Even some of the good stealth games like Dishonered very rarely punish you.

I guess this is one of those things where Thief and Splinter Cell have just trained me to want that ghost playthrough and enforce it myself. I’m aware you can do pitched combat in Dishonored but I really don’t get why a player would be interested. There’s action games for that itch.
For me, stealth is pretty strongly focused on cultivating that feeling of besting a superior force through knowledge (of place, timings, toolkits etc.) and I definitely love Thief and particularly The Metal Age (my first exposure to the series) for their approaches to that.

It depends a bit on what you want to optimize for, as there’s drawbacks to all the major methods:

• Ultrasonic sprayers are decently efficient but spread any contaminants around your home, potentially still biologically active. Dissolved trace minerals will turn into fine dust, affecting cleaning needs.
• Boiling for humidification is energy intensive because of water’s heat capacity.
• Air forced wicks are by default great habitat for mold and similar, so they need regular care and replacement.

It really is a fascinating game, and as odd as the volume view is when you’re new to it, it’s extremely helpful to be able to orient yourself.

::: late game The 5D courses were a nice surprise as well. :::