It probably won't top the fan favourite, Chaos Theory, but it certainly looks like a proper return to form for the most part whereas older Tom Clancy franchises this gen haven't really recovered from Hollywood-ization of video games (Rainbow Six from tactical shooter with planning elements into cover shooter, Ghost Recon a tactical-heavy focused shooter into shootbang cover shooter with some mild tactical elements). The second to last previous game, Double Agent, was an interesting experiment but ended poorly. The previous title that Blacklist is an actual sequel to, Conviction, was more of video game staring Sam Fisher (the playable character) than it was a Splinter Cell game. If you've also played Hitman: Absolution, I argue it is the same thing and it isn't a Hitman game, but a video game starring Agent 47.
Also depends on who you ask. Some "hardcore fans" have a "funny" revisionist history about the franchise being more akin to maybe something like Thief or something else. That is to say that Chaos Theory is like the reverse Spiderman 3 that was so good that it retroactively caused fans to think the first two games were just as open-ended and freeform, when in reality they were a bit more linear or slightly puzzle-y over sandbox stealth. It's mostly a shame that after Chaos Theory that the series thought it could go back to how it was prior to it; only now does it seem to dawn on the developers to try to capture that magic again.