Splinter Cell is one of those franchises we thought lost to time, but someone at Ubisoft has very wisely commissioned a remake of the original. Needless to say, everyone's hyped.
It's happening, this is not a drill, it's actually happening. We're getting a new Splinter Cell game. This is one of my favorite franchises of all time; I can still recall the painstaking hours that my brother and I spent trying to complete the no-lethal-takedown playthroughs of these games. And so watching Sam Fishers name dragged through the mud and cheaply borrowed by other Ubisoft franchises has been difficult this past decade. But now, at long, long last we're getting a new game. And don't worry - not a mobile game, or some strange XDefiant type thing either. An actual Splinter Cell game.
Remake or Remaster?
Quite wisely, Ubisoft have opted for a full remake in the style of the first game, not a simple remaster for the current generation of platforms. As the developers at Ubisoft Toronto say:
The original Splinter Cell has a lot that was amazing and revolutionary at the time it came out, 19 years ago. The gaming public now has an even more refined palate. So, I think it kind of has to be a remake as opposed to a remaster. Although we're still in the very earliest stages of development, what we're trying to do is make sure the spirit of the early games remains intact, in all of the ways that gave early Splinter Cell its identity.
Take an important note of their final sentence. The Splinter Cell game they're remaking was very much a "pure Splinter Cell" - it was about Fisher and Lambert, working on top secret missions, with only a select few gadgets. See Fisher used to keep it professional; all you had was your SC-20k and your silenced pistol. But in later games there was less reliance on stealth and the introduction of action-orientated mechanics, hell you could even pick up crude AKs from the floor. That was how Splinter Cell lost its original identity. We want to see this remake be a pure stealth game, and luckily, it sounds like that's what we're getting.
When will Splinter Cell be Released?
We don't have an exact release date for Splinter Cell yet, unfortunately. If they're revealing it now, then we imagine it could be within two years, but we just can't say anything for sure. We'll keep you updated as soon as we know more.