Velvet Assassin Preview

Velvet Assassin - hm, sure has a nice ring to it. There's something undeniably cool about witnessing agile female agents facing Nazi villains and performing spy-like execution moves. Also, it's been a while since NOLF and NOLF 2 and we're eager to see more daring female special agents in action. (BloodRayne? She's also that thing that's not a vampire. - Ed)

Anyway, Velvet Assassin, formerly known as Sabotage, sort of follows a similar pattern we've seen in games like the aforementioned hit series from Monolith.

The game tells the story of a crafty MI6 agent Violette Summer. The developers claim to have been inspired by a real-life female spy named Violette Szabo, who allegedly worked against the Germans during World War 2. As it happens, the actual agent Violette got captured by the Germans, shortly after which she had been executed at the age of 23 (maybe she wasn't so crafty after all). This supposedly occurred in 1945.

Now, as we understand it, the designers of the game decided to kick things off after Violette was detained. Our journey will most likely start after her capture, as she lies in a hospital bed. Most of the sections in the game represent dream sequences and missions residing deep within the memory of the main character.

During her career as a spy, Violette went on a variety of perilous missions. Her objectives involved things like sabotaging submarines, destroying fuel depots and so on.

It's obvious that the developers don't want to beat around the bush, so they were very clear on the gameplay mechanics in Velvet Assassin. Their goal is to keep players focused on stealth actions. According to Replay Studios, the game is fairly similar to Ubisoft's Splinter Cell series. As Violette steps into action, she often keeps to dark areas and shadows to avoid being spotted by foes. Progressing through the game will gradually improve Violette's stealth skills, giving her additional ways to outwit enemies and evade capture.

At this stage, the development studio still refuses to reveal all the features. However, they did uncover that the game is going to include somewhere around 50-60 kill-moves, which our heroine will be able to utilize against her enemies. Most of these moves were made to emphasize the stealth aspect of the gameplay. Classic assassin-style moves are on offer, of course, such as creeping up behind guards and slicing their throats, quickly and quietly. Furthermore, the main character can easily sneak up on German guards, take the pin out from their grenades, move away and then just watch as they get blown to bits (nasty!).