Pandemic Studios is in development of a little game called The Saboteur. The Saboteur follows the story of Sean Devlin, in a Nazi occupied Paris who is seeking revenge. Now, I’ve been to Paris but not this kind of Paris. To find out more what this world looks like, I got a chance to ask the creators and find out more.
We know very little about this Nazi occupied world. I can safely say, it’s because most of us were not even born yet! What inspired this world?
Our inspiration behind The Saboteur actually comes from a real-world story. Do a search for a guy named William Grover-Williams and check it out. It’s a really amazing tale of a mechanic that became a Bugatti race car driver in France in the early 1900’s. Once World War II broke out, he joined the SOE and went back into France as a British spy to disrupt the Nazi occupation. The guy obviously had balls of steel, and that’s exactly the type of hero we wanted to recreate in The Saboteur – except our hero, Sean Devlin, is only after revenge and doesn’t care about helping any country win the war.
Seems like a badass and a bit selfish — just my type of guy! I wonder if he would ever take me out to dinner. Are there any bistros in the game?
It wouldn’t be Paris without bistros, right? You’ll see all kinds of sidewalk cafes and eateries in this gorgeous city, though Sean will be a bit busy cracking skulls to enjoy any tasty croissants. While you may not eat during the game, you may see our hero enjoy some other necessities of life, such as drinking from his flask or lighting up a smoke.
Well, smokes are way more low cal than croissants, so I’m cool with that. Nazi Paris is embracing its M rating, so what are some of the things we can overhear while roaming the streets?
The Nazis will swear I aplenty in German, but the real treat isn’t what you’ll hear in the street so much as what you’ll occasionally hear indoors – through the walls, if you know what I mean.
I’ll be sure to keep an ear out. What movies severed as an inspiration?
For the universe backdrop, the Indiana Jones flicks taught us that Nazi’s are always fun to kill, even (and perhaps especially) if you’re not fighting the war. Some classics like Guns of Navarone and Where Eagles Dare also gave a lot of great reference material when it comes to blowing Nazis up. But when it comes to creating our hero, Sean Devlin, we looked to films such as Die Hard and Dirty Harry to create a tough-as-nails anti-hero that is clever enough to get any dirty job done.
Aside from getting inspiration from other films, I heard you guys went to Paris to help create an accurate Paris for Sab. How accurate is the final product?
It’s what we like to call the Disneyland version of Paris . Everything is in the right place, and, if you’ve ever been to Paris before, you’ll instantly know how to find your way around. For the sake of gameplay and balancing, we didn’t recreate a full one-to-one replication of the real city of Paris , but it’s HUGE. Every major district is there, each with its own flavor and distinct style. Again, if you know Paris , you’ll be right at home. And if you don’t already know it, then it’s cheaper than a plane ticket and you’ll probably learn something.
What sections of Paris were stylized for the game?
We’ve stylized some things such as the Moulin Rouge, which has been recreated in The Saboteur as The Belle de Nuit. By the name alone, you can probably figure out what goes on here. And we’ve taken a bit of creative and artistic liberty with our universe in bringing the Nazi occupation to life, so that the parts of Paris that are inhabited by the Nazis will be truly intimidating as you discover them.
Did you guys go to any cabarets in Paris ? As part of research of course!
The Parisian nightlife is part of what makes this unique city so magical, so naturally the team had to get some first-hand experience. For research, yes. But unfortunately, we seem to have forgotten where those photos went …
Be thankful there is not a TMZ for gaming! Quick fire question: Hamburger vs. French bread?
Neither – freedom fries!
Great choice. Let’s move along now to the more hard hitting questions. There are lots of pretty ladies in this Nazi Paris – inspirations?
Again, some of the best perks of this job are the reference and research stages. We are sitting on a stash of photos from modeling sessions for some of the more sexy characters in the game. And by “sitting on,” I of course mean “using as our desktop wallpapers.”
I expect to see these images in my asset disk…yesterday. If you could be born again, would you be born in Nazi Paris? Why?
Yes. But only in the universe of The Saboteur, and only as Sean Devlin – where you are a one-man wrecking crew with the entire city of Paris at your disposal. Any other scenario would be pretty grim.
