Ubisoft Officially Announces A New Splinter Cell Remake, To Be Handled By Ubisoft Toronto

Ubisoft has just announced that they have greenlit a remake of their stealth classic, Splinter Cell. The Splinter Cell remake will be developed by Ubisoft Toronto, the developers for 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blaclist and is said to ‘draw from the rich canvas of the brand’.

Splinter Cell remake officially in the works

Ubisoft also stated that the Splinter Cell remake will be rebuilt ‘from the ground up’ utilising Ubisoft’s Snowdrop engine-the same engine that was used to create Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and Ubisoft’s future Star Wars game. This is so that they can ‘deliver new-generation visuals and gameplay, and the dynamic lighting and shadows the series is known for.’

In an interview posted on Ubisoft’s website regarding the Splinter Cell remake, producer Matt West explains why they chose to do a remake rather than a straight-up remaster of the game. “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,” said West. He also revealed that they will be not be going the open-world route and instead keeping the remake linear as in the original games.

Chris Auty, the Creative Director of the Splinter Cell remake also touched on some of the updates they have in mind as well certain key elements from the original games that they’d like to bring back. “It’s important for us to preserve the sense of mastery by supporting players who observe the situations, make their plan, use their gadgets, and outsmart the enemy creatively to deal with the challenges they are presented with. Ideally, they end up coming out on the other side with no one having realized you were even there. That’s the essence of Splinter Cell.”

“We recognize a huge part of the appeal of Splinter Cell is the flawless planning, execution and satisfaction you feel when you go in and absolutely ace every encounter. Seeing your mastery put on display at the end of things, especially when you go through with no alarms triggered – that’s a big part of the Splinter Cell experience, and we want to be sure we’re honouring that,” he added.

On whether the Splinter Cell remake will include any of the developers of the original game, Technical Director Peter Handrinos had this to say, “There are a lot of vets here, so we’re going to have a really good mix of people who have worked on previous Splinter Cell games, and new team members who are joining and bringing fresh energy and fresh ideas.”

Handrinos is also inviting those who are interested in the remake to drop an application to Ubisoft Toronto. “We’re building a new team, the same way we did when we started the studio,” he said. “There are technical leadership openings and roles across all different job families available.”

The first Splinter Cell game was released back in 2002 and tells the story of Sam Fisher (voiced by actor Michael Ironside), a highly trained black-ops agent and his exploits in protecting the safety of America. It has since spawned a cross-media franchise that includes a multitude of popular and iconic games, novels as well as having future films and even an anime series in development.

Though the Splinter Cell series has yet to see a new instalment since 2013 (until the remake that is), series protagonist Sam Fisher has made appearances in other Ubisoft titles with his most recent as an operator in Rainbow Six Siege.

Pokdepinion: I’m pretty excited to see how Ubisoft Toronto is going to handle the Splinter Cell remake. From the sound of the interview, they do sound like they will at least try to honour the original with faithful updates of the core mechanics and overall feel of it. Here’s hoping they succeed in doing so.