Yesterday I was torn between streaming Monaco or Mark of the Ninja. In the end, technical reasons forced me to roll with Mark of the Ninja and I thought “hey, you know what? This is great. I saw this game in person at PAX 2012 in the Indie 10, and I thought it looked rad, and now I am finally allowing myself to play it. This is gonna be great; let’s do this!” Can you read all the fake pep? Can you decipher my lies better than I can myself? Here’s the thing – I know I hate stealth. I have always hated stealth. And I knew Mark of the Ninja has gotten oodles of praise for it’s comprehensive and impressive implementation of a great stealth system. So how was this really going to go, huh? COME ON, LAURIE. BE HONEST WITH YOURSELF.
Sure enough, I lacked all patience. I would spawn and run blindly at obstacles and difficult enemies over and over and over until I would throw my hands up and say “I must be doing it wrong! I must need to Google it!” then I would try to speed-Google a solution, on-stream, on my phone, realize I can’t because there are no level names visible when I pause the game and I have no idea where I am, then go back and due to the very brief rest I gave my mind and muscle memory, I would be able to get through to the next checkpoint without dying. Sure the assassinations were so deeply, profoundly satisfying (top notch animations and sound effects, fo’ sho’) but all the in between of trying to sneak up to someone to kill them, etc – no thanks.
Photo from Cinemablend
I knew this when I played The Last of Us only until Joel and Ellie got to the town with the crazy guy and I had to stealth through the graveyard and the houses to the bus yard at the school and I died so many times I stopped playing until I got the game again, remastered, with my new PS4 at the end of last year. I don’t have the patience for stealth, which is indicative of the very little patience I have for most things in my life. And yet. Here I was. Again. And the “why” finally dawned on me after I slogged through a (to be honest) mediocre stream of the entirety of Mark of the Ninja.
I am deeply impressed by stealth game mechanics and systems. There is honestly so much technical precision that goes in to very well made stealth games, it’s remarkable. The genre itself hones so closely down on level design and character/NPC interactions, I think I subconciously want to observe it all but subsequently hate it all the way through. Even when I was at the peak of frustration with Mark of the Ninja I said out loud “But I mean . . . I still want to finish it.” And despite my lack of skill or interest in games like Bloodborne or Dark Souls, I believe the entire genre of stealth is at it’s best when it’s most punishing. Unlike the pandering flip-flopping of Assassin’s Creed, Mark of the Ninja does not allow multiple play types. Sure there are multiple paths and different strategies to implement your stealth throughout rooms during a level but at the end of every experience, you had to be the ninja. You never really have to be an assassin with Ubisoft.
I’m ecstatic to never play Mark of the Ninja ever again. I’m also ecstatic to recommend it to every stealth game lover I know. I’m also ecstatic that I got to experience a quintessential stealth experience in a polished, satisfying, beautiful indie game. Now please, critically acclaimed stealth games – never sneak your way into my life again.
Ashton
I’m really missing out on these Twitch streams! It’s hard to find time between work, parenthood, and (admittedly limited) gaming of my own, but I need to find some time to tune in one of these days.
I appreciate the perspective that you took on Mark of the Ninja. I think the mark of a good stealth game is that it encourages a player to play cautiously (i.e., stealthily) with organic consequences. The only thing lamer than a Game Over screen popping up when you’re spotted (the notable exception being a hardcore run through MGS3, IMO) is a “stealth” game that renders stealth an unfulfilling inconvenience by allowing you to easily dispatch a few dozen opponents.
The genre may not be your cup o’tea, but I hope you don’t actually swear it off entirely just yet. In an entertainment medium that so consistently provides a steady supply of instant gratification, games that force you to slow down and think are a welcome treat.
Laurie
Hey, would love to see you in chat but I totally understand – life is pretty crazy to just sit down and watch someone play video games lol.
I don’t think I’ll ever really swear off stealth games. They’re too damn fun (and frustrating) 😉
Nick Burnham
I definitely understand your frustration with stealth games, and I think most people have that problem with them. Having to wait around for precisely the right moment to knock someone out is more often maddening than it is tense. I guess I just have a penchant for stupidly hard games, which is the only reason I can stand stuff like Thief and Dark Souls. 😛 And I’m also the guy who sneaks through Skyrim as a Rogue shooting Draugr in the back. I honestly never got very far in Mark of the Ninja though. I think you would like Dishonored a lot more. It gives you the option to play aggressively when you want to, and the ability to blink does so much to alleviate the frustration of waiting for the right moment as well as the huge risk of walking out in the open just to try to take someone out silently and hope none of the other guards notice. I prefer to play the game almost entirely stealthily, but the beauty of the game is you can easily murder everyone in sight with reckless abandon if you want to.
Laurie
“Murder everyone in sight with reckless abandon” is definitely more my play style xD Thanks for the comment!