Ubisoft has officially announced the return of Sam Fisher in aSplinter Cellremake, and while many fans are excited for a revamp of the franchise, there are still many concerns about the game’s development. On the other hand, if Ubisoft Toronto manages to address fan concerns, aSplinter Cellremake could make for a strong title in the stealth gaming community.
The firstSplinter Cellwas released in 2002 and had a strong emphasis on stealth gameplay. However, later sequels strayed from the core stealth game design, like inSplinter Cell: Double AgentandSplinter Cell: Conviction, allowing players to focus more on combat than stealth to achieve in-game objectives. While this design philosophy broadened appeal to a wider audience, some think it was taking a step away from what madeSplinter Cellappealing in the first place. In a Twitter post advertising for new positions,Ubisoft Toronto claims it will be remakingSplinter Cellfrom the ground up, but the studio is currently facing its own controversy. Ubisoft Toronto has seen a large turnover of employees over the past few years, and employees have listed sexual harassment and a toxic work environment among their complaints.
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Ubisoft Toronto Controversy Still Lingers
Ubisoft has been in the headlines for years regarding employee abuse, and In 2020,Ubisoft conducted an internal surveythat revealed nearly 25 percent of employees personally witnessed or were the victim of misconduct. So far, several employees at Ubisoft Toronto have been removed or left as a result of the controversy. According to the report, many employees experienced harassment and sexism, and felt that systemic changes taking place weren’t enough to fix the toxic work environment at the Toronto studio. Problems like this can negatively impact game development, and could make marketing and creative problem-solving difficult for the team working onSplinter Celland other titles.
Balancing Traditional and Innovative Gameplay
TheSplinter Cellfranchise often had to compete with theMetal Gear Solidseries for the spotlight in the stealth gaming community. to stand out,the firstSplinter Cellmade gameplay innovationsin which lighting and sound affected stealth. Other elements such as the acrobatic maneuverability of franchise protagonist Sam Fisher and the use of different gadgets focused gameplay acutely on avoiding detection.
In contrast, later games likeSplinter Cell: Convictiontried to appeal to a wider audience by moving away from stealth-based progression design and involved more combat-oriented gameplay. Though the newer combat designs were appealing to some gamers who were new to the franchise, other long-time fans felt thatConvictionhad lost touch with its roots. Many aspects of the olderSplinter Cellgames are sorely missed, like Fisher’s iconicsplit-jump that hasn’t been seen sinceSplinter Cell: Chaos Theory, so a return of these features and core ideas would appease a lot of hardcore fans.
Ubisoft Toronto will have to carefully balance its design choices, like how to recapture the stealth-focused appeal of the first title while also keeping some appeal of the aggressive combat seen in later games. For example, weapons in the firstSplinter Cellweren’t that accurate, and enemies were fairly difficult compared to some later titles, thus a lot of emphasis was placed on stealth and close-quarter enemy take-downs. Whereas inSplinter Cell: Conviction, Sam Fisher had smoother, faster motion animation and could take down multiple enemies at once thanks to the execution function; as a result, the gameplay could more easilyaccommodate for an aggressive play style.
Fortunately, blueprints of well-balanced games already exist for gamers who like to have the option of both stealth and combat. The most recent game in the franchise,Splinter Cell: Blacklistconverged design philosophies in past titles to allow for the most player choice. The environment design, character animation and enemy AI was created to encourage a stealthy approach, but the option to attack the enemy head-on was still a valid option. Thisbalance of design ideas could make for a memorableSplinter Cellremake, and might be able to appease both new and long-standing fans.
