It’s been far too long since Ubisoft took a stab at bringing Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell back into gaming, or even in any entertainment media; since 2013’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist if we’re counting official games. The last time we saw Sam Fisher was in the parody animated Netflix show Captain Laserhawk: A Blood Dragon Remix back in 2023 where he popped up mid-episode in a flashback as a paraplegic and murdered tons of people in glorious stealth kill spec-ops fashion.

Lo and behold, Ubisoft and Netflix decide to give the old goat a chance with Splinter Cell: Deathwatch. The trailers were met with mixed reaction as people were afraid it’ll turn out like a girl boss-style action show where Sam Fisher pops up time and again. Rest assured, that the final form of the show is clearly a Sam Fisher joint, age be damned.

Spy Hard

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch is about Third Echelon operative Sam Fisher (Liev Schreiber). While retiring in Poland, he abruptly gets back in the game -now under a new name Fourth Echelon- after a young operative named Zinnia McKenna (Kirby Howell-Baptiste) botched a spy job and ends up sheltering at his place.

Elsewhere, Displace International CEO Diana Shetland (Kari Wahlgren), the daughter of Sam’s former associate Douglas Shetland, has plans to create a clean energy solution for Europe to get on-board. She also got her half-brother Charlie Shetland (Aleks Le) to be co-running the company, away from its privatized military background and from her dad’s not-so-sterling reputation (due to the events of Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory).

There’s a lot to love here for old-school Splinter Cell fans, from seeing spy handlers like Anna Grimsdotter being jaded and grumpy, to the sound the spy goggles emit when any of the Fourth Echelon folks go in for the kill. In fact, there’s a couple of episodes called Chaos Theory that tie the whole espionage and saboteur plot after revealing flashbacks of Sam and Douglas’ friendship and camaraderie under Third Echelon. Without spoiling anything, newbies can jump in and enjoy an episodic spy thriller with tons of action, while Splinter Cell aficianados can appreciate how an aged Sam Fisher can kick so much ass.

And it’s pretty violent, given the fact that most Splinter Cell games can be completed with minimal bloodshed. Sam Fisher himself isn’t as young as back then, and Zinnia is brash and revenge-filled as you’ll find out after an episode or two, so there’s going to be a lot of retribution and stealth kills you can look forward to. The show’s director had a hand in making John Wick and its calvacade of action setpieces, so the results here is violence that is contextual, and also made stylized and kinetic given the fact that most Hollywood-level spy films need some climax and peaks to entertain. Highlights include Sam taking on big-sized brutes, a hotel snatch-and-grab that ramps up the tension and pace, house break-in scenes that are way more visceral than one would expect out of such mundane crimes, and a ship top-deck gun fight with an ending you don’t see too often.

If anything, you’ll definitely remember the show’s big reveal and major plot point involving the Shetland kids. It’s bonkers, sure, but it’s on par with the previous games in terms of grandiose and Tom Clancy-level global crisis escalation. I can definitely tell you that the eight episodes on tap here were anything but boring.

Central Intelligence

Splinter Cell: Deathwatch hits all the right notes in the action and stealth department, delivering 8 episodes of espionage, conspiracy-sorting, and John Wick-style violence while retaining the vibes and core on why the series is beloved in the first place. Sam Fisher’s dry wit, global conspiracies that escalate beyond the Fourth Echelon’s understanding, and a lot of ties and plots going back to Sam’s colourful past as a younger operative.

While I do wish Michael Ironside reprised his role as Sam Fisher, Liev Schreiber did a great job as the “understudy”. The villains and supporting cast are compelling with the roles given, and the animation is well-tailored for what it needs to be. There’s a ton of great voice work courtesy of Janet Varney as Grim, Kari Wuhlgren and Aleks Le as the Shetland kids, and Joel Oulette as new Fourth Echelon hacker recruit Thunder.

Now can we get a proper Splinter Cell game, please?

Final Score: 80/100