Splinter Cell: Blacklist torture scene removed

A player-controlled torture scene from Splinter Cell: Blacklist has been removed following a negative reaction to its brutality, Eurogamer reports today. The scene in question (below) is from an August demo, in which Sam Fisher wrenches a knife into an enemy's clavicle, with a button prompt emerging tasking players to twist the knife to obtain intelligence. At the end of the scene, players choose whether the enemy lives or dies.

"Definitely we are not going to see when the game's coming out that there are torture scenes in it. That scene is not there anymore," producer Andrew Wilson said. "I've not really heard anyone say they loved it…"

Wilson added that the scene, which occurs in the first minutes of the demo, is not necessarily indicative of the game's overall tone. He said the scene was possibly missing context and "in an unabridged snapshot, it seemed like pretty tough material."

"We've scaled a lot of that back, and as we've gone through the process of development there are always things that you feel are not working as well. Every game does this, and cuts certain things," he said.

Splinter Cell: Blacklist is due out for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC August 20. Development on the game is being led by Ubisoft Toronto, with Ubisoft Montreal and Ubisoft Shanghai assisting. For more, check out GameSpot's just-published preview of Splinter Cell: Blacklist.