According to a journalistic leak, Ubisoft is reportedly drawing inspiration from IO Interactive’s Hitman franchise for its next Splinter Cell game.

As we reported last week, VGC has reported, citing inside sources, that Ubisoft has given the go-ahead for the development of the next Splinter Cell. The paper hasn’t been able to get any details on the project. Still, GamesBeat has also pulled down an article about a pre-release Splinter Cell that has reportedly already been tested by a few people.

According to the report, Ubisoft has made two games available for some fans to play ahead of this year’s E3: a remake of Prince of Persia: Sands of Time and a prototype that resembled Splinter Cell. The latter didn’t spend much time with players and only offered a simple tutorial. But most interestingly, elements of it were said to be reminiscent of 2016’s Hitman, although how was not specified. According to the article, it’s not confident that this game was the same as the one VGC wrote about, and it’s also possible that the finished game will be nothing like the prototype.

The Hitman trilogy – which launched in 2016 – is unique because its missions take place in extensive and detailed maps and have a high replayability factor, thanks to the many missions and challenges. The trilogy can also be seen as a service or a platform, with new content constantly added. Ubisoft has a similar approach to its games, so it would be understandable if Hitman were seen as a model for a modern stealth game.

No new Splinter Cell has been officially announced by Ubisoft yet, and if there is a game in the pipeline, it’s probably a long time coming.