Summary
Although assassination might boil down to killing someone for cash, it takes more than a sniper rifle or a sharpened knife to be an assassin. Besides getting a read on the target and completing the job with minimal exposure, most of the work comes down to navigating the environment to make the drop and then finding a way out.
While there are plenty of stealth games that put players into the shoes of an assassin, few games give the player the freedom and challenge to plan their attack and escape strategy in an open-world environment. The following games not only allow players to execute their wetwork in an open-sky sandbox, but they also give players the tools and targets they need to feel like a cold-blooded master assassin.
Cyberpunk 2077 can be played loud and messy, but its diverse character builds (especially with the “Phantom Liberty” expansion) make it ideal for players who want to roleplay as stealthy or brutal assassins. With dozens of gigs and contracts that involve eliminating high-value targets, Night City offersa dense cyberpunk sandboxwhere stealth, planning, and cool execution matter.
Optical cloaking and silenced pistols are perfect tools for silent, tech-focused killers who avoid detection altogether, while katanas, mantis blades, and Sandevistan cyberware enable high-speed takedowns for a more aggressive, reflex-driven approach. Quickhacks like Ping or Cyberpsychosis allow talented contract killers to complete a job without as much as getting their hands dirty.
While Jin Sakai begins his journey as an armored samurai bound by honor,Ghost of Tsushimagradually opens up the path of the assassin as a necessary evolution. Players can choose stealth over thehonorable combat style of the samurai, using tools like smoke bombs, poison darts, and kunai to thin enemy ranks quietly before vanishing into the mist.
Ghost of Tsushimaleans into the sandbox gameplay afforded by open-world games, and as such, the player chooses when to fight with honor and when to kill from the shadows. If the player so chooses, they can embrace their new role as a silent killer, using the Ghost stance, silent takedowns, and rooftop traversal to turn the island of Tsushima into a hunting ground.
WhileSkyrimmay have done away with the traditional class system of its forebearers, there are still three “primary” archetypes to choose from for a new character to base their playstyle on. However, as many seasons players will know, most new runs end up with the Last Dragonborn adopting the stealth archer playstyle, and that is no accident. Besides being the optimal way to playSkyrim, sniping enemies from far away is the most satisfying and self-reinforcing game loop.
Besidesindirectly coercing its players into this build, Skyrim is home to a legendary guild for assassins known as the Dark Brotherhood, who will cater to killers-for-hire with a satisfying storyline involving the murder of high-value targets, cool assassin gear, and an inexhaustible supply of quests to help line the pockets of those who kill for gold and a love of the murder game. An honorable mention should go out here toThe Elder Scrolls' prior entry,Oblivion, which features an arguably better Dark Brotherhood storyline but lacks the juicy mechanics native to Skyrim’s assassin.
The Saboteur drops players into Nazi-occupied Paris as Sean Devlin, a racecar driver turned resistance fighter (and, as an offshoot of his saboteuring duties), an assassin by necessity. The game features open-world traversal, disguises, sabotage, and stealth takedowns. All of Paris is given to the player from the get-go, but they will need to make stealthy kills to liberate the city in the face of overwhelming force.
Players can silently eliminate targets, plant explosives, and blend into restricted zonesusing stolen uniforms. While it may not be as mechanically deep as modern stealth titles,The Saboteurputs a special focus on target elimination and delivers a unique setting with a striking black-and-white aesthetic (which lifts as liberation spreads) and the agency to handle missions with precision.
Metal Gear Solid 5is arguably the pinnacle of open-world assassination gameplay set in the modern day. As Venom Snake, players have a sprawling, enemy-filled map with the freedom to complete objectives however they choose. Most missions involve taking out a member of an occupying force for a hefty paycheck. That can be done through kidnapping (the non-lethal way), brutal force action, or with a sophisticated array of stealth gadgets and predatory muscle memory.
Snake can use decoys, suppressed tranquilizers, sniper rifles, bombs, or even call in airstrikes. Missions reward creativity and stealth, and eliminating a target and successfully exfiltrating without raising the alarm is as satisfying as it gets, and the mark of a professional killer worthy of the title “Big Boss.” No two assassinations ever need to play out the same in Kojima’s open-world playground, and few games give as much control over how a job is executed.
It should be hardly surprising to anyone thatAssassin’s Creedshould appear on a list of open-world games about assassination. Although they began as open-zone games, the series has been overall focused on delivering gameplay befitting its name, giving players tools like social stealth, the hidden blade, smoke bombs, and more to help them take down targets and serve the light from the shadows.
Besides being a novel way to appreciate grand works of architecture, theopen-world parkour mechanicsthat made the series famous allow for unparalleled planning and escape sequences as the player watches the surroundings for an opening moment to strike before vanishing behind a rooftop. Later entries, likeOdysseyandValhalla, lean more into action-RPG territory, but the option to build toward stealth and execute high-profile targets still remains.
