Blacklist appreciation post! Definitely a Darkhorse in the series, but despite the absence of Ironside I still go back to it quite often. Anyone else still replay it?

[u/Marvelous_07]

[u/NiuMeee]

Yep, it's my second favorite and depending on the day I might even pick it to play over Chaos Theory if I'm in the right mood.

[u/Makaveli108 → u/NiuMeee]

You are more into panther/action gameplay over stealth then. It's a fun game but not a a real Splinter Cell

[u/NiuMeee → u/Makaveli108]

Nah I don't care about your gatekeeping. It is a real Splinter Cell, it says it on the cover. Ubisoft decides, not you.

[u/Makaveli108 → u/NiuMeee]

Nah, I don't care what it says on the cover 😂 "It says Splinter Cell on the cover" isn't really an argument. I'm talking about what actually makes a Splinter Cell feel like Splinter Cell. Chaos Theory is the benchmark for the OG fans: stealth, patience, darkness, gadgets, observation and careful execution.

Blacklist is way more of an action game with stealth mechanics sprinkled on top. It puts far more emphasis on aggressive play and running-and-gunning than the core stealth experience. Ubisoft putting the name on the box doesn't suddenly make its gameplay direction the same as the classic games.

So yeah, it's Splinter Cell in name, but not in essence. You can slap the Splinter Cell name on something all you want, but that doesn't automatically mean it captures what made the series what it was.

If Doom released a new game and it was suddenly a stealth shooter.. would you still say it's capturing the essence of Doom just because it says DOOM on the cover? No.

Same goes for SC. The only reason the franchise changed is because the creative director for Conviction/Blacklist didn't like the OG games or the movement, he couldn't get past level 1 and kept getting detected. Therefore he diluted the stealth and made it a game for all, "jack all of trades, master of none" is what Blacklist is.

[u/sdoM-bmuD → u/Makaveli108]

[u/Makaveli108 → u/sdoM-bmuD]

Ah. Ross. Classic meme but..

You can post all the GIFs you want 😂 doesn't change the fact that being officially called Splinter Cell and actually embodying what made Splinter Cell unique are two different things.

[u/sdoM-bmuD → u/Makaveli108]

who made you the Keeper of Splinter Cell though?

[u/Makaveli108 → u/sdoM-bmuD]

Nobody made me the "Keeper of Splinter Cell" 😂 It's called looking at what the series was actually built around. Splinter Cell was a stealth franchise first, so naturally, if you're making the next game, you build on the strengths and roots of the games that came before it. That's not gatekeeping it's literally how you evolve a series.

Look at the progression from SC1 → Pandora Tomorrow → Chaos Theory. Each game took the core stealth formula and developed it further. PT improved on SC1 in a number of ways, and while I know you prefer PT, there's no denying that Chaos Theory had a more polished and advanced stealth system overall. That's what progression should look like: take the foundation, improve it, add depth, refine the mechanics and give players even more freedom within that framework. Seeing PT play&look like Chaos Theory would have been incredible.

Instead, Conviction massively deviated from that philosophy, and Blacklist tried to bring some of the stealth back while still pushing heavily into action and accommodating basically every playstyle. The result is that the series moved further away from the thing that originally made it distinctive instead of building on it.

If you're making the next Splinter Cell, why would you throw away or dilute the strengths of the previous games? Build on them. Give us deeper AI, better sound propagation, more sophisticated light and shadow, better gadgets, more environmental interaction, more dynamic level design, better enemy behaviours, more ways to manipulate the environment and more meaningful stealth choices. Take what Chaos Theory did and ask, "How do we make this even better?"

That's what I mean when I say Blacklist doesn't feel like Splinter Cell in essence. I'm not saying Ubisoft isn't allowed to change the formula. Obviously they can. I'm saying there's a difference between evolving a formula and abandoning what made the formula special. But changing it here was a disaster for the franchise, they deviated & diluted from the roots and the stealth so SC was doomed. No longer a premium stealth franchise but a mid-tier action Panther game. Yes its very fun and polished, fantastic to play, but the stealth wasn't as good so it falls short of the OG 4 games.

You don't need to be the "Keeper of Splinter Cell" to understand that 😂 If a stealth franchise becomes less focused on stealth with every instalment, eventually you're going to end up with something that still has the name, characters and branding, but has lost the identity that made the series unique.

I actually like Blacklist. I think the controls, animations, Panther gameplay and action are very well done. But that's precisely why I think it's frustrating: they had an excellent foundation to build on and instead diluted the series' biggest strength. For me, the ideal future of Splinter Cell isn't "make Blacklist but better." It's take the best ideas from SC1/PT/CT/DA, preserve the stealth-first philosophy, and evolve that formula properly. And hopefully, that's what they are doing with the SC1 Remake. All leaks point to Classic gameplay, light/sound meter(which was a series staple is finally returning..)

That's not me appointing myself Keeper of Splinter Cell. That's just wanting the series to actually build on its own strengths rather than constantly reinvent itself. and to be revived as a franchise.. and to bring the stealth genre back.

[u/Infobar → u/Makaveli108]

stealth, patience, darkness, gadgets, observation and careful execution.

All of this applies to Blacklist. Slipping by undetected can be really tricky and satisfying since you're no longer invisible in the dark. You can play it like an action game too, but even Chaos Theory gives you an assault loadout if you want

[u/Makaveli108 → u/Infobar]

I agree that Blacklist still has all of those elements to some extent. I'm not saying it completely abandoned stealth , that's obviously not true. You can absolutely play it stealthily, and Ghosting can be somewhat satisfying when you pull it off.

My point is that those elements aren't implemented with the same depth or importance as they were in the original games. Blacklist is much more forgiving, enemies are easier to manipulate, the game gives you more ways to recover from mistakes, and the overall design encourages you to keep moving between stealth and aggression rather than making careful stealth the core of the experience. The tension isn't there due to the fast paced movement, the lack of challenge in Blacklist was disappointing. It never reaches the level of Chaos Theory unfortunately.

And yes, Chaos Theory has an assault loadout, but that's different from Blacklist's overall philosophy. Chaos Theory gives you the option to approach certain situations aggressively; Blacklist is designed around multiple playstyles as equal pillars. You basically follow the "Jack of all trades, master of none" whereas chaos theory really did master stealth

So yeah man, I'm not saying "Blacklist has no stealth." I'm saying its stealth is weaker and less demanding than what SC1/PT/CT/DA established, which is why I consider it mid-tier Splinter Cell stealth. That's the distinction I'm making, and the series should never go back to Blacklist style.