'Splinter Cell' Remake Will Not Be Open-World, Ubisoft Confirms

So, how about that Splinter Cell remake? Ubisoft flew out of nowhere yesterday evening and hit us with the news that yes, a Splinter Cell remake is actually happening, and it’s happening right now. Merry Christmas to us!

We know very little about it so far though - there’s no estimated release date or any kind of visuals, but one thing we do know is that despite the game being rebuilt from the ground up, it’s not going to be open-world. 

ICYMI...check out the announcement video for the Splinter Cell remake below!

“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 producer Matt West. “So, as we're building it from the ground up, we're going to update it visually, as well as some of the design elements to match player comfort and expectations, and we are going to keep it linear like the original games, not make it open-world.”

This might not be the most exciting news in the world to existing Splinter Cell fans, who might have been hoping more for a completely fresh twist on the game (or just a new game in general), but Ubisoft have made it clear that this isn’t what they’re aiming for. 

“A lot of time has passed since the original Splinter Cell, and even since the last sequel - enough time to miss an entire console generation,” said technical producer Peter Handrinos. “We want to bring [our players] something new, yet still connect them to that feeling that they had two decades ago, playing that masterpiece for the first time.” 

The remake is being led by Ubisoft Toronto, and will be built using the Snowdrop engine - the same one that’s being used to develop both Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora, and Ubisoft’s upcoming Star Wars game. Having been over eight years since the last game in the series, and almost twenty since the original, I think we can all agree it’s going to be exciting to see what they bring to the table.

Topics: Splinter Cell, Ubisoft