Unexpectedly, I flew through the remaining missions in The Saboteur, unlocking 9 Achievements in one gaming session, and experiencing one of the more sobering, psychologically haunting endings to a videogame in some time. Also, it was extremely sad, and not just because we came full circle with Dierker and the Nazi empire, but mostly because of this:
The Legend Begins (100G): You completed The Saboteur.
See? Sean Devlin was going places. That is, until Pandemic Studios became liquidated after the game came out, cementing that there’d not be another game from them. So, the legend begins…and the legend ends. No more sneaking around for Devlin, no more planting bombs and walking casually away as things go boom in the background, and no more telling cohorts that “things are about to go tits up.” I have to wonder what exactly the name of this Achievement means. Did they actually plan for more…or is it implying that everything done in-game–and that’s a lot of one-upping the Nazis–was done by one man, and that his actions will now live on forever? It’s kind of hard to tell. Companies do love their franchises and sequels, and I’m really wowed over by how much fun The Saboteur turned out to be, especially for its now low price. I guess it got lost in retail murk, but it was a refreshing WWII adventure, with really fun and varied main story missions.
I want to talk about the ending, but I don’t really want to spoil anything because I know at least one person that reads this blog is still chugging away at the game. So I won’t say much or go into specifics. It’s unexpected and totally a 180 spin of everything else thrown against you, and yet it works. It’s quiet and methodical, haunting and creepy, far from gimcrackery, all about a punch to the gut. It gives you a choice, and though the choice is obvious and ends the same way, I’m thankful the devs put it in there. It allowed me to enter Sean’s shoes and act accordingly.
The legend begins, the legend ends. The game ends…and yet it doesn’t really. After the credits roll, you’re right back in Paris, that map full of white dots (also known as ambient freeplay events) much more than an eyesore now–it’s Sean’s truly final mission, to rid Paris of all things Nazi, bring color back to the world, and maybe unlock some more Achievements. The only ones that will be really tough is getting all the Gold perks and completing the numerous ambient freeplay events throughout the map.
It’s gonna take awhile, but we’ll get it done…one explosion at a time.
Grinding Down 