It's been nearly thirteen years since we last saw a Splinter Cell game, and there's little chance of another one appearing any time soon. A remake of the original Splinter Cell is supposedly in the works, but it's been in development long enough for its original director to leave the project, spend three years doing something else, and then come back.
But as ever, indie gaming aims to deliver where the mainstream fails to provide. Such is the case with Lizard State, a newly announced sneak 'em up that could only be more Splinter Cell if the protagonist had three glowing lights on his head.
Created by solo developer Benjamin Rose, Lizard State sees you playing as a Sam Fisher archetype on a mission to rescue a hostage from an island. The story apparently takes place over a single night, in a "short and focused campaign that focuses on deep gameplay systems".
Lizard State wears its influences on its sleeve, from the visuals inspired by "classic PS2-era games" featuring angular characters and moody stencil shadows, to its distinctive style of stealth where you can shoot out lightbulbs, choke guards into unconsciousness, or take them out from a distance with your pistol or assault rifle.
Yet within this familiar framework are a couple of more novel ideas. One of these is what Rose refers to as "mimic cameras", which resemble regular surveillance cameras until you disable them by shooting them off their mounts, at which point they sprout metal spider legs and scuttle around trying to spot you. There's also a second spiderlike gadget shown in the reveal trailer that can be controlled by the player, which disables guards with a blast of electricity.
I always enjoy seeing indie devs working on stealth and immersive sim projects, but they are also the most difficult style of game for smaller studios to get right, especially when it comes to imbuing the experience with some fundamental tactility. I had some initial reservations about this aspect of Lizard State while watching the trailer. Then, right at the end, your spy blasts a canister on the wall to engulf a guard with smoke, charges forward, and performs a sick-as-hell combined judo throw/rifle execution.
Given all the footage of Lizard State is from an early alpha build, this gives me hope that it will feel sufficiently satisfying under the fingers while dishing out its stealth conundrums. There's no word on when Lizard State will release, but you can request access to an (as-yet-unspecified) playtest over on its Steam page.
