboteur.

The Saboteur is the only hide-in-plain-sight game I've bothered to finish because it didn't have any glaring design flaws, like a ridiculous save system or clunky controls. I found its suspicion system to be a suitable challenge when trying to discreetly reach key objectives and enjoy the fact that it gave me ability rewards for fulfilling small, global objectives.

Only thing I really didn't like about it was Sean's dialogue. I got over it when I got to the point where I was able to set multiple detonation charges and watch a small Nazi outpost explode all at once.

 

[Kukakkau]

So, assuming you don't want to burn me at the stake for heresy, can any of you recommend other games on PC with an open world feel where the strategy is to hide in plain sight? Regular stealth games are all well and good, but I really like being able to go in, cause some mayhem, and leave my pursuers confused when I seem to disappear.

If that's what you're after you should try Prototype (either 1 or 2) since it's all about going in causing mayhem with powers, then when things get too hot grab someone, run away and steal their appearance. The first game you could even do that and when people came looking for you, you could point at one of them and say "He's Mercer! Get him!" to have his friends turn on him.

Other than that I guess some source things like prop hunt in Garry's mod and The Hidden

EDIT: somehow I missed you mentioned prototype...oops