Splinter Cell reportedly coming back — and now's the best time

Splinter Cell reportedly coming back — and now'due south the all-time time

(Image credit: Ubisoft)

Information technology'south been eight long years since the concluding main line Splinter Cell game came out, and in that time a lot's changed: we have the PS5 and Xbox Serial 10 ; Xbox Game Pass is a ridiculous bargain; Fable 4 is real; Skyrim has been released on pretty much everything ; and I'one thousand considerably chunkier.

And beyond that time, stealth game and Tom Clancy fans have been clamoring for a new Splinter Cell game. Merely in return all they got were spin-offs, with Ubisoft seemingly mothballing the franchise when information technology comes to full-fast console and PC games. Only a new promise has risen: according to VGC'southward development sources, Ubisoft is working on a proper Splinter Cell game that could be revealed in 2022.

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That'due south music to my ears. The original Splinter Cell was one of the kickoff games I played on the original Xbox, and while information technology was tough, it was also a stellar serious tertiary-person stealth game framed in a gritty spy story.

Unlike Bail or Bourne, actor graphic symbol Sam Fisher is all virtually creeping around and fugitive people rather than dispatching them. Sure, when sneaking failed you could 'go loud' with guns, but that was far from easy and could lead to alarms ringing and an instant game over. Silence and sneaking was very much emphasized.

Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, the third entry in the series later Pandora Tomorrow, built upon this formula. It added more than tools for Fisher to have some flexibility in getting around guards and other obstacles. And there were no game overs if a unmarried alarm went off; enemies only went on a higher alert. So stealth was very much the main focus.

That changed with Splinter Cell: Conviction and 2013's Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and as a event the games didn't become swamped with praise.

With Far Weep six basically being a refinement of the Far Cry formula and not much else, and Assassin's Creed seemingly running out of new things to do or say, I feel the fourth dimension is ripe for Ubisoft to revisit Splinter Cell.

Born in the dark

a screenshot from Splinter Cell Chaos Theory — (Image credit: Steam)

While there's no shortage of games with major stealth elements, I feel there's not been a mainstream third-person game that's washed near-pure stealth similar the first three Splinter Cell games. Ubisoft's early Assassinator's Creed games were more than about traversing buildings to avert guards than sneaking, and Assassin's Creed Valhalla very much embraces combat over stealth.

Games like Dishonored have leaned heavily on stealth, just are more than about exploiting systems and tools than lurking in the shadows and making utilise of a night vision headset. Arguably, the fantastic Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain is the closest to a spiritual successor to Splinter Cell, but it was also very systems led, had an open globe setting, and could be hands played with all guns blazing.

Every bit much as I love the bouquet of options these games give me, as well as the stealth elements of PS5 exclusive Deathloop — my contender for game of the year— I, like other Splinter Cell fans, would beloved a pure stealth game to sink my teeth into.

Sometimes being given a restrictive environment to navigate with just a few tools is just as fun equally tackling a big hub expanse with an armory of gadgets, guns and powers; both scratch that problem-solving itch.

And post-obit the release of the latest Bond movie No Time To Dice, I'chiliad more than ready for some spy-centric gaming. So the rumor that a new Splinter Cell game is in the works has got me quietly excited.

Caput way from the light

But some caution is needed hither. Last year Ubisoft CEO Yves Guillemot told IGN that the Splinter Cell franchise needs to evolve before a new game is greenlit.

"When you create a game, you have to make sure you will come with something that will be unlike enough from what yous did before," said Guillemot. "The last time we did a Splinter Jail cell, we had lots of force per unit area from all the fans actually saying, 'Don't alter it, don't do this, don't practice that,' then some of the teams were more than anxious to work on the make."

That makes me a tad uneasy. Sure, Splinter Cell needs to be dissimilar from the last few games, every bit they arguably lost the essence of the first three titles. Equally, I don't want to see Ubisoft practise what it'south washed with the Assassin'south Creed serial, which is almost unrecognizable from the offset two titles; Valhalla is really proficient, but its DNA is much-altered from Assassin'southward Creed 2, a game I really enjoyed.

Ideally, I'd similar to see Ubisoft go back to the older Splinter Cell games for inspiration and brand a proper pure-stealth game where sneaking and not shooting is cardinal. An open up-world or immersive sim take on Splinter Cell wouldn't float my gunkhole, equally I think other studios (Arkane and Bethesda) are ameliorate at those.

Nevertheless, I'm just happy that there's some compelling prove that a new Splinter Jail cell game is in the works. The wait for it could exist long, and by and so I may have changed my mind.

But with this fall and holiday season set to exist dominated by big and loud first-person shooters like Telephone call of Duty Vanguard, Battlefield 2042 and Halo Infinite, the promise of a new stealth game could exist a great palette cleanser.

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Roland Moore-Colyer is U.K. Editor at Tom'southward Guide with a focus on news, features and opinion articles. He frequently writes about gaming, phones, laptops and other $.25 of hardware; he's too got an involvement in cars. When non at his desk Roland tin can exist found wandering around London, often with a look of marvel on his face.