Breath of the Wild Sneak Strikes

[Dio]

I was watching through some BoTW footage and I came across something I hadn't seen before until now. Sneak Strikes.

In the Fallout series one of my favorite perks is the Mr Sandman perk which allows you to silently murder someone when they sleep.

Well as it turns out you can do that in Breath of The Wild to bokoblins. You simply creep up to a group of sleeping bokoblins, when you get close an option pops up for you to perform the kill and it is silent so the others are not alerted.

I think this is a really nice feature and it just shows that despite having seen hours of footage there are still things we may have missed.

Around 20 minutes in for the sneak strikes.

 

[Azure Sage]

I think it's a great option. The combat in this game is incredibly versatile, so it makes sense to include something like that, considering how much else we can do. They didn't add a noise gauge for nothing.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

Its a cool game mechanic, but I'm a little sad that his animation doesn't really change when he does it... He is still just clubbing them on the head, no throats slit or anything. :/ which is fine, but not as sweet y'know?

 

[Night Owl]

I guess it makes zelda a step closer to assassin's creed than it was before.

I agree with Amy though, It would be cooler if Link slit throats instead of just clubbing.

Does the video show any sneak strikes besides the axe? Perhaps different weapons have different strikes.

 

[Spirit]

Ive been playing Shadow of Mordor and really enjoy the stealth kills in that (for the first time ever im having fun with stealth), so if BotW can feel similar then i'll be sure to have a lot of fun.

 

[Castle]

More gameplay variety is always appreciated.

 

[Dio]

Does the video show any sneak strikes besides the axe? Perhaps different weapons have different strikes.

No I don't think it does.

There is always the possibility they will add them as the game development progresses even if they aren't in now. They tend to like adding the little details in Zelda games.

 

[Nicolai]

Its a cool game mechanic, but I'm a little sad that his animation doesn't really change when he does it... He is still just clubbing them on the head, no throats slit or anything. :/ which is fine, but not as sweet y'know?

I'm not a huge fan of throat slits myself, as it wouldn't make much sense in a game where everything dies in a puff of smoke and an item drop.

I'm all for sneak strikes, though, but I'm excited to see them take it a step further. A scene similar to the Eldin Volcano escape or the Forsaken Fortress would be killer in this game.

Does anyone know how challenging sneaking up is? Does anyone have trouble doing it in the demo? I'd hate for it to always be a failsafe way to take everyone down.

 

[BoxTar]

but I'm a little sad that his animation doesn't really change when he does it... He is still just clubbing them on the head, no throats slit or anything. :/

Uh...not sure why Zelda games would suddenly have slit throats. I mean its cool in some contexts but in Zelda? It would feel out of place.

But as for Sneak Attacks in general? Hell yeah! I always liked the sneaking elements in prior Zelda games, so its gonna be nice to have as just a general mechanic, rather than a specific section like the Forsaken Fortress or Hyrule Castle Grounds. I love sneaking into camps and picking enemies off one by one with a shot or club to the head. Should be neat.

 

[Mipha]

You can do this in Minecraft. Would be fun in BotW

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

Uh...not sure why Zelda games would suddenly have slit throats. I mean its cool in some contexts but in Zelda? It would feel out of place.

But as for Sneak Attacks in general? Hell yeah! I always liked the sneaking elements in prior Zelda games, so its gonna be nice to have as just a general mechanic, rather than a specific section like the Forsaken Fortress or Hyrule Castle Grounds. I love sneaking into camps and picking enemies off one by one with a shot or club to the head. Should be neat.

I agree it would feel out of place. And I'm not necessarily begging for violence, but I think maybe a hunting knife or something would make less noise. A death blow with a club would make a little more noise than I think a realistic sneak strike should. :/ And they are breaking conventions here. So why not? (because then it'd be rated M)

 

[BoxTar]

I agree it would feel out of place. And I'm not necessarily begging for violence, but I think maybe a hunting knife or something would make less noise.

Ok, now THAT I can understand. A logical stealth weapon rather than just swinging around big ol axe. If instead of a blood sploog, it was just like, a flash of light like, Wind Waker style, I could get behind using smaller, stealthier weapons being used strategically.

 

[Spamomanospam]

I agree it would feel out of place. And I'm not necessarily begging for violence, but I think maybe a hunting knife or something would make less noise. A death blow with a club would make a little more noise than I think a realistic sneak strike should. :/ And they are breaking conventions here. So why not? (because then it'd be rated M)

All I want in life is to sneak up on people with a 12 foot great sword. : P

I think there's lots of cool possibilities with sneak attacks. I don't think it'll be the ultimate skill, @Nicolai, rather a skill that any player can use to whatever extent they desire. With practice, you may be able to use all stealth, while some players might stealth kill the first guy to gain an advantage in mob combat, and others will just throw bombs all over to take out bad guys. This game, being centered around doing things however you like, would ideally be exactly as useful as smashing stuff with a giant hammer if that's what you specialize in.

 

[Amy Lu Minati]

All I want in life is to sneak up on people with a 12 foot great sword. : P

Fair enough. Except that it would totally wake up the rest of the camp, so you could only kill one guy each time... If it were realistic.

 

[Spamomanospam]

Fair enough. Except that it would totally wake up the rest of the camp, so you could only kill one guy each time... If it were realistic.

If it were realistic, they would also take a few minutes to wake up and adjust their eyesight, especially if they were in a deep sleep. So take out the guard, and probably a good chunk of them before they reach coherent cognition, and then the remaining ones should be relatively easy pickings.
It's a legitimate strategy. XD