Games where archery isn't ridiculous?

[Gumboy]

To start off with, I like playing a stealthy/silent character in games, and I love using bows. I have bow hunted and shot in competitions for almost my entire teen/adult life, so I know how they work, and how they kill.

I realize they are video games, but things like Far Cry and other FPS games, if a bow is an option, it is like "Instant silent kill 100% of the time" on all normal enemies. This makes no sense at all, as that is pretty much the opposite of real life. You are far more likely to get a fast kill with a gunshot on an animal than you would with a bow.

I don't mean to pick on Far Cry 3/4 still more, but they are the worst offenders in my book. its like you can shoot someone with a bow and they just drop dead soundlessly. Skyrim, after you get some skill points, is basically the same way from a sneak attack.

I don't want them to put like tracking a blood trail in the game, or looking for a game like that, but maybe one where once you learn how to shoot the bow it isn't Iwin mode?

[Ratyrel]

No game I know of has that. Players probably simply wouldnt use a bow over other weapons if it was not a strong choice. However, I know nothing about hunting games, maybe they trade more in the kind of realism you seem to seek? Or some of the recent indie survival games?

[Gumboy]

Meh I'm not really into hunting games, having done it quite a bit in real life :P

I guess I could look into the survival type games.

[Karrotlord]

I actually think Fallout would be great at this with VATS. But then again you can have BB guns exploding heads, so...

[zoefschildpad]

War of the Roses focused heavily on realistic medieval combat. No clue if they succeeded though.

[A Chozo]

The Legend of Zelda:
Ocarina of Time
Majora's Mask
Wind Waker
Twilight Princess
Skyward Sword

You have lots of bows and bows variants on those games!

ALL HAIL THE MIGHTY HOOKSHOT!

[Ciddy]

Chivalry: Medieval Warfare might be fun for you if you like PvP games. There's an Archer class in the game (assuming you don't mind playing the single most hated class in the game, that is). They use variants of bows/crossbows as their main weapons. They're the only class in the game geared towards ranged combat. The big difference is that other classes use melee weapons as primary and ranged as secondary (although the other classes only use things like throwing axes/daggers), while the archer uses ranged weapons as primary and switches to melee if someone closes in on him.

But yeah, Archers are OP as fuck once you get reasonably good at them. Again, you'll be playing the most hated class in the game, but the players who hate you won't be able to do much about it.

[Blackmist]

It's a balance thing in FC3. The guns are equally ridiculous. A "silenced" firearm would still be pretty fucking loud. Them being one hit kill makes up for the trickier aiming.

The Last of Us has a fairly decent bow. It's silent, but it's inaccurate and not quite deadly enough to be your go-to weapon.

[Neotokyo]

I loved the bow in tombraider. Well worth a shot
(see what I did there :P )

[Rotted]

Fable TLC

As your Range / Str skill increase the harder you can pull back your string,

for example you start off as tough as wet toilet paper, you literally do no damage with anything below the neck level. Head shots slightly unrealistic you can do one or two charged shots and kill them (Just holding on to the string longer = being able to pull it further back)

Close to or max level, one decent charged shot will kill bandits chest height upwards, if you hit the head at max level they explode again that bit slight unrealistic but its meant to show off how much your character has grown.

[Valeron]

I loved the bow in tombraider. Well worth a shot
(see what I did there :P )

I loved the bow there too but it still has the problem that the OP has with bows/archery in games

[CJack14dt]

Play DA:O as a rogue archer and go to the Broken Circle first. Tell us how that goes for you. haha.

[zealo]

The Last of Us has a fairly decent bow. It's silent, but it's inaccurate and not quite deadly enough to be your go-to weapon.

If the difficulty is turned up actual arrows are also far too rare to use it casually. Its deadly on human enemies though if shot from stealth, which probably makes it have the same problem the OP describes.

Play DA:O as a rogue archer and go to the Broken Circle first. Tell us how that goes for you. haha.

The broken circle isn't that bad. Orzammar at a low level is probably the harder bit there.

[Dezerte]

Mount & Blade Warband is worth a mention.

[Blueobelisk]

I loved the bow there too but it still has the problem that the OP has with bows/archery in games

Not really. I was going to recommend Tomb Raider too. Bow is the main weapon in the game basically.

I wouldn't say it's unrealistic. If you hit someone with an arrow to the head, they die. I'm pretty sure enemies survive if you don't just get their head, so it's not really "instant silent kill." plus some enemies have armor and shit.

Tomb Raider was pretty awesome.

[Gumboy]

Not really. I was going to recommend Tomb Raider too. Bow is the main weapon in the game basically.

I wouldn't say it's unrealistic. If you hit someone with an arrow to the head, they die. I'm pretty sure enemies survive if you don't just get their head, so it's not really "instant silent kill." plus some enemies have armor and shit.

Tomb Raider was pretty awesome.

I tried tomb raider, only played about 25 minutes of it so far, so many quick time events already <.<

- - - Updated - - -

Mount & Blade Warband is worth a mention.

I actually own that and play it but never as an archer lol :P

[ro9ue]

Favorite bow action was in Thief: Deadly Shadows. It's a stealth game as well so you might like it.

Also if you consider the Torque Bow "archery" in Gears of War (explosive arrows) it's pretty fucking incredible.

[Judgemented]

If you're into PvP only, look up Nosgoth. It's faster paced PvP, with two vastly differing archers, and I enjoy it.

[Tsimp]

Minecraft is probably the closest to what you are looking for.

[Valeron]

I tried tomb raider, only played about 25 minutes of it so far, so many quick time events already <.<

yeah there are a lot in the beginning of the game for some reason. there isn't much QTE after that though. It's one of the my favorite games, I loved the bow (it has a lot of utility in that game as well) so I would recommend to stick with it