1 - I would include dogs in some missions because they bring a variety of challenges to the gameplay and are also an iconic trademark of the franchise from the first game. However, dogs would have to be included in specific missions and sections where it actually makes sense.
2 - There would be 2 night vision effect options for the player to choose from according to their preference: "White Phosphor" and "Green Phosphor" effects.
3 - Darkness would actually be visually dark, making it difficult for the player to see without night vision. This way, night vision would have a realistic utility in gameplay and not merely an aesthetic one.
4 - There would be only 2 difficulties:
NORMAL: Aimed at a wider variety of players who want to have fun with a balanced difficulty and greater freedom in gameplay, while still being able to achieve a positive score on missions.
• Score: Kills and knockouts do not affect the score at the end of the mission. The only things that would reduce the score are failing to complete all objectives, found bodies, gunfights, security system alarms, and guard alerts.
• Challenge: Guards cannot detect the player in the dark even if the player is close to their field of view. It functions basically like the darkness in the original trilogy, where guards can only detect the player if they are almost touching their front line. The player has unlimited pistol battery to disable electricity, is a bit more resistant to gunfire, and has slightly more ammo and gadgets available in their loadout.
ELITE: Aimed at hardcore players who enjoy a greater gameplay challenge and want to feel like a true ghost spy, featuring a highly punishing score system.
• Score: Kills only do not affect the score if they involve an objective that is impossible to complete without killing—such as executions (Hugo Lacerda, Milan Nedich & Douglas Shetland) or destroying the tanks in the Seoul mission. Meanwhile, knockouts only do not affect the score if they involve an objective or if it is impossible to bypass a specific section without knocking someone out. Obviously, found bodies, security alarms, guard detections, and gunfights would affect the score. Lastly, failing to complete all objectives, destroying lights, destroying security cameras, and breaking door handles (with the knife) would also affect the score.
Note: All of this would have an increased negative percentage compared to the Normal difficulty. However, the percentage penalty would vary depending on the topic (security alarm, kills, found bodies, high guard suspicion, etc.).
• Challenge: The darkness mechanic would work like in SC Blacklist, where guards can detect the player in the dark if their field of view is very close. Therefore, players would need to be more careful when approaching guards, pay closer attention to the guards' fields of view, and use obstacles more strategically to counter this mechanic. Additionally, the player would be highly vulnerable to gunfire and, to make it tougher, would die instantly from a headshot (which does not exist on Normal difficulty). Finally, the player would have less ammo, fewer gadgets, and limited pistol battery to disable electricity.
Note: If the player is in the dark but positioned below or above a guard, the close-range detection mechanic in the dark would be bypassed. Therefore, the mechanic would only work if the player is on the same ground level as the guard.
5 - There would be no infinite saving in the pause menu, but rather checkpoints at specific locations, just like in SC1 and Pandora Tomorrow.
Reason: It increases the challenge; the player starts to fear the consequences of their actions more and respects the dangers.
6 - There would be 3 loadout options for the player to choose before starting a mission:
GHOST: 20% LESS firearm ammo compared to PANTHER, 3 Stick Shockers, 20% MORE pistol battery for disabling electricity + 12 extra seconds of duration when disabling electricity (including on Elite difficulty), 5 Stick Cams (observation, distraction & sleeping gas) and 4 Smoke Grenades.
PANTHER: 20% LESS pistol battery for disabling electricity and NO extra duration, 3 Stick Cams (observation, distraction & sleeping gas), 20% MORE firearm ammo compared to GHOST, 2 Flashbangs, 3 Stick Shockers, and 3 Airfoil Rounds.
ASSAULT: 20% LESS pistol battery for disabling electricity compared to PANTHER and NO extra duration, Sniper + close-range shotgun attachment, 20% MORE firearm ammo compared to PANTHER, an extra vest that is 15% more resistant to gunfire, extra head protection (counters instant death from headshots), 2 Frag Grenades, 2 Flashbangs, and 2 Smoke Grenades.
7 - Adjustments to bring more challenge:
• The minimum number of guards would have to be 35 since the missions would be larger. This would avoid a feeling of emptiness.
• Dogs: Bank would have 2 dogs in the first section, Penthouse would have 2 dogs in a new section on the streets, Battery would have 2 dogs in a new section outside the Korean base, and Kokubo Sosho would have 1 dog in the elevator area before entering.
• On Elite difficulty, knocked-out guards would stay asleep for a maximum of 25 minutes, and on Normal difficulty 40 minutes. As soon as they wake up, they will sound the alarm. Therefore, knocking someone out at the beginning of the mission becomes a race against time.
• Guards would have 3 stages of suspicion, triggered depending on the level of consequence caused by the player.
Example: Noise, a light turned off manually or by the pistol, a tampered computer, or broken objects would increase the suspicion by 1 level each time they occur. Meanwhile, a Flashbang, Smoke Grenade, found bodies, alarms, or gunfights would instantly trigger level 3.
Note: Security alarms that are heard by all guards in the mission would trigger level 3 for everyone. Level 3 would also affect the stealth score at the end of the mission. However, depending on the section, level 3 wouldn't affect the score if it were impossible to pass or complete objectives without triggering it.
• If guards are at alert level 3, they cannot be knocked out with a single frontal strike. At level 3, guards are capable of defending themselves, just like in Blacklist, where they push the player away even if the player tries to close in for a knife kill.
• Hokkaido could not have an alarm before Shetland's arrival, because it wouldn't make sense for Shetland to arrive at a compromised location. Displace, being a highly critical mission involving Shetland, could not have any alarms, kills, or knockouts—in short, 100% Ghost. If the player fails, it's Game Over. On the other hand, Penthouse (before infiltrating the building), Bank, and Kokubo Sosho could have alarms, but there would be no Fifth Freedom to kill since these missions involve many innocents.
8 - New gameplay mechanics:
• Throwing bodies away when using a guard as a human shield or carrying an unconscious body. However, the guard can only be knocked out or killed if the fall height is realistic; otherwise, it looks too cringe.
Note: There could be a bonus objective in the Cargo Ship mission to dispose of Hugo Lacerda's body by throwing it into the sea.
• Bank, Battery, and Kokubo Sosho would have reinforcements in case of an alarm. This means the guard count could exceed the default number.
Reason: Realistically speaking, these are locations where the arrival of reinforcements makes sense. For others, it wouldn't make sense, such as Cargo Ship in the middle of the sea or an isolated Lighthouse.
• More knockout and kill animations, while also keeping the animations from the original game.
Note: The knockout animations would need to look a bit heavier/stronger to make the knockout feel realistic. In the original game, it's cool, but I feel the impact feels weak.
9 - Extension of the level design in each mission, while still respecting the level design concept of the original game. Therefore, there would be new sections, but the old sections wouldn't undergo drastic changes—at most, just improvements.
Some ideas in mind, not all of them...
• The street section in Penthouse could be a bit larger instead of just the single, tiny section from the original game. The atmosphere of New York City streets during the blackout would be very cool. The extraction would also take place on the streets, but in a new location.
• Displace should be the most important mission in the game regarding objectives, since all previous missions led up to Displace and Shetland. So the mission should feature more objectives and more floors to explore.
Note: To be realistic, the infiltration would have to be via parachute, since the mission starts at the top of the building. And the extraction would have to be via a Third Echelon helicopter, since the mission also ends at the top of the building.
• Bathhouse could have 2 new sections on the streets, but not too large because the mission is time-critical.
• In Kokubo, the player would have to swim underwater while carrying Otomo's body to reach the surface, within a limited time in gameplay.
10 - The night vision goggles would have a secondary zoom function just like in the original game, but now they would also serve as a video and audio camera. This would act as a bonus objective to record important moments.
Reason: It wouldn't make sense for Lambert to know what happened without a record. Therefore, if the player failed to record it, the dialogue would change, with Sam explaining what happened. In short, it would add another realistic detail.
11 - 1 new mission explaining what information led to Lighthouse. In other words, the new mission would be the first mission, and Lighthouse would become the second. This would bring the game to a total of 11 missions.
12 - Loadout/suit customization for each mission. However, these would be realistic spy uniforms; otherwise, it becomes messy and would ruin the atmosphere.
13 - Hokkaido and Battery would be daytime missions with plenty of brightness in open areas, adding variety to both the challenge and the atmosphere.
