Ubisoft reportedly scrapped its upcoming battle royale mode for Splinter Cell

Ubisoft’s Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell is a highly acclaimed video game franchise, with the most recent installment having been published in 2013. According to recent allegations, a Splinter Cell project may have been scrapped just a few weeks before it was scheduled to launch. This is disappointing news for fans of the game who have been eagerly awaiting a new installment for several years. The next installment in the Splinter Cell series was rumored to be titled Splinter Cell: Hunters and was supposed to be a battle royale game with both player against player and player versus environment gameplay aspects. The game included Spy Operators, which is another name for classes; these players would have been charged with eliminating four high-value targets despite coming into contact with as many as 30 other players and adversaries controlled by AI.

After the objectives had been completed, the players would have to search for caches and remove themselves from the map. Players would have been given a knife as their starting item at the beginning of the game. Additionally, there would have been outposts in the game that were defended by powerful AI soldiers and contained high-tier loot and equipment. During the playtest, only duos competed on the one map known as “Washington DMZ.” In the duos mode of the game, players would have been able to carry out Team Tactical actions, which would have given them the ability to work together to complete objectives. These objectives included back-to-back wall climbing, enhanced edge climbing, and sneaking through doors with a high level of security.

When a spy operator died, they would respawn as a ‘Merc,’ which is an armored soldier at an outpost.  They would then be charged with hunting down other spies, including their former teammate. This was an interesting mechanic. If the player was successful in eliminating their comrade, they would then respawn as a spy again; however, this time they would be grouped alone and labeled as a ‘Traitor Spy.’ According to the source, the gameplay of Splinter Cell: Hunters did not seem to rely on the conventional battle royale gameplay mechanic in which the winner is determined by who is the last guy standing. Instead, it presented players with a more strategic challenge in which every action required careful consideration.