Ubisoft’s stealth star Sam Fisher has been laying low, with nary a Splinter Cell game since 2013’s Blacklist and only a scant few cameo appearances. He’s popped back up on the radar again today with a guest spot in Ghost Recon Breakpoint, teaming up with the spec ops squad who specialise in higher bodycounts. He pops up in a new chain of story missions, though you’ll need to pay to get all of them. Today also brings a big ol’ update for Breakpoint, including a new “immersive” mode without RPG-y gear levels.

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What Works And Why is a monthly column where Gunpoint and Heat Signature designer Tom Francis digs into the design of a game or mechanic and analyses what makes it good.>

Games about one player character against hundreds of enemies generally have to give you some kind of unfair advantage. In action games, it’s usually resilience: getting shot in Call of Duty covers you in jam for 3 seconds but leaves you otherwise unharmed, gunshots in Wolfenstein can be fixed with chicken dinners, and in Doom 2016 punching a demon feels so good it physically mends you.

Stealth games need a different solution, because the fun part is generally over by the time you get shot. That’s good – they don’t need jam vision or dinner magic. Instead they need a crutch that helps you before things get that bad. And in games about hiding from everyone, that’s usually intelligence. Information is power. To evade improbable odds, you need to know more than you reasonably should.

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Ubisoft’s Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory is one of the very finest stealth games, our Adam will tell you. Should you agree, or simply be curious about that bold declaration, you might want to watch its creative director Clint Hocking revisiting the game 11 years after release. He’s got together with Chaos Theory level designer Mathieu Berube to play through its Bank level and chat about the game, and the two very kindly recorded it for us all to see. Observe:

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Humble Bundles normally pass me by these days, but this week’s Humble Tom Clancy Bundle, is worth a second look. For whatever fee you fancy you can get Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six, Rainbow Six 3, Rainbow Six Vegas, Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory, Ghost Recon and access to the multiplayer beta for Rainbow Six Siege. Pay over the average of $8.09 ( 5.29) however and you also get Rainbow Six Vegas 2, Splinter Cell, and Splinter Cell Conviction.

Less Patriot Games, more Pay-What-You-Want Games, eh? Eh?

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Clint Hocking has been cursed by a witch and is now doomed to travel the games industry, joining new developers and then leaving before releasing a single game. In the last five years, the Far Cry 2 designer has joined and left LucasArts, joined and left Valve, and as of yesterday, joined and left Amazon Games Studios.

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Sometimes you need a hand to hold, so we ve compiled a list of the 25 best co-op games to play on PC with a headset-wearing friend or a muted stranger.

Whether solving puzzles, sneaking, shooting zombies or stabbing mythical creatures in the face, the existence of another player adds an element of unpredictability. The reality of your co-op partner constantly alerting the guards is drowned out by the experience in your head – the synchronised stealth takedowns, the perfectly executed plan – but both success and failure are more compelling when you can take credit for the former and blame someone else for the latter.

There is a co-op game for every duo and our selection includes a variety of the most bestest. Don t worry if your favourite co-op game doesn t feature – it just means you re wrong. All mortals are, on occasion. … [visit site to read more]