GameSpot

Knocking People Out? – Reality Check



Thief is out this week, so Cam’s here to investigate the most prevalent trope in stealth games: knocking out fools. But can you really non-lethally KO bad guys for hours at a time?

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41 Comments

  1. How much did you get paid by anti-stealth publishers!?! My goodness! Talk about putting people off playing 'maiming-brain damage-death!' stealth games.You would of had a constructive point if you did'nt focus SO much attention on the consequences(Lucky Thief & Dishonoured are only games eh??)

  2. Wait since the gaurds in dishonored are all of the same build won't using the same amount of tranquilizer for all of them take the risk of lethality away.

  3. a completely realistic stealth game, with health consequences for enemies and the player, would be gamers hell or paradise depending on the your taste and frustration level youre aiming for
    would be interessting though

  4. I don't like this trope because it's just too convenient. It's like deus ex machina in little doses (or, better saying, little hits). But I can tolerate it in games, where mechanics serve a gameplay function first. In movies is where it really bugs me.

  5. I just want to say. MGS was never a long knockout. More recent entries you could KO them longer with specific techniques. Kill them after repeated trauma as well. However, a few minutes at most is all you could buy on normal difficulty levels. Sorry it bugged me, I KNEW they would bring it up and I still watched knowing I'd probably post this. lol

  6. no wonder the guards are so terrible at noticing things, they keep getting nearly non-lethaled to death, so all those times I've complained about lackluster AI it has been accurate, these buildings run by evil incorporated are employing people dealing with the after effects of brain damage, usually in places or times without social welfare programs and we compound the injury and in some cases pose the sort-of "alive" "bodies" in hilarious ways to take screenshots… we are villains of the story.

  7. opens up opportunity for other non-lethal takedown ideas. What if a game made you actually gag and bind your victims rather than knocking them out as the only non-lethal option? You might have to grab them in a chokehold and coerce or otherwise force them to comply, making the non-lethal route a lot more risky, perhaps with a great payout in the end?

  8. well now in MGSV you'll be lucky if you knocm the guy out for more then 10mins and that's with a tranquilizer. knock him out with hands and its like 5mins

  9. If you play games like Thief, Dishonored, Splinter Cell and Metal Gear PROPERLY then there would be no need to kill them or knock them out. In stealth games, I make sure that I leave the area the exact same way I entered it, no guards disturbed, still walking around. That is how you play stealth games, friends.

    (totally not bragging)

  10. I'm surprised that he didn't mention Metro: last light or Metro 2033 redux, you can knock people out with the built-in knuckle-duster on your trench knife. When you punch people (usually in the back of the head or in the face), you can hear bones crunching, most likely the skull fracturing. Not only does the brain sustain injuries that he described from a blow to the head, but a skull fracture can lead to pieces of the skull lodging into the brain. Considering the fact that the Metro series takes place in a post nuclear-apocalypse world, the medical technology to treat this type of injury would be scarce.

  11. Thief 2 is my favorite game of all time. Thief 2014 is the worst game I've ever played. I prefer the ghost approach of zero violence, but I sincerely wish cerebral hematoma to Thi4f and everyone involved in its making. How can a studio responsible for two fantastic Deus Ex titles have produced such irredeemable garbage?

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