BODY HIDING
Unconscious or dead bodies persist as evidence that other characters can discover, forcing stealth players to manage the aftermath of takedowns — dragging corpses to closets, dumpsters, tall grass, or off ledges.
- SOLO-DEV COST MEDIUM
- TIMING REAL-TIME
- COMMON IN STEALTH · IMMERSIVE-SIM · ACTION-ADVENTURE
Hitman 3 makes body disposal central to its social-stealth puzzle: a found body triggers searches and blown disguises, so wardrobes and crates are as valuable as weapons. Metal Gear Solid V has guards investigate missing patrol members and radio silence, so even hidden bodies leave an absence that the world notices. Designers use body hiding to extend stealth decision-making past the takedown — every neutralization creates a new problem, keeping tension continuous rather than episodic — and to price aggression: ghosting past a guard leaves no evidence, choking him leaves a liability. It also rewards spatial planning, since the best players choose where to take someone down based on where the body can go. Key decisions: what counts as discovery (sight, patrol absence, blood trails), how long and how severe the alerted state is, and how much friction dragging carries — carry speed and animation length directly tune the mechanic's cost. Pitfall: bodies as busywork; if discovery consequences are trivial, hiding corpses is a chore players skip, and the whole evidence layer evaporates.