Way back when Splinter Cell: Blacklist first leaped into the spotlight, it did so in a fairly strange fashion by, well, leaping into the spotlight. Instead of methodical skulking, we saw fast-paced hulking – in broad, nearly blinding daylight, no less. It felt bizarre, as though Sam had suddenly become some hard-charging young gun in his old age. Recent videos, however, have eased my fear the teensiest of bits on that front – first with some admittedly takedown-heavy stealth, and now by showing us just how much time and effort is going into getting various forms of light and darkness just right.



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Clearly, the details are what count here. Different light sources, how they play off the camera, how they affect visibility, etc. Also unsurprising but still nice to hear: all light sources are hand-placed. In this age of procedural generation, a light human touch goes a long way, I think.

But yes, I’m still far from sold on Blacklist (that introductory daytime E3 demo looked like everything I despised about Conviction multiplied by ten), but I can’t in good conscience write it off entirely either. I tried squinting really hard at this trailer and also offering my ability to tip-toe to the pagan stealth gods, and a couple scenes looked kind of Chaos-Theory-ish. So maybe it’ll surprise us like the Splinter Cell of yore. Maybe we’ll never even know what hit us. But probably not.

I’ll cross my lithe ledge-gripping fingers regardless. Blacklist will be out sometime next year. Do you plan on giving it the time of day?