Saboteur SiO

Release Date: September 1, 2020

Action, stealth, platformers, 2D, ninja, Polish, indie games, side-scroll, singleplayer

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The third installment of an old-school 80s platformer series with a Japanese ninja in the lead role. In this side-scrolled game by Clive Townsend, we sneak through levels, fight the enemy and avoid security systems.

Plot
Mechanics
Game modes
Technical aspects

Saboteur SiO is an action platform game with elements of stealth game developed by Clive Townsend in cooperation with Polish studio SimFabric. This is a sequel of Townsend's series, which received its two editions in the 1980s, much later remastered by SimFabric.

Plot

Saboteur SiO tells a new story in the universe of the Saboteur series. Once again, we play the ninja who specializes in sabotage, in order to thwart the plans of the villains.

Mechanics

Clive Townsend did not try to revolutionize the series, so we get a gameplay that is almost no different from the classic games from the 80s. We observe the action from the side, and the character we are directing is moving through successive locations, fighting the enemies we meet. These have a rich arsenal, including firearms that will quickly end the life of the hero. So we have to maneuver between enemies and use all available equipment (including shuriken) to come out of these clashes victoriously. In addition, various security systems have been deployed on the boards, which we neutralize or bypass like sneaking around.

The novelties in Saboteur SiO are primarily new levels full of enemies absent from the previous cycle.

Game modes

Saboteur SiO does not offer much in terms of alternative gameplay options. The only addition is a special level of difficulty, created for people who are not used to challenges typical of retro games.

Technical aspects

As befits a retro game, the graphics design of Saboteur SiO is an almost faithful copy of the graphics from the original parts of the series. The devs only adjusted the whole thing to panoramic screens, and added special filters imitating screens of classic consoles. This includes primarily part of the platforms on which the two previous instalments of the series were released: ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amstrad and CPC. There was also an option for Game Boy fans and a handful of additional settings for old-school graphics lovers.

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