It's the news Splinter Cell fans have been waiting for! Ubisoft has confirmed that it's working on a remake based around the "early" games in the series, rebuilt from the ground up using Ubisoft’s own Snowdrop engine.

The game is being led by Ubisoft Toronto, and team members are currently being hired for the project. The intent is to "make sure the spirit of the early games remains intact", so it will remain a linear experience rather than open world, but the team will "update it visually, as well as some of the design elements to match player comfort and expectations."

Here's what Producer Matt West had to say about the goal with the Splinter Cell Remake:

"To me, a remake takes what you’d do in a remaster and goes a little bit further with it. The original Splinter Cell has a lot that was amazing and revolutionary at the time it came out, 19 years ago. The gaming public now has an even more refined palate. So, I think it kind of has to be a remake as opposed to a remaster. Although we're still in the very earliest stages of development, what we're trying to do is make sure the spirit of the early games remains intact, in all of the ways that gave early Splinter Cell its identity.

So, as we're building it from the ground up, we're going to update it visually, as well as some of the design elements to match player comfort and expectations, and we are going to keep it linear like the original games, not make it open world. How do we make sure that new fans are able to pick up the controller and dive right in, and fall in love with the game and the world right from the get-go?"

You can check out an interview with three developers on the project over at the Ubisoft website, and they reiterate throughout the discussion that they want to "bring something new", but still capture the spirit of the original games.

It certainly sounds exciting, but in terms of a release date, it's probably best to expect it's a few years away yet.

Liking the sound of the Splinter Cell Remake? Let us know down in the comments below.

[source news.ubisoft.com]