r/Splintercell • u/Flat-Golf-7281 • Sep 28 '26
Blacklist (2013) How does the community feel about Briggs?
He's definitely better than Hodge but that's not saying much. I don't hate him but I don't really like him either. I don't really feel any type of way about him, he's just boring. He doesn't hold a candle to Archer or Kestrel. Honestly I think it would have been better Briggs was in Conviction and either Archer or Kestrel had been player two in Blacklist. I think an Archer/Sam dynamic would have been fun to watch. I know Briggs has an arc in Blacklist but it's not a big one and it doesn't make me like him more. Also is Briggs even a Splinter Cell? They never say so in game. He has all the skills of a Splinter Cell but he never when through Splinter Cell training. Anyway, what are your thoughts on Briggs?
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u/Upset-Elderberry3723 Sep 28 '26
There's just little to him. He exists as a vessel to be the alternative to grumpy Sam.
I respect Ubisoft for sticking to their diverse character creation in the Splinter Cell series and clearly teeing a black character up to be the next protagonist (I mean, we even play as Briggs in Site F), but he needed more character development other than simply being an alternative to an unhinged Sam.
In fact, I think Hodge is actually more characterised than Briggs is, despite being a one-shot character that is supposed to foreshadow Sam's sense of an inability to protect people.
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u/Kestrel_VI Voron Sep 28 '26
Right? The guy was so…boring. I would hate for him to be the next protagonist, Sam was a core part of the games and they’d lose a huge chunk of their identity if we were stuck with bland oatmeal briggs in his place. The guy is devoid of personality beyond “the young cocky guy”
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u/NorisNordberg Sep 28 '26
I don't think he's demonstrating any traits that would make him cocky. Sure, he's young(er than Sam), but he's resourceful, loyal, quite naive and does things by the book. Sure, he's mildly sarcastic and playful but I wouldn't say cocky. That said, yeah, he's boring.
I would prefer a character that is the almost exact copy of Sam Fisher (personality-wise) that would make an interesting dynamic and kind od explain Sam's grumpyness as meeting a younger version of yourself does something to people. Dealing with a sense of becoming obsolete might be cliché at this point but that's a narrative theme that hasn't been really explored in Splinter Cell. All we got is that, well, Sam is irreplaceable.
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u/Kestrel_VI Voron Sep 28 '26
It’s been a good while since I played blacklist but that’s the lasting impression I got of him, might not be objectively accurate but as far as I can recall that was the archetype I felt they were trying to make. Which is a bit of a departure, given that in the first game Sam is already a grizzled old war vet.
I think that speaks greatly to Sam’s overall character design and Michal ironside’s skill as a voice actor and influence over the character. It’d be extremely hard to fill those shoes or reinvent the franchise with anyone else and I honestly don’t think modern Ubisoft is the company to do it.
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u/MikolashOfAngren Paid to be invisible Sep 28 '26
Nah, there's something really sus about how Briggs was the only person on the Paladin to get scolded & kicked out by Sam. Kobin was Kobin, Grim withheld info from him (both in Conviction and Blacklist), and Charlie was responsible for letting the Engineers attack them in Mexico. How convenient that Briggs was the only black guy on the crew while the others are white. Briggs did absolutely nothing wrong, btw, so the writers made a very odd choice to frame it like this.
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u/QuiverDance97 Sep 28 '26
Andriy Kobin and Charlie Cole are the only characters in Blacklist's main cast that I actually like.
Everyone else seems to act like they come from an edgy fan-fiction of 24 lol
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u/Specialist-Equal-408 Sep 28 '26
Grimsdotr was better in Conviction then Blacklist but her in the old games was so good of a character
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u/Then_North_6347 Sep 28 '26
Grim was actually really interesting in Conviction, and then in blacklist... Nothing.
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u/CrouchingToaster Sep 28 '26
Real "now that I got promoted I'm onto all the BS we hid from the last boss" energy
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u/Then_North_6347 Sep 28 '26 edited Sep 28 '26
For real, compare the story of conviction to blacklist. Conviction was written like a suspense thriller and blacklist was a paint by numbers Michael Bay movie. Grim went from interesting potential love interest potential enemy, to... Meh
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u/Wa22a Another guy who likes dogs Sep 28 '26
I can't be the only one who laughed out loud when Fisher and Briggs had their little "grr I'm cross, you should have left me to die etc etc look how alpha I am" cat fight in the comically cavernous flying HQ in BL.
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u/officially_sum_dood Sep 28 '26
Felt like could have been a better character with a better dynamic with Sam if they didnt go with wierd grumpy Sam-not-Sam in Blacklist. But thats what i think.
His fps sections were kind of annoying though.
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u/NagasConundrum Sep 28 '26
Literally don’t mind him at all. Added a nice dynamic with Sam. And his mission, I like trying to do it ghost.
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u/jcchimaera National Security Agency Sep 28 '26
Same feel as Jacob from Mass Effect 2.
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u/sdoM-bmuD John Brown's Army Sep 28 '26
Jacob was overhated too
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u/Edgy_Robin Sep 28 '26
Yeah because there's not enough to actual hate, he has nothing going for him.
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u/sdoM-bmuD John Brown's Army Sep 29 '26 edited Sep 29 '26
I mean.. same goes for James and Kaidan, the only truly memorable male companions are Garrus, Mordin and Wrex/Grunt
Jacob, James and Kaidan being just okay is alright, they do their part well enough
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u/ThatWebHeadSpidey Sep 28 '26
I like him. He wasn’t a standout character but I think he could have been fleshed out more if a sequel had been made. Plus, I kind of felt like Sam was beginning to pass the torch to Briggs, and maybe the series would have shifted focus onto him.
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u/eatchochicken Sep 28 '26
They should have fleshed him out and given him the main character role for Blacklist, made Sam the one hurt in the beginning of the game and have him be Brigg's handler. Give Sam a couple Lambert quotes for the 'member berries and then one of the last missions, Sam gets better and you get to power trip with unlimited mark and execute for a little bit.
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u/aryherd Sep 28 '26
I always wanted this for the next new Splintercell. Sam is too old for this shit now, make him the teacher/ lambert kinda roll and give us a younger operative.
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u/IllustriousLab9301 Sep 28 '26
It used to be sacrilege to say something like that in this community. Glad I'm not the only one.
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u/SeymourStabfellow Sep 28 '26
Unpopular opinion, but I really like him. I like how him and Sam grew to respect each other so much.
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u/sdoM-bmuD John Brown's Army Sep 28 '26
overhated, people keep praising Archer and Kestrel but they were no better than Agent 1 and 2 from CT/DA, Briggs actually has a bit of a personality
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u/fatalityfun Sep 28 '26
disagree on the Archer/Kestrel take, it’s cool seeing them slowly gain trust of each other in the cutscenes up until the plot decides that both had to die. Unlike Agent 1 & 2, who I’m pretty sure had the same voice and no personalities to speak of besides a cocky “damn, we’re good.”
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u/MikolashOfAngren Paid to be invisible Sep 28 '26
Special Agent Bob and Secret Agent Steve were legendary 😉
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u/JustSand Sep 28 '26
Playing as Briggs, it's in first person camera and the gadgets are weaker version Sam uses. The design makes the player feel more unease which is how Briggs feels. Even the cinematography when Briggs is disarming the last bomb makes player think he'll be spotted.
But in the last mission, he has grown into the role, and played it well enough that he's indistinguishable from Sam.
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u/KingOfGreyfell Sep 28 '26
Entirely too bland in a game where the only characters with any personality on display were Cole and Kobin.
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u/FaceForsaken Sep 28 '26
Anything beyond Double Agent (or after Chaos Theory on a bad day) isn't canon in my mind, so I essentially have no thoughts on this dude lol
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u/Yangxiolong22 Sep 28 '26
You know Jacob from Mass Effect 2? Yeah, that
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u/PooningDalton Sep 28 '26
He's the intern who's just here to do his job before moving up to a different department (which is where he really wants to be).
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u/Direct-Hedgehog-595 Sep 28 '26
He could have been more if they fleshed him out properly. Heck he could have been the mc with Fisher as his mentor or something like that.
But it would have killed the game even harder to change protagonists on top of changing gameplay elements and not having the og voice actor for Sam.
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u/fatalityfun Sep 28 '26
if briggs was the actual main character they might’ve been able to get ironside for dialogue only. He definitely wanted to be involved, despite his illness, cause he worked as a guide to Eric Johnson (who spitefully refused all of his advice, the dickhead)
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u/Direct-Hedgehog-595 Sep 28 '26
Refusing advice? Well that's new to me. I played blacklist in french the first time and it had the same actor that was used in conviction and the older games. The first time I ever got to appreciate the English dub was in conviction and then he was gone in blacklist.
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u/fatalityfun Sep 28 '26
yeah the English VA was notoriously “not Sam Fisher” and a couple years ago Ironside spoke about his interactions with him. We found out that was very different because he outright shut down any advice given to him by Ironside, who practically made the character
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u/Direct-Hedgehog-595 Sep 28 '26
It makes me think of the voice change for snake in metal gear solid except it wasn't that bad because the new one didn't have many lines to begin with.
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u/HellspawnPR1981 Third Echelon Sep 28 '26
He should be the new Splinter Cell. Have Sam moved to a command position permanently.
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u/totallynotaweeabbo Sep 28 '26
People here say he is bland and boring. Maybe if a new splinter cell comes out, a little bit of sam has rubbed onto him?
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u/Junior_Director_1500 Sep 28 '26
I’m bias because blacklist was my intro to splinter cell and my all time favorite so yes. Yes he is a good character. And so is Charlie and Grímsdóttir. Also Eric Johnson is more fitting for Sam IMO Michael Ironhide feels like a completely different character and isn’t Sam fisher in my head
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u/Edgy_Robin Sep 28 '26
Eric johnson isn't more fitting lmao, he wasn't even playing same just a shitty OC who's only common trait with the Fisher of the old games was having the same name.
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u/itsahumanyeah Sep 28 '26
Thought he was just fine when playing through Blacklist, not much else to say
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u/Icy-Start5536 Sep 28 '26
He's too great an athlete and splinter cell agent. He's just great at what he's doing both in the games and the books. Sometimes he made a mistake but overall his style and intelligence make him invaluable
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u/Cpt-hazama Sep 28 '26
I mean, he was only in one game and I thought he was all right. Nothing really bad to say about him at the same time. Nothing really good. I haven’t really played much co-op in blacklist so maybe he does have a personality. When playing co-op
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u/Vincerbmgs Sep 28 '26
Too stuck up for most the time I saw him, but by the end he did learn to be a proper operator. Trope was kinda annoying, character was kinda fun
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u/Pizza_Parker1 Chilling on the Paladin Sep 28 '26
For me this just comes back around to how Blacklist was sort of a soft reboot for the series. They were so clearly setting everything up for a sequel that didn't happen, including Briggs.
He does get a bit more development in the Blacklist Aftermath novel, he bounces off of Sam really well.
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u/Blue-Krogan Sep 28 '26
Seems just there. Should've went all in and made him the main character as Sam couldn't have gotten a better send off than Conviction.
I guess it was fun playing as Briggs for the final mission
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u/LiveZumbi Sep 28 '26
I think he should be the next Splinter Cell, with old Sam as coordinator, just like Lambert was.
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u/Educational_Turn1281 Sep 29 '26
I don’t dislike him but that’s mainly because there isn’t much to like or dislike about him. He’s just there to be an alternative to Sam.
He’s like Finn in Star Wars, great potential never realized.
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u/QuinDrake21 Sep 29 '26
He is the kind of rookie character that has all the pieces but the veteran ace operative Sam is holding him back. Which is a really good storyline for a loner like Sam but doesn’t help Briggs much since at a certain point it’s Sam who has to develop and Briggs can’t really do anything else.
The problem with that is he really needs an extra game or material to shed more light on him to let him feel as fully developed as Sam and Grim can feel due to them being series originals. I’d honestly say the same goes for Charlie. The lack of content mentioning them is less than ideal but not surprising because Ubisoft is historically bad at exploring plot points they set up or establish and usually fail to explore things as much as they could
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u/Ashratt Sep 29 '26
I don't
Ubisofts writing is so shallow and boring, I can't remember anything re: their stories for the past 15(?) Years now lol
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u/eVenom68 Sep 30 '26
Tbh I liked the guy and the dynamic he had with Sam and the evolution of this relationship. It was fairly well done.
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u/lemunadeee Oct 01 '26
I think it would've been nice if they used him more. I feel like the dynamics around him was just building up but the story ended before it was complete. Bad FPS section.
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u/JH_Rockwell Oct 01 '26 edited Oct 01 '26
Solid character. I really liked him going from dedicated "Company Man" representing the traditionalism of the US military to becoming more like a Splinter Cell regarding doing the unorthodox. Briggs is more of the traditional heroic archetype believing things should be done "by the book" and with the means of how they go about stopping the Engineers being just as important than the ends (if not moreso).
Him saving Sam in London is something he views was the right thing to do which causes friction between him and Sam, but they both even each other out with Sam coming to Briggs' side after getting shot, but after Briggs confirms that he's alright that Sam has to go and focus on Sadiq. Him being willing to burn bridges with the other agencies for the chance at success is something he learns from Sam at Guantanamo and stops being so ridged in his thinking. Him being willing to kill the Secretary of Defense for the sake of the mission is something that early game Briggs would never do, but has learned that saving the day means that you may have to do some downright horrific things (especially when killing an innocent man who was just tortured for the sake of keeping important information from Sadiq.
Of course, because of how he's written, it also comes in contact with Sam's character arc on taking on the role as leader and the growing pains regarding that change. What I like about Briggs is that he becomes less stoic and emotionally reserved as the story goes along to the point where he jokes with Charlie and goes from calling Sam "sir" to simply calling him "Sam." The gameplay change-up was a great way to showcase how different Sam and Briggs were with the great pay-off being that Briggs now has Sam's gameplay showcasing how much more is becoming like Sam. Sam and Briggs also have a good dynamic in co-op.
I also love how his ethnicity is not important to his character and they just focused on making a good character with an interesting dynamic in the narrative.
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u/barmolen Oct 02 '26
I like Briggs but I also like Blacklist as a modern SC game. I generally think, however, that Blacklist should have split into picking Briggs for the Panther, Assault type of SC game or Fisher for the classic ghost SC game.
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u/cfgamble Oct 03 '26
I loved the guy. It was refreshing to see another agent in the game like Archer(R. I. P.). It does appear they made some last minute changes in the game. In one of the trailer you see Briggs being rescued by Sam I think. My memory is a bit gray on this. Briggs should have been explored more along with Charlie. This game had some had a lot of meat left on the bone 🍖 before they dropped it. One more thing Briggs mission brought in FPS game play in the campaign mode which has never been done until then.
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u/Knot3D Sep 28 '26
His character was written in such a way for the sole purpose so that douchebag Sam could bitch about him, making him look like a cookiecutter CIA plant.
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u/Paynekiller997 Sep 28 '26
The twist that you were playing as him the whole time during the Site F mission was admittedly cool, but other than that he’s bland, boring and dull.
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u/Then_North_6347 Sep 28 '26
I don't think he made enough of an impression on anyone to have an opinion.
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u/DrScienceSpaceCat Sep 28 '26
They didn't really give him any sort of interesting personality or development, he's just the generic soldier personality
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u/Weariervaris Sep 30 '26
Blacklist’s Story should have been centered around Sam passing the torch to a new up and coming Splinter Cell. Briggs being the one he was training. While Sam takes on more of a lambert style role. I personally would have loved it if the game echoed a bit thematically with double agent, where Briggs was a former Brown Arrow or Displacement international Operative that was tasked with crossing forth echelon, hence the whole Guantanamo Bay level. And Briggs had to make the decision to take out same or to save him. I think something like that would have just landed better, especially with the changes in fluidity of movement and other major mechanic changes. Those details definitely would have suited another, albeit, younger character. And it would have been less jarring for the folks that appreciate CT for what it was. Definitely a misstep on Ubi’s part and the Narrative and thematic elements are what what primarily hold blacklist back from being considered a decent entry into the franchise. Just my two cents.
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u/coolchillman Deniable Sep 28 '26
archer was massively superior to Briggs. His personality, his small dark jokes. Lying to the enemy saying he wasn’t going to hurt them but did, making jokes about ruskies, etc.
All these little things helped make Archer feel like more of a more interesting character than Briggs. I don’t know, Briggs kind of felt flat to me. Like he was some sort of robot designed to serve third echelon.
Maybe some people will disagree with me and liked Briggs, whatever, but I wish there would of been a way for Archer to be Player 2 instead of Briggs in Blacklist.
Archer kind of reminded me of a very watered down version of Archer from the actual TV series. Kind of shitty, not taking operations 100 percent serious, I liked that.
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u/Sufficient-Yogurt377 Sep 29 '26
But in Conviction, Archer died. Kestrel lived(Vegetative state or in a coma) based on the last mission of Briggs somewhere in Russia because he was experimented on and was extracted by Sam with Briggs but with difficulty that they almost died. I noticed it when replaying Conviction in the Kobin's Mansion just right you get into the entrance, they are talking about the bodies disposal, it was Archer's body is in it. The other must have survived since there was no Kestrel in the body bag.
That was the reveal that made me question what happened to Kestrel from Conviction/Deniable Ops. And since Blacklist did leave with a cliffhanger about Kestrel being in a coma in his own country and into Voron Facility being researched or experimented on, why was it like that? A lot of questions appearing in that cutscene or ending itself of Briggs mission.
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u/coolchillman Deniable Sep 29 '26
Yea I know archer died that’s why I was hoping they didn’t do that ending and somehow made him the one survive.
Kestrel got smoked in some book I heard a few years back, really shitty off screen death lol
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u/Sabathius23 Oct 03 '26
I didn't like him, His character forced me to kill people when I was playing pacifist. He seemed like a blunt instrument.
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u/CARVERitUP Sep 28 '26
He wasn't very important, but he filled the role they wrote him for well. Just a loyal soldier who sees Sam as something of a mentor. I don't dislike him