5 best stealth games on PC

                        1. Dishonored 1 & 2

Some of the best stealth games can feel turn-based – even those that aren’t Invisible, Inc. They’re the ones that have you marking targets, mapping patrol routes, and mentally solving problems – all before uncloaking and triggering the action when you’re ready.

The Dishonored series is the epitome of that style of stealth, and as an added bonus, is just as good for combo-slinging predatory combat when you’re spotted. It’s nice not to have to reload the moment those well-made plans go awry.

Beyond that, Arkane’s games are a ghoster’s dream, with mission stats screens that track not only how many civvies you’ve killed, but also whether you’ve been detected, raised any alarms, or left bodies in plain sight.

Perhaps most enticing of all for purists is the opportunity to refuse the magical powers offered you at the beginning of Dishonored 2 and approach the game as a contemporary Thief sequel. Only, er, a good one.

                                     2.Invisible

Remember that thing I said about some games taking well-established game mechanics and dedicating them all to creating the quintessential stealth experience? Well, this is precisely that.

Invisible Inc. is instantly accessible thanks to its turn-based mechanics. And there is almost endless challenge to be found in its randomised levels and permadeath design. It's a game of sci-fi gadgetry, hacking, and slinking to and fro as you attempt to steal things from tightly-guarded bases, creating untold moments of weighty decision-making. Do you haul your incapacitated team-mate to the extraction point, knowing that if you don't you'll lose them for the rest of the campaign, or do you use that precious time to try and steal a power-up that could make the rest of the campaign much easier?

Even though we associate stealth with real-time suspense, Invisible, Inc. still captures that thanks to cleverly implemented time limits. This is a game for the tinkering stealth tactician.

             3. Hitman: Blood Money

The more recent Hitman is incredible in its own right, and we'll get to that. But the bald barcoded one known as Agent 47 has had a consistently solid career – taking us on globetrotting, sprawling missions of slick, clinical killings since 2000. He really hit his stride with Blood Money, with fantastic level design that was believable while offering some of the most entertaining, diverse ways to carry out hits.

There's a twisted comedy to taking out a target by shooting out the glass bottom of his outdoor hot tub during a Christmas party. Or dressing up as the shiftiest clown since John Wayne Gacy to garotte a Mafioso snitch in his comfortable suburban home.

Just as with every Hitman game, Blood Money rewards stealth, encouraging you to get in, dress up in 1000 disguises, kill your target, and get out. It also has one of my favourite end-of-level features, where you'd read newspaper stories about your hits, describing how much evidence and bloodshed you left in your wake.

         4. Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory

The Splinter Cell series inherited the extreme focus on light and sound levels from the Thief series. And with Chaos Theory the series mastered it, even taking into account details like your noise relative to the environment.

Chaos Theory is ripe with innovative stealth mechanics that still feel good today. You can extract information from enemies by holding knives to their throats (and relishing the startled looks on their faces), pull them over edges, and hang upside-down from rafters to break necks and phht-phht them with a silencer. With his night-vision goggles, Sam Fisher is a master of the game's nocturnal, shadowy environments, and it's great fun shooting out lights and tormenting your disoriented enemies like a less ostentatious Batman.

It's also one of the few games to do stealth co-op properly, letting you take on dedicated missions with a buddy – complete with co-op stealth moves like holding a cable while the other player reels down it and, errr, hurling each other like cannonballs into enemies.

      5. Commandos 2: Men of Courage

I have never been any good at Commandos – few people I know are – but I'll be damned if I don't respect it and call it 'Sir'. The grizzled WWII stealther puts you in control of a squad of elite soldiers, each with their own skills, and chucks you into gruelling puzzle-like levels to sneak and sabotage your way through.

Each mission takes a long time, and 'taking things as they come' is the worst strategy you could possibly adopt. You always have to plan several steps ahead, monitoring enemies' lines of sight, patrol patterns, and notable hiding spots. One wrong move, and you won’t be able to click your mouse fast enough to get out of it. Fail to control the situation and it’s a swift execution.

With its pre-rendered backgrounds and isometric perspective, Commandos 2 is one of those stealth games where you can grumble that 'they don't make 'em like they used to', and ponder wistfully about what a faithful modern rendition of it would look like. We may never know...