The Saboteur (v1.3)

Occupied Paris becomes a monochrome playground for sabotage, revenge, and reckless rooftop escapes in this unusually stylish World War II action adventure. You play Sean Devlin, an Irish racing mechanic pulled into the French Resistance after a Nazi officer murders someone close to him. His personal vendetta drives a campaign through Parisian streets, cabarets, checkpoints, and landmarks, with the surrounding countryside opening the conflict beyond the city. The tone mixes grim wartime oppression with pulpy, cinematic excess, making it feel less like a military simulator and more like a rough-edged resistance fantasy.

Sean spends much of his time identifying Nazi targets, then choosing how loudly to remove them. Missions and free-roam activities involve planting explosives, taking down propaganda installations, assassinating officers, destroying fuel depots, hijacking vehicles, and slipping through restricted areas in stolen uniforms. Gunfights use straightforward third-person shooting, while stealth, climbing, and cover let you approach objectives with more restraint when alarms would become overwhelming. Cars, trucks, tanks, and motorcycles make travel faster, and the progression system gradually improves Sean’s weapons, explosives, resilience, and ability to evade suspicion as German control weakens.

The standout idea is its visual liberation system: heavily occupied districts appear in stark black and white, then regain rich colour after enough enemy infrastructure is destroyed. That change is more than cosmetic, since inspired civilians increasingly distract soldiers, join skirmishes, or help Sean disappear from pursuit. Paris is not recreated with modern open-world density, and some driving, shooting, and climbing mechanics show their age, but its vertical landmarks and sabotage-focused activities still give it personality. Players who enjoy the chaos of Mercenaries, the climbing of Assassin’s Creed, or the liberation loops of later open-world games find a distinctive classic here, especially if they can forgive its 2009-era roughness.