Stealth in a Godzilla game?

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Films have shown us an interesting concept time and time again, something as massive as a kaiju can hide, often catching humanity completely off guard when they are discovered or show themselves to the world. I think we can explore this in video games, gameplay more specifically.

Why stealth in a game about giant monsters?

Giant monsters aren't just some dumb animals, they all have their own agendas, motivation and goals. Some like Mothra are even pacifists trying to minimize harm to innocents when dealing with more harmful monsters, Godzilla has been depicted as an ambush predator at times in the new American films, and still others are weapons for war be they mind controlled or robots. Intelligent monsters like Battra would likely use the cover of night to blend in the shadows and his power of flight to attack someone or something that has anger him.

Dynamic Gameplay:

How you go about dealing with military resistance could effect later levels. For example you play as Godzilla on an ocean level, the Navy is out in force looking for you. You can take them out and have a cleaner exit when completing a level on land and returning to the ocean later on but the conflict would result in the ships sending out a radio signal to the forces on the mainland giving them an idea on where you'll make landfall and giving them time to know where to set up their operations for a land fight.

or

You could sneak by them all avoiding sonar, catching the mainland forces completely by surprise. Maybe they have spread out their forces too thin over too much land, or sent most of their forces in one spot anticipating that's where you would make landfall only for you to do so at a completely different spot, leaving a city or nuclear reactor at your mercy unopposed. Mechagodzilla and a Maser battalion could be in Tokyo expecting you to show up and you made landfall in Osaka, similar to Godzilla vs Biollante.

Opportunities:

Another example I love is you got past the Navy undetected and make landfall near a base storing the Super-X2. You're able to destroy it before they have time to prepare it for launch, thus removing a tough boss fight you would have had later on had you destroyed the Navy before reaching the base. Or you destroy a base containing G-Cells that were gonna be used to make anti-Godzilla clones later on. Or you encounter a factory making cadmium missiles.

Dynamic Story:

How you go about things could change the story and how the world reacts to you. Stealth on the hero path will get the military to notice how much you've minimized causalities and eventually even help you fight other monsters instead of you. Less powerful anti-monsters are made, but more of them are made to help support you.

Meanwhile stealth on the villain path leads to all sorts of interesting things, such as encountering a lone nuclear submarine. You destroy it before it detects you and can radio what is destroying it, it'll be challenging because of it's sonar range but find a way to do it, and you'll be rewarded not only a power boost but that subs country thinking it's an act of war ala Godzilla 1984/1985, resources are wasted on making weapons and training troops to fight wars against humans, not monsters meaning fewer weapons to contend with that can actually hurt you when you attack a city. But in response while fewer anti monster weapons are made, more powerful ones will be made.


Ghost:

Get by stealth parts completely undetected. The reward is they aren't ready when you show up on land. Trade off is they may set up traps on the missions exit I.E. the ocean when you complete the level.

Ambush:

Take out key targets like radar. They'll know you are there, but they won't know where exactly you are headed. More powerful weapons will be sent out, but they'll be more disorganized. When it comes to other monsters, most will survive an ambush but you will get some free hits, lowering their health for the actual boss fight. Some of the weaker monsters such as Kamacuras will die from an ambush, avoiding a fight all together.

Baragon can come up and quickly destroy radar or radar trucks and duck back under before a proper strike can be made. He could even dig tunnel traps under roads that causes them to collapse when Masers drive on them, effectively removing them from the fight.

Natural Camouflage, Location, Weather & Time:

Play a monster whose skin color matches their environment such as Giara in the woods and your cameo index will go up, making you harder to spot. Weather can also play a role, fight in foggy or rainy weather and the military will poor visibility. Finally time, play as a darker color monster like Battra, knock out a cities power grid at night, destroy radar dishes, and they'll have to rely on your eye beams to even figure out where you are, which you can change location easily thanks to your power of flight.

Who can use stealth?

Sea monsters:

Very obvious. Godzilla has been hard to find in the Heisei and Monsterverse films, more often than not it seems they find him when he doesn't feel like hiding. I've already given a few examples of with how this could work. Though I think an added complication could be sea mines on the ocean floor meaning you can't just walk on the bottom the entire time. Maybe you can find an underwater cave system similar to KOTM or an active volcano to swim up the lava stream ala Godzilla vs Mothra.

Subterranean monsters:

Already give a good example in the ambush section with Baragon.

Flying monsters:

Already provided an example with Battra.

Space Monsters:

Now here's a fun one, play as a space monster, destroy any satellites that can detect you on your way down to Earth or hide in an asteroid field and sneak past alien craft before they can detect and capture you to use as a weapon against your will.

Robot Monsters & some cyborgs:

No brainer here, some evil group has a giant robot, they wanna strike hard and fast at a base before they know what hit them or can get the word out. Play as Mechagodzilla in a Godzilla skin, make sure you don't take much damage to keep the suit from falling apart, frame Godzilla. Could even have a cool thermal vision for a Gigan mission that takes place at night.

Active Camouflage:

Both GFW Kamacuras and Mothra Leo Larval have demonstrated the ability to change their skin color and texture with the background at will. They may not be the most powerful monsters in the entire game, but they are the best when it comes to the missions with optional stealth.

There is no right answer, you can play stealthy on the parts that allow it or go on a full rampage like the rest of the game or something in-between. Everything has it's pros and cons and trade-offs.