Why Is the Splinter Cell Remake Still Taking So Long?

Like a ghost, the Splinter Cell Remake is still nowhere to be found in 2025, but we do have some recent news regarding Sam Fisher’s return to the spotlight. Between The Last of Us Part 1, Resident Evil 2, 3, Silent Hill 2 Remake, and the recent Metal Gear Solid Delta Snake Eater, we find ourselves smack dab in the middle of a remake renaissance. Splinter Cell is an inevitable addition to the remake boom, but the question is when? Two years ago, we asked the same question, and now we’re back again, only this time with a few updates.

2026 and possibly, 2027 are situated to be absolutely massive in terms of AAA game releases. Need I say more than GTA 6? Splinter Cell Remake has some murky waters to navigate, but if there’s one thing that’s certain, it’s that it’s alive and preparing for the spotlight. So, why is Splinter Cell Remake taking so long and what do we currently know about the elusive project?

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The developer officially unveiled the Splinter Cell Remake on December 15, 2021, positioning the studio behind Splinter Cell: Blacklist and Far Cry 6 (Toronto) as the head team. As of late 2025, that hasn’t changed. And as far as we know, it’s still being built “from the ground up” like other heavy-hitter remakes of the modern era. The Snowdrop engine is powering the remake, but little is known about project details other than some developer comments and recent leadership changes.

The most recent movement involves the return of the original project director, David Grivel. Grivel was the lead developer of the remake before leaving the developer in 2022. During his absence, the game was led by Andrea Schmoll, who departed in late 2025. The discourse around her departure was that the remake was yet another dead dev hell project under turmoil…until Grivel announced via LinkedIn about his return to the project lead chair. The developer has a history of rebooting troubled projects internally when they lose direction, so the worries aren’t unfounded, but the return of the original project lead is at least a good sign going forward.

Another potential bright spot for the remake is the use of the Snowdrop engine. The engine has its detractors, most notably aimed towards Star Wars Outlaws and how glitch-prone that game was at launch, but it seems tailor-made for Splinter Cell and it’s more linear nature. Snowdrop is known for its dense volumetric lighting, high-fidelity environments, and dynamic shadow systems. These are elements that can really make those dark oil refineries and embassy infiltrations pop. Sam Fisher’s world has always depended on darkness, contrast, and light manipulation, and Snowdrop’s real-time global illumination and shadow rendering should allow for reactive stealth and more gradual transitions between light levels. Series staples like shooting out lights or using night-vision goggles stand to gain significantly from Snowdrop’s lighting model.

Although the developer has never publicly confirmed a release window, insiders have repeatedly suggested 2026 as the earliest possibility, and that still seems likely given recent projections by Insider Gaming’s Tom Henderson. The developer’s pipeline for 2026 and 2027 have been outlined through a report and Splinter Cell Remake is on there along with a Rayman Remake, Assassin’s Creed Hexe, and new Far Cry and Ghost Recon games.

Though, let’s be realistic here. 2025 is nearing its end and the remake still has no gameplay reveal. A 2026 launch is optimistic at best. However, scarce marketing leading to an imminent release aren’t unprecedented. After all, Oblivion Remastered shadow dropped with no lead-up earlier in the year. Sure, it wasn’t a full-on remake, but wasn’t exactly insubstantial with its additions and overhauls either. Still, with little to no development updates, no gameplay, and not a peep of marketing, 2026 still seems like a stretch for Splinter Cell Remake.

Speaking of the gameplay, what do we know? Well, since the initial announcement video in 2021, the developer has shown no gameplay whatsoever, not even a brief in-engine demonstration. As we revealed previously, as part of Splinter Cell’s 20 year anniversary in 2022, some concept art images were shown, but that’s it. The absence is increasingly unusual given how long the project has been in development, though not unprecedented for remakes that undergo leadership changes.

One persistent rumor early in development suggested the game might shift toward an open-world structure similar to Halo Infinite, something we originally reported. Thankfully, this rumor has been shut down by Producer Matt West who stated that it will be linear. The Splinter Cell Remake will be linear, not open world, preserving the deliberate pacing and stealth-focused mission design of the original.

The creative team has assured fans that the cat-and-mouse slow burn gameplay is a alive and well, and actually improved thanks to advancements in AI enemy behaviors. The feel of those early Splinter Cell titles is intentionally being kept, with strength coming not from might but Sam’s gadgets and cunning planning. What I’m excited about is the delightful dark humor characteristic with the many interrogations Sam Fisher engages in. The facial expressions will be leaps and bounds above what the original could do. I’m just hoping that Michael Ironside voices Sam, although that’s not guaranteed.

On the narrative front, there has been no updates. As previously reported, the developer has been quiet since 2022 when a scriptwriter job posting revealed the first meaningful update. The job posting revealed that the first Splinter Cell is being used as a ‘foundation’ and that rewrites and updates are happening to the story. Further fanning the flames are remarks that Splinter Cell Remake’s story is being updated for ‘a modern-day audience’. These comments were posted years ago, but without further clarification, we can assume that vision remains today.

The 2022 posting also assures fans that, “We want to keep the spirit and themes of the original game while exploring our characters and the world to make them more authentic and believable.”

This implies that the Georgia-focused plot and Sam Fisher’s search for missing operatives are staying in some form, but the script will likely adjust the context and realism a tad. I wouldn’t be surprised to see drone warfare and contemporary surveillance tech being used as a reinterpretation of the original’s espionage setup. I just hope the characters aren’t modernized in a self-insert kind of manner.

Unlike remasters, fully modern remakes take time, for example, Final Fantasy VII Remake took 5 years. Like that, Splinter Cell Remake is being crafted from the ground-up using a new engine and modern techniques. This means all the environments, lighting systems, AI, gadgets, animations, and cinematics have to be built from scratch. No prior assets or foundation (like Oblivion Remastered had with its underlying 2006 engine).

And then there’s the company itself. Their corporate environment has shifted dramatically over the past year. The company’s restructuring and its broad partnership with Tencent in 2025 led to numerous cancellations, team reallocations, and internal game of musical chairs. Projects across Montreal, Toronto (the team behind Splinter Cell), and Massive were affected. Leadership shifts on Splinter Cell likely caused resets or reworks to multiple systems.

As 2025 winds down, the Splinter Cell Remake remains hidden out of sight. It’s a quietly active project with a returning team lead, but still has no marketing push at all. Despite leadership turnover and long silences, the project continues to move forward inside Toronto, supported by an engine that seems perfectly suited for the espionage fans have come to expect from the series.

If the 2026 to 2027 release projections are to be believed, perhaps we’ll see Splinter Cell Remake at a Forward event or a summer showcase. Until then, Splinter Cell exists exactly where Sam Fisher is most comfortable: in the dark, waiting for the right moment to strike.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.