Some of the most frequently-cited frustrations in stealth design - high stress, harsh punishments for failure, a small path to success, sometimes instant fails - are also present in the best stealth games, including Thief, Dishonored, and even Hitman (depending on how you play, of course).

So what makes great stealth stand out from the frustrating? Immersion, immersion, immersion If in regular gameplay you can punch your way clean through most major enemies, forcing a player to arbitrarily hide from those same enemies will cause more frustration than fun. ItвЂ™s a difficult line to walk, made even more so by player expectation. Great stealth has to balance gameplay, hiding spots, consequences for detection, immersion, and strategy. Stealth design is like walking a tightrope.

On the other hand, there are the gamers who regard stealth sections as frustrating breaks from fun slow-mo traps governed by an arbitrary rule set that is all about preventing them from punching their way out of the situation. On one hand you have people like me, for who Skyrim takes three times as long to complete because crouch-walking is my primary mode of transportation (I also jump at any well-implemented stealth section in otherwise non-stealth games). There is perhaps no more contentious gameplay mechanic than stealth.

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