The PS4 had a stellar lineup of some of the best stealth games ever made. Metal Gear Solid 5: The Phantom Pain comes to mind as the final tale from Hideo Kojima regarding this franchise that he so lovingly helped cultivate. The Metal Gear series is a blueprint on how stealth games should be made.
This game, and its predecessors, allowed players to tackle missions in a variety of ways from blasting soldiers to kingdom come or putting them to sleep with a tranquilizer dart. Ghost of Tsushima and the new Hitman trilogy also comes to mind as some of the best stealth games around. What about the underdogs of the stealth genre on PS4 though?
8 A Plague Tale: Innocence
A Plague Tale: Innocence takes place in a war-torn Europe while England was fighting France. Players assume the role of a teenage girl, Amicia de Rune, and her brother, Hugo, trying desperately to flee men that would suppress them in occupied France. England isn’t the only problem as there is a plague of diseased rats running around as well. It tries to be historically accurate as possible while still going off the rails sometimes to create a memorable experience. Players rarely get to engage in combat and are instead tasked with sneaking past guards in various ways, making it one of the more challenging stealth games on the list.
7 Assassin’s Creed Unity
Assassin’s Creed Unity did not have a good launch. It was supposed to be the first big new, next-gen only entry in the series in 2014 while the older consoles got Assassin's Creed Rogue. The latter of the two was the superior experience at launch as it offered more than what fans had grown to love in Black Flag: sailing.
As buggy as Unity was, it did get better over time. Unfortunately, not many players returned to France after they received countless glitches that may have even erased their progress. It’s one of those games that could do well with a new port to both PS5 and Xbox Series X, hopefully, with no launch issues.
6 Battlefield Hardline
Battlefield Hardline could be played like the other entries in this series aka with guns firing wildly at enemies. However, players could also try to be a good cop and stealthily arrest criminals instead.
It might be the only stealth game that allows players to handcuff their enemies as if they were taking them down with a knife. It may not have received universal praise from the fans, but at least it was trying something new. A sequel could have strengthened those mechanics and maybe someday EA will try.
5 Death Stranding
Death Stranding has a very split opinion on it. The game was reviewed mostly with positive scores, but those that didn’t review it well, really let others know. At its core, it could be described as a walking sim set in an open-world with not much in it. That emptiness, on top of the clunky mechanics, is two things that rubbed some the wrong way. It wasn’t a perfectly executed game from the weird mind that is Hideo Kojima.
It’s no Metal Gear experience that is for sure, but the stealth gameplay was serviceable and there were plenty of memorable moments in the story that will make it hard to forget on both good and bad levels.
4 Deus Ex: Mankind Divided
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided was not as groundbreaking as Human Revolution was on the last-gen consoles. This sequel was more of the same which wasn’t a bad thing. Everything about it was technically better from the gameplay options to the graphics.
Nothing about it made it seem remarkable though as if it didn’t have much soul, which may be why it has never received a sequel past this. Despite the lack of hype, it is one of the best stealth games on the PS4 whether fans choose to believe it or not.
3 Murdered: Soul Suspect
Murdered: Soul Suspect is a wild ride that sometimes may make players wonder if Hideo Kojima or Swery had a hand in making it. Players play a detective, Ronan O'Connor, who was gunned down unceremoniously while on a case. He wakes up as a ghost, vowing to figure out who killed him and others with similar deaths.
That part is a bit cliché but then there are the cloaked ghouls that look like Dementors from Harry Potter trying to suck your soul away. That’s where the stealth gameplay comes in. Mechanically, it is a clunky adventure game and the story isn’t that wonderful either. Still, it is unique, players have to give it that.
2 Shadow Of The Tomb Raider
Shadow of the Tomb Raider was the final entry in this reboot trilogy that began in 2013 with the younger version of Lara Croft. That reboot has received near-universal praise over time. The sequel, Rise of the Tomb Raider, was also well received but suffered from the same fate as Deus Ex: Mankind Divided.
It was good but it didn’t elevate the playing field. Then, by this third entry, the fatigue was fully set in. The game was also rougher around the edges as far as the graphics were concerned. What was undeniably great were the new stealth mechanics like being able to get covered in mud to then pop out and slash an enemy from behind.
1 Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint
Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Breakpoint was the sequel to Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon Wildlands. The first game had a troubled launch with some glitches but it eventually found a dedicated audience that stuck with it and had a blast grouping up in co-op missions.
This sequel had an even worse launch, looking sometimes like it was a beta. The online connectivity wasn’t strong, the story was bland, the graphics were almost PS3-like or worse in quality, and the list goes on. It didn’t have the same sticking power as the original possibly due to how bad the launch was. Past the glitches and ugly textures was a cool world to explore either stealthily alone or chaotically with a group of buddies.