Something to look forward to: Ubisoft announced this week that its Toronto studio is starting work on a Splinter Cell remake. Although not confirmed, presumably developers are remastering the franchise's first game. It's currently in a very early stage, and Ubisoft Toronto is still recruiting for the project.
Ubisoft posted an interview on Monday with the remake's creative director, producer, and technical producer. The Q&A offers some solid details about the upcoming Splinter Cell project.
While the company didn't outright say this is a remake of the first game in the stealth action series, that's the only game the interview mentions explicitly. Producer Matt West said they're rebuilding it from the ground-up in Ubisoft's Snowdrop engine, improving its graphics, and updating its design to "match player comfort and expectations" while keeping the original spirit. West confirmed the remake would be linear like the original version and not open-world.
That detail is somewhat surprising since Ubisoft has made all of its big releases open-world for a while now. Rumors from earlier this month suggested the studio planned a new Splinter Cell more like Assassin's Creed, with gameplay "similar to how Halo Infinite has done its open world."
Technical Producer Peter Handrinos said that while Ubisoft Toronto is building a new team for the remake, it is also tapping veterans from previous Splinter Cell development teams. At the end of the interview, Creative Director Chris Auty added that the remake would be a foundation for the franchise's future.
Ubisoft launched the first Splinter Cell in 2003 for the original Xbox and PC (and later PlayStation 2 and Nintendo GameCube) to critical acclaim. It received multiple sequels, but there hasn't been a new entry since Ubisoft Toronto's own 2013 Splinter Cell Blacklist.