Introduction
“Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist” is the sixth title in the famous Splinter Cell series, developed by Ubisoft Toronto and premiered in 2013. This installment preserves the story of Sam Fisher, a highly trained operative who seeks to prevent terrorist threats from endangering the United States. Blacklist entails elements of stealth, action, and strategy, making it a thrilling and engaging experience for the players to participate in. For the aspiring trophy hunters that want to see it from start to finish and achieve 100% completion, this trophy guide will act as a recap and step-by-step walkthrough.
About the Trophy System
Before moving onto specific trophies, it is good to know about the general traits of that trophy system in Splinter Cell: Blacklist. There are trophies in the game ranging from very simple story-related trophies to very intricate trophies that require skill, patience, and in-depth understanding of the game system.
The trophies are split into the following categories:
Story-Related Trophies: These are earned during the progression of the main campaign.
Difficulty-Related Trophies: These require players to complete the game on a specific difficulty setting.
Completion Trophies: These are granted to players completing side missions, collecting items, and mastering certain gameplay aspects.
Multiplayer Trophies: These are awarded in the co-op and competitive multiplayer modes.
Miscellaneous Trophies: These include trophies for executing various in-game actions or reaching different kinds of milestones.
Combining skill, persistence, and a bit of planning will be your recipe to attaining full completion and the Platinum trophy.
Story-Related Trophies
Just like many other games, Splinter Cell: Blacklist has trophies for completing some of the critical story missions. These trophies are unmissable. They will be unlocked upon finishing the main campaign storyline.
Safehouse (Bronze): Complete the mission “Safehouse.”
Insurgent Stronghold (Bronze): Complete the mission “Insurgent Stronghold.”
American Consumption (Bronze): Complete the mission “American Consumption.”
Private Estate (Bronze): Complete the mission “Private Estate.”
Abandoned Mill (Bronze): Complete the mission “Abandoned Mill.”
Transit Yards (Bronze): Complete the mission “Transit Yards.”
Detention Facility (Bronze): Complete the mission “Detention Facility.”
Special Missions HQ (Bronze): Complete the mission “Special Missions HQ.”
Site F (Silver): Complete the last mission “Site F.”
These trophies are quite easy and are meant as rewards for going through the game’s story. There are no stipulations as to difficulty settings, so it allows players to revel in the narrative and gameplay experience.
Difficulty-Based Trophies
One of the major challenges offered by “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” is finishing the game at a higher difficulty level. These trophies are meant to really test the players’ mastery of the game’s mechanics and their ability to be adaptive when faced with more testing situations.
Distraction Tactician (Bronze): Perform a non-lethal takedown while your enemy is being distracted by a gadget.
No Kill Option Engaged (Silver): Finish the game as Sam Fisher, killing no one.
Ghost Player (Gold): Finish the game on Perfectionist difficulty while remaining undetected.
Fourth Echelon Commendation (Silver): Finish the game on Perfectionist difficulty.
The Perfectionist difficulty is the toughest tier of difficulty available, removing some gameplay aids and making the enemies more alert and lethal-yet the earning of the “Fourth Echelon Commendation” and “Ghost Player” trophies requires a whole lot of extreme caution, patience, and precision. A perfect grasp of stealth mechanics, making a calculated step by step plan for every move, and absolute knowledge of enemy patterns is a must.
The “No Kill Option Engaged” trophy adds more difficulty to the mix by requiring that players never go lethal. This means players will be using a lot of non-lethal takedowns, gadgets such as sleeping gas and sticky cameras, and just the environment to distract, disarm, or incapacitate enemies.
Completion Trophies
For completionists, “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” has several trophies potentially requiring the player to do everything: side missions, collectibles, and optional objectives.
Hawkeye (Bronze): Complete all available SMI missions.
Tri-Rotor Functionality (Bronze): Complete all of Charlie’s missions.
Infiltration (Bronze): Complete all of Briggs’ 4E missions.
Support Ops (Bronze): Complete all of Grim’s 4E missions.
Command and Control (Silver): Complete all of Kobin’s 4E missions.
Evidence Concealed (Silver): Hide 5 bodies in containers.
Hacker (Silver): Hack all 23 Blacklist Laptops.
Intel Acquired (Silver): Acquire all 24 Dead Drop flash drives.
Data Security (Silver): Acquire 24 HVTs.
The SMI (Strategic Mission Interface) missions are side missions offering additional content outside the main story. These missions are assigned by different characters, each with their unique challenges and objectives. Completing all of them not only rewards the player with these trophies but also some very helpful prizes that can be fairly instrumental in the main campaign.
Throughout the game, collectibles such as Blacklist Laptops, Dead Drops, and High-Value Targets (HVT) are scattered around. To find and collect them all, one is required to carefully explore each level. Some of these collectibles are cleverly concealed, leading the player to need to backtrack or enlist the aid of a guide to locate them all.
Multiplayer Trophies
“Splinter Cell: Blacklist” has multiplayer modes for both co-op and competition, with many trophies related to these modes. Earning a trophy required teamwork, communication, and perfect mastery of multiplayer mechanics.
Officer of the Day (Bronze): Complete all available Daily Challenges.
ShadowNet Online (Silver): Complete a daily challenge in multiplayer.
Hostages Secured (Silver): Win a CO-OP Extraction match in less than 5 minutes in any difficulty.
Elite Player (Gold): Complete all CO-OP missions on Perfectionist difficulty.
Team Player (Gold): Win a CO-OP match.
Mercenary (Silver): Achieve a kill streak of 5 in Spies vs. Mercs mode.
The “Spies vs. Mercs” mode is a truly unique competitive multiplayer environment with two teams competing: Spies are all about sneaking around, being nimble, and using their gadgets, whereas Mercenaries are all about brute force, hogging cover, and shooting straight from the hip. To earn trophies such as “Mercenary”, you must perform well and master the subtle nuances of each faction.
Co-op missions with their partner provide added challenges that test players’ skills in coordination and cooperation. The “Elite Player” and “Team Player” trophies reward players for completing these challenges, especially at higher difficulties such as Perfectionist.
Miscellaneous Trophies
Along with the primary categories, “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” also hosts a number of miscellaneous trophies earned by performing certain actions or reaching certain milestones.
Distraction and Neutralization (Bronze): Stealthily take down an enemy after distracting them.
Hostile Shield (Bronze): Kill an enemy with a human shield.
Combat Virtuoso (Silver): Take out 10 foes consecutively without detection.
Enhanced Reach (Silver): Take out 5 enemies with the Tri-Rotor.
Action and Reaction (Silver): Activate environmental kills, such as pushing an enemy into a toilet kill.
These trophies sometimes require the players to employ specific tactics or tools in unusual ways. For instance, “Action and Reaction” involves killing enemies via environmental methods, while “Combat Virtuoso” rewards a player who remains completely stealthy while dispatching multiple enemies one after the other.
Such a variety of challenges encourages players to contrast different playstyles and to investigate every possibility in the game. Moreover, these serve as stumbling blocks for those seeking an extra level of difficulty in mastering the mechanics completely.
Strategic Tips for Trophy Hunters
To get all the trophies in “Splinter Cell: Blacklist,” the player must combine strategic planning, skill, and persistence. Here are a few tips to help trophy hunters along their journey:
Playthrough Strategy: For efficiency, it is better to start playing on a lower difficulty first. This allows you to grasp the entire game layout: levels, enemy placement, and mechanics. This way, most story-related trophies and collectibles can be earned under less strenuous conditions, way before they are put on harder ones.
Stealth Focus: Many of the game trophies are attached to stealth gameplay. Keep them non-lethal if possible, and remember to hide bodies to avoid detection. You may want to make use of the gadgets at your disposal: noise makers, sticky cameras, EMP grenades… good distractions and enemy disables.
Difficulty Management: The Perfectionist difficulty is a major challenge, having stripped many of the assists upon which players rely, such as Mark & Execute. Treat this difficulty with great care; in fact, you may wish to hold this difficulty for a second run after you gain some comfort with the mechanics of the game.
Co-op and Multiplayer: Cooperation is the element for success in co-op missions. Communicate with your partner, discuss your way in, and act together. In multiplayer, know the tactics of Spies and Mercs for situations of every kind.
Collectibles Focus: Make it a point that as you progress through the game, you search every nook and cranny of the levels for Blacklist Laptops, Dead Drop flash drives, and High-Value Targets (HVTs). Some of these are tucked away in really obscure spots, so do be diligent in your exploration. Another way is to consult guides or maps to locate those you find quite challenging to get.
Save Frequently: Try to take advantage of manual saves by saving your progress at every clearest moment, especially on higher difficulty levels or while working towards trophy-related tasks. Save whenever you want to do something risky: like a long string of non-lethal takedowns-will let you reload should the worst happen.
Try All Your Gadgets: The game offers an array of gadgets, each with special properties that can be pivotal in certain situations. Try every tool given to you and see which ones work best with your play style. For example, the Tri-Rotor drone is invaluable for scouting and picking off enemies far at a distance.
Reattempting a Mission: In case you fail to achieve a trophy during a particular mission, do not worry. You are usually able to revisit the mission and have another go. This proves extremely helpful with trophies requiring explicit conditions such as remaining unseen or refraining from killing any enemies.
Patience and Timing: Most trophies in “Splinter Cell: Blacklist” tend to reward patient and deliberate planning. Do not rush; take your time and observe the enemy patterns to select appropriate timings for your moves. Rushing through might just cause most failures, especially on harder difficulties.
Understand the Enemy AI: The enemy AI in “Blacklist” is quite intricate, with different enemy types exhibiting varying degrees of awareness and behavior. Knowing how they react to typical stimuli can aid you in planning your methods to counter them via the use of gadgets, by getting behind the enemy without them even sensing it, or via setting up a neat ambush.
Challenges You Might Face
Attaining full completion and earning the Blacklist Platinum trophy is no breeze. Here follows some challenges that a player might face:
Perfectionist Difficulty: Without a doubt, this is the most difficult of the available settings; it removes many of the supported mechanics and tools offered at the lower difficulty levels. This means that you won’t be using Mark & Execute; instead, you must adapt and identify threats yourself. Enemies are aware of your presence and more difficult to take down, so stealth becomes that much more important. Perfectionist difficulty will require a working knowledge of game mechanics, along with a lot of patience.
No Kill Runs: One needs to complete the entire game without killing anyone for the player to get the “No Kill Option Engaged” trophy. The evaluation, killing, and maiming during the story can become very easy at times. This makes gadgets and takedowns from the environment that do not involve killing very useful; however, players must exercise extreme caution in ensuring that all their takedowns are non-lethal.
Multiplayer Trophies: Some multiplayer trophies, mostly the “Spies vs. Mercs” trophy, are tough because of the need to effectively team communicate. Winning matches, getting kill streaks, and performing co-op missions on harder difficulties demand real coordination and practice from the team. Also, it becomes less and less probable to find matches with the multiplayer community aging, considerably two of the factors making these trophies more time-consuming to get.
Collectibles: While theoretically, it is easy enough to collect the Blacklist Laptops, Dead Drop flash drives, and HVTs, it can be so easy to miss one or two. The game has complicated level design and sometimes downright obscure collectible locations, so players ought to remain patient and thorough. Missing a collectible could very well turn into doing an entire mission twice plus finding what you missed the first time.
Mastering Stealth: Lots of trophies require you to stay undetected, which gets kind of tricky in later levels with tighter spaces and more complex patrol patterns. So, you’ll probably have to learn your stealth approach through trial and error based on careful planning.
Conclusion
Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell: Blacklist offers a rewarding trophy hunting experience for those willing to put in some time and effort. The mix of stealth, action, and strategizing gameplay landscape with its challenging trophy requirements distinguish the title in the stealth-action genre.
Whether serving as an old hand to the series or just an entrant unto the Sam Fisher immersing, this trophy guide shall aid you through the seldom-understood labyrinth that is Blacklist and obtaining that all-so-good Platinum. From mastering the game on every difficulty level to completing each and every side mission and collectible, there is a lot to do in Blacklist, and the process to 100% completion is as engaging as it is challenging.
The fact that there was a trophy to unlock for each and every area with respect to skill level truly sums up the deepest aspects of the game and the quality of the title “Splinter Cell: Blacklist.” So arm yourself, strategize your approach, and jump into one of the most demanding yet rewarding stealth experiences provided. Best of luck, and good trophy hunting!