Splinter Cell: Blacklist - Catch up with the series' characters and story

Well, you are in luck. We gathered together the most important story details and characters from recent Splinter Cell games to get you up to speed and ready to jump right into Blacklist.

This article contains SPOILERS for Splinter Cell: Conviction. Read at your own risk.

After the events of Double Agent, he had a falling out with Third Echelon due to playing the part of a terrorist so well that no one knew which side he was on anymore. Sam disappears and eventually takes it upon himself to investigate the accidental death of his daughter, leading him to the events of Splinter Cell: Conviction.

The kicker is, years later, Sam learns his daughter is still alive and that the entire ordeal was completely staged by Irving Lambert, the first Director of Third Echelon, to protect Sarah and to expose a mysterious mole in the agency. In short, almost everyone involved in the cover-up is dead. Sam and Sarah have been reunited by his friend Victor Coste, and theyre all one happy family sort of.

During Conviction, Victor helps Sam by giving him vital equipment and information during certain missions, and is also the man narrating Convictions story in an interrogation at the beginning of the game. At the end of the game, Victor mentions to his captors that Sam loves him like a brother and that he always comes back for family. Right as he says that there is a giant explosion in the background leading us to assume it was Sam coming to the rescue.

She seeks the help of Sam and provides him with leads and equipment along the way, but some questionable decisions - like dangling Sarah Fishers whereabouts over Sams head - force him to doubt her loyalty and sours their relationship. Later, Grim reveals Irving Lamberts true intentions behind faking Sams daughters death, and that she knew about it all along - which kind of ticks Sam off. What her role might be in Blacklist is anyone's guess. Sam gives her the cold shoulder at the end of Conviction, but if we had to bet, he will be working with her again soon.

So, Reed masterminds a devious plan to assassinate the President, take over the country and run the USs espionage operations his way. Naturally, Sam intervenes, busts a cap into Reeds skull and Caldwell is free to discontinue Third Echelon operations. This apparently will end up giving birth to the next secret agency, Fourth Echelon which was revealed during the Splinter Cell Blacklist trailer at E3. Its all coming together.

Any details on who the terrorists are or what they want are still a mystery. The trailer shown at E3 did show a level based in the Middle East, but that isnt much to go on. We will update you as soon as more information becomes available.

To learn more about the next Splinter Cell, check out our video preview from E3 and visit our Splinter Cell: Blacklist game page.