10 Iconic Video Game Features Needlessly Cut Out Of Sequels

6. No Knife Or Hiding Bodies - Splinter Cell: Conviction

splinter cell conviction
Ubisoft

While there were a lot of great ideas in Splinter Cell: Conviction, which was intended to be something of a soft-reboot of the classic stealth franchise, in their effort to make the gameplay more streamlined (which is a common design philosophy behind many of the games on this list), Ubisoft ended up reducing the tactical options players had to complete levels.

Sam Fisher's knife was one of these casualties, a close-quarters weapon that aided ammo conservation and taking out guards silently. Conviction didn't really need a weapon like this - here, Sam was more of a predator than a ghost - preferring to headshot guards with silent pistols or bash their heads into toilets to take them out.

This, alongside the inability to hide the bodies of victims so they couldn't accidentally be stumbled upon by other enemies, made it clear that Ubi's new version of Splinter Cell had an entirely different approach to "stealth", and wasn't concerned with giving players a bunch of items and gadgets to get through levels undetected.

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Josh has over 11 years of experience as a published writer, having worked nine of those years as a full-time content producer at WhatCulture. In that period he has created hundreds of articles, videos and podcast episodes for multiple WhatCulture channels, specialising in gaming, horror and film & TV. He now primarily works as a senior content producer and presenter on WhatCulture Gaming where he co-hosts the WhatCulture Gaming Podcast, a top 3 UK most listened to gaming podcast that he co-created in 2018. Over the years he has reviewed several high-profile gaming releases, covered industry events with on-site reporting, opined on breaking news, and even kicked off his interviewing career by chatting to childhood hero, Tommy Wiseau.