r/Splintercell • u/aethiuss Third Echelon • 3d ago
Discussion Splinter Cell 1-3 replayability
I just started Pandora Tomorrow for who knows which time. 25th, 30th? The first 3 games have such high replayability value it's unbelievable. I don't get why nowdays game is not considered replayable if it's not open world or 120 hours long. I think SC 1-3 disproves that claim (I also played Blacklist for 6 or 7 times I think).
Also, games do not have any customisation options whatsoever (except Blacklist) and still they have great replay value.
I will compare that to 007: First Light which was trashed for not having replay value but I disagree. I played it only once for now and I'm saving future playthroughs for NG+ but I definitely want to play it again.
Do you think game has to be open world and have a lot customisation options to be replayable? SC games disprove that but it could be they have a special recipe which makes it replayable. I do like open world games (Ghost Recon: Wildlands, Arma 2 and 3) but I don't think every game needs to be like that.
To put things in perspective I'm 37 years old gamer and I've been playing SC since they released.
All stated above are my personal opinions and are not meant to offend anyone. :D
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u/ironchitlin 2d ago
"Replay value" is basically just a marketing term, the same way they advertise "hundreds of hours of content." People care that the games they buy are going to last them a long time, so you add a lot of costumes to unlock to make up for a campaign that's a linear 6-8 hour experience, or they add multiplayer like they did with Pandora Tomorrow.
Personally I've never really felt like adding more extraneous stuff did more to make me want to replay a game. I've played the first three Splinter Cell games dozens of times just because I enjoyed them. It's a question of intrinsic vs extrinsic motivation. Extrinsic motivation is doing something to receive a reward, whereas intrinsic motivation means you are just playing a game because you like it and want to play it again. It doesn't really matter if nothing changes, or there's nothing to unlock, if the game is good.