Velvet Assassin Preview At Gamecock 08

By Joe Haygood | July 22, 2008

One of the surprises I saw while watching all the E3 coverage this past week was a new title I had not read much about, but became more intrigued as I learned more about the concept.  Velvet Assassin is a stealth/action game set in World War II.  I know, it sounds cliched, but believe me, it puts a new spin on the WWII game, while introducing us to a new protagonist that feels very real, and less plastic then a normal female lead in a video game.

Violette Summer, is a spy, working behind enemy lines, or so it seems, but more on that in a moment.  You are dispatched by Allied commanders to search for intellegence, getting in and out of the area, while minimizing your presense.  It sounds easy enough till you realize that Hitler isn’t going to let all that happen so easily, as you will be confronted by guards and other units throughout the levels. 

As the demonstration went on, I had to know what the inspiration was for Violette Summer, and it seems that she is based on a real world individual, by the name Violet Szabo.   Szabo was a German citizen, who’s husband was killed during the war.  Unhappy with the German mentality, she joined the French resistance and started working for the Allied countries as a spy and assassin.  While all of this is true, there are some liberties taken with the game, as Replay Studios only used the Szabo’s story as a starting inspiration for the game.

War is not a pretty sight, and Velvet Assassin tries to paint the picture of the ugliness of war in its cityscapes.  The level that was being shown to us, had Violette sneaking through the streets of war-torn Warsaw.  Innocent civilians dotted the streets, all dead from German bullets.  Trash and other items are strewn about in a haphazard manner, as if to show the chaos that griped Warsaw only a few minutes before your entry into the level.  Also, the drab graphics just add to the despair that is around you in the city, making it even harder to put a happy spin on the destruction that has beset this once vivid city.

As I said before all seems to be normal in Velvet Assassin, going behind enemy lines, sneaking around, sticking to the shadows, and collecting morphine, which seems normal enough, but you are actually nowhere near combat as you find out in the very beginning of the game (not really a spoiler according to the development team).  It seems that the game has Violette remembering missions, while laying in a hospital bed.  This plot comes into play in the unique healing system.  When you start to die, you inject morphine from your hospital bed, which freezes time, and allows you to move Violette into a better position when the time starts again.  The presentation of this mode is really cool, with the screen washing out a bit, flowers petals float on the screen, while Violette shows up in her hospital gown, gliding around the screen, into a new position.  I can see people liking or hating this mode of healing, but to me, it has an artistic styling that has not been done in a game.

The stealth mechanics of the game were shown as the best way to play the game, similar to Splinter Cell gameplay.  Violette works best by clinging to the shadows, and staying out of site, using the environment or sneaking up on Nazis to kill them.  At one point, Violette finds a way to destroy a brick wall, so it falls on a group of soldiers, taking them out of the fight.  Another demonstration was watching Violette sneak up behind a soldier, and pulling the pin on a grenade on the soldier’s belt.  He walked over to a group of soldiers, unaware of the problem, and took out the entire group in the ensuing blast.  You do have weapons at your disposal, all authentically recreated from real-world World War II models, but you will want to use direct force as a last resort, and you will be woefully outnumbered, and quickly vanquished if run into a group of soldiers.

When asked about some of the better achievements, the two that the developers were most proud of included one where you have to finish the game with less than twelve kills, and another using only knife kills.  All of the achievements in the game have been built around giving the game more replay value, giving players reasons to go back and try different styles of play.

If you are a stealth gamer, in the vein of Metal Gear Solid or Splinter Cell, you will find lots to like in this game.  The build at the show was very stable and really had a nice look to it.  It will be available on the PC and the 360, but will not include any support for Games for Window Live.  No PS3 version is planned at this time.  Look for Velvet Assassin on game shelves in November of 2008.

EDIT: Oops on my notes, I had the wrong name down for the star of the game, it is Violette Summer, not Valance Hammer.  The article has been corrected.