Splinter Cell

The optic fibre camera lets Sam Fisher scout a room before entering. The camera slides under doors so the player can study the next room, then move through it. It supports a stealth loop of observation followed by execution.

Alien Isolation's motion tracker, Invisible Inc's keyhole peeks and Dishonored's lean play the same role. Gunpoint's Tom Francis calls information the raw material plans are made of.

The sticky camera doubles as a speaker to lure guards away. Sound lures like the sticky camera speaker pull guards off their patrol path and into positions that favor the player. They work because guards have simulated ears.

Players use lures to open a gap in a patrol, steer guards into traps, or draw them into the dark for a takedown. Sight-based lures work on the guards' simulated eyes instead.

The split jump lets Sam Fisher hang above guards in certain corridors. It is a movement gadget that reaches spots guards cannot get to, which gives the player a route beyond hiding in shadow.

Many stealth games stick to stances (standing, crouching, prone), which trade visibility, noise and speed. Batman's grapnel and Dishonored's Blink are similar reach-based tools.

Splinter Cell makes the fuse trick temporary so safety expires. Sam Fisher can overload fuses to kill lights, but the lights flicker back on. The player has to keep adapting instead of settling into one safe state.

The source ties this to the smoke bomb idea: "A smoke bomb creates a tiny and temporary pocket of safety within a danger zone." Invisible Inc uses the same principle, as knocked-out guards wake after a few turns.

Chaos Theory gives only a few sticky cameras per level. Capping supply makes players choose when to spend each gadget, so it never becomes the default answer.

Thief charges money stolen earlier for water arrows, Dishonored makes you find throwables, and Hitman's cupboard holds only two bodies. In the source's words: "A rather obvious way to restrict something's power is just to limit how many you have."

Chaos Theory's gas-filled engine room takes away the weapon option. On the ship level, using weapons in the engine room would make everything explode. The level setup temporarily blocks a favorite tactic and forces another approach.

The source pairs this with guard placement as the same idea: one guard is easy to dispatch, but "two guards who are looking at each other will require a much more complex plan to overcome."

Splinter Cell lets players shoot out lights to reshape the space. Shooting out lights is a rare option in stealth games. It lets the player change the level's rules to suit a plan instead of only reacting to them.

Its light meter came from Thief. Thief's own version of reshaping space is water arrows that extinguish candles and moss arrows that make silent tiles.