My post title doesn't totally match my intention, but it's the contortion of the common phrase that counts. Anyway:

A few months back, I finally played a classic video game (that was bundled with a video card I bought); Deus Ex. I was thrilled at the new gaming opportunities created by allowing for non-lethal tactics (which I discovered on a website before I fully realized it in the game). After sliding through the game half stealth / half lethal, I'm trying again fully non-lethal for a whole new challenge.

Question is: Are there any others games that provide this flexibility and freedom of game play? I'm guessing the Thief series, since it's on the same engine, but any others? New or old (preferably older so I can run them on my current "trusty" Windows 95 install).

Off I go to sieze a rare moment of free time for some gaming!

Well, you guessed Thief, but let me confirm it; it does have a lot of non-lethal options. In fact, on the harder difficulty levels you are not even allowed to kill people. In fact it does stealth quite a bit better than Deus Ex IMHO, and in at least one level you are not even allowed to let people see you.. One of my favorite series of games of all time and I can't recommend it more highly.

Yes, the thief games, of course, all three of them were based around this. The first Thief game was the first game to do this at all, it started the genre. All three games are great, and if you really liked this style of gameplay then I recommend you start with Thief 1 and work your way through all three in order. It's got a detailed story line, and it would be cool if you could get to see the story unfold in the proper order.

Not sure if the older Thief plays properly on the newest OS's or not, but I'm sure that if you run into trouble then there will be internet sites to help.

The Metal Gear Solid titles, of late, have been trying to do that, and I bring it up to mention an annoyance. One of the levels has the objective of getting through without killing anyone (or something similar to that). However, at the end of the level, if you complete this objective, you fail to get a certain bonus because you didn't kill everyone. Argh. So in following the objective, you get fewer points. And, as I remember, there isn't any penalty for failing that objective. Very irritating.

Awesome, thanks for the tips. The Thief series is next on my list.

Bitt, I've been a huge Metal Gear fan since the NES days (a damn hard game). I remember seeing the first preview video of Metal Gear: Solid for PS (1 or 2?); totally amazing. I always said I'd get a PS2 just to play the MGS series (and the higher Final Fantasys that aren't for PC anymore ).

Don't forget about the Splinter Cell games. Not completely non-violent, but they require a lot of stealth, and you can get through without a lot of killing. Great games.

And while technically this is still "violent", the new Star Wars: Battlefront is pretty clean. What I mean by that is, while there is still a bunch of shooting, it is with laser guns and no bloody wounds, so it is fairly tame. Even many of the grenades are EMP-type explosives.

I'm pretty careful about the types of games I play around my 5-year-old son (he likes the Roller Coaster Tycoon series as well as Rise of Nations), but he is allowed to watch me play SW: Battlefront. I just tell him that the guys are getting stunned!

EDIT: Have you looked into Deus Ex 2 yet?

I read about Deux Ex 2 and 99% of reviews said it was a dumbed down console game ported to PC. Lame inventory management, one ammo for all weapons, bypass anything with a multitool, short levels, not many gameplay hours, etc.

Since I don't have much time to game, I like to pick a winner (same for books, movies, TV, etc). Since Deus Ex 1 was a "Game of the Year", clearly I couldn't loose. But after reading Game Spy's "Game of the Year"s, not many of the big hits apeal to me. Luckily a new Half Life single player mod came out. That, Thief, Splinter Cell, and Metal Gear Solid should help buy me time until Half Life 2 comes out (and I get a computer that can play it).

And I'm not so opposed to violience in video games (no idea why I used the misleading title), I just love the idea of the non-lethal alternative and the challenge it presents. I must say, so far in my second playing of Deus Ex going 100% non-lethal, the game has been much different. Hehe, then I'll play it a 3rd time being 100% FULL lethal. It's a whole new game each time.