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Death to Spies
 Work In Progress This article is still under construction. It may contain factual errors. See Talk:Death to Spies for current discussions. Content is subject to change. |
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Death to Spies is a third-person stealth game that lets the player assume the role of Captain Semion Strogov, a Russian WWII veteran and eventual field agent of the USSR's SMERSH counterintelligence agency from its 1943 inception. The game begins as Capt. Strogov is called to the Lubyanka building (then the headquarters of the KGB) in Moscow during 1951, and interrogated about his experiences to assist in tracking down a possible traitor in the organization. During his interrogation, the game's missions unfold in retrospective as Capt. Strogov tells his interrogator, or privately reminisces, about his experiences as a spy, saboteur, and assassin around the globe.
On a side note, SMERSH, a term coined by Joseph Stalin, is short for SMERt' SHpionam (СМЕРть Шпионам in Cyrillic), which itself means "Death to Spies" in Russian.
Overview
The game features a large variety of World War II weaponry, and also a fairly restrictive inventory system with which the player's weapons, equipment, and ammunition can be carried. The inventory itself has only 18 spaces and a weight limit of 22 kilograms to force players to be selective with what they take and leave behind. Inventory items each occupy a single slot and cannot be stacked, so a five-round stripper clip occupies the same amount of inventory space as a 71-round drum magazine would. The game does, however, let players carry a backpack into a level, which will allow for more than the usual 18 inventory spaces to be available, but even this must still respect the 22 kilogram weight limit, and the amount of extra inventory spaces granted depends on the type of backpack selected. Capt. Strogov for his own part cannot carry more than one long gun and one sidearm at any given time.
Death to Spies utilizes a equipment selection screen available before missions to allow players to choose their loadout before starting a mission, which is important because many weapons and pieces of equipment cannot be found in the various levels. Some weapons are not available on all missions at this screen however, and only a limited amount of ammunition (itself variable across missions) can be carried into a mission for weapons available at the pre-mission selection screen.
Like its more popular genre-mate the Hitman game series, Death to Spies also features a disguise system to allow the player character to blend in among hostile forces or access restricted areas, but the latter's is significantly more restrictive. Disguises can only be taken from NPCs who were incapacitated in a (relatively) bloodless manner (the rationale is that clothes that are bloodstained or riddled with holes from bullets/explosive fragments/knife attacks scream "bloody murder"), and NPCs who were killed with firearms cannot have their clothes commandeered unless they were dispatched with headshots (a gameplay mechanic that is somewhat unrealistic as headshots in real life can be distressingly bloody). Even with a disguise, various NPCs (most often officers or patrolling sentries) can and will see through the player character's charade if they get close enough to verify their suspicions.
This emphasis on deflecting suspicion extends even to any long guns carried while using a disguise; if hostile NPCs get close enough to a disguised Capt. Strogov to recognize that a firearm he's carrying is incongruous with his disguise (i.e., if he is disguised as a civilian but is seen carrying any firearm, or if he is disguised as a German soldier and is seen carrying a non-German firearm), they will immediately attack him and/or sound the alarm. Incongruous backpacks are also cause for alarm if NPCs get close enough to verify a backpack's foreign appearance. Aiming a firearm (even one appropriate to a disguise), setting a planted explosive, or throwing/placing any live grenade in the close sight of any NPC are also considered hostile acts.
Note: Unless otherwise noted, the following weapons are only available via the pre-mission equipment selection screen and not in the game's various levels.
Handguns
Note: All handguns can be carried while concealed on Capt. Strogov's person to avoid arousing suspicion, but only handguns that match his disguise can be openly carried without drawing hostile attention.
Colt M1911A1
The Colt M1911A1 appears in the game under its full name. Chambered in .45 ACP, It has a magazine capacity of 7 rounds and is available from the beginning of the game at the pre-mission loadout selection screen. Initially, 5 magazines can be taken into a mission for this gun, but after the "Project Y" mission (set in the Los Alamos National Laboratory), 10 magazines can be taken into a mission. It can also be looted off of the various US Army NPCs in the "Project Y" mission. For some reason, a British diplomat's security detail in the "Hotel" mission (set in a British hotel) also carry the Colt M1911A1, though the presence of those guns in British hands could be explained as a result of the American-British "Lend-Lease" program, implemented during WWII to allow the British government to obtain American military materiel it could not otherwise pay for.
Unusually for a stealth action game, the Colt M1911A1 is not available in a suppressed form.
Luger P08
The Luger P08 appears in the game as the "Parabellum Luger." It is chambered for the 9x19mm cartridge, has a magazine capacity of 8 rounds, and is available from the loadout selection screen where 5 magazines can be carried into a mission. Many Wehrmacht NPCs, mainly officers or non-frontline personnel, carry this weapon ingame, though whether they carry this sidearm or the Walther P38 depends on the level in question.
Nagant M1895
The only handgun available in a suppressed form, the Nagant M1895 appears ingame but is simply called "Revolver." Chambered for 7.62mm Nagant and possessing a 7-shot cylinder, it is only available from the loadout selection screen (with the exception of the "Hotel" mission, where the player must find it in a hotel storeroom). Most missions let you carry 21 rounds of spare ammunition for the Nagant M1895 (which come in clips of 7).
The game's depiction of the Nagant M1895 has some unrealistic elements; first, the loading gate, found on the right side of the real firearm behind the cylinder, is missing on the ingame version. Second, the ingame reload animation implies that it is being reloaded with a speedloader, when in fact the real firearm had a fixed cylinder and thus could only be (un)loaded one round at a time. The extremely heavy 20-pound trigger pull that the real weapon has when used in double action mode (the only firing mode used in the game) does not affect the gun's accuracy, or else Capt. Strogov is presumed to have trained with the weapon to the point that it is no longer a factor.
Tokarev TT-33
The Tokarev TT-33 is available ingame as the "TT-33." Chambered for 7.62x25mm Tokarev, it has an 8-round magazine capacity and is only available from the loadout selection screen as no NPCs use it. A whopping 10 spare magazines can be carried into a mission, right from the start of the game.
Walther P38
The Walther P38 appears in the game under its full name, is chambered for 9x19mm ammunition, and is available on the loadout selection screen where 5 magazines can be carried into a mission. It can also be taken off of various Wehrmacht NPCs who are officers or non-combat personnel. Whether they use the Walther P38 or the Luger P08 is down to the level in question.
Submachine Guns
M1A1 Thompson
MP-40
PPSh-41
PPS-43
Sten Mk III
Rifles/Carbines
DeLisle Carbine
Gewehr 43
Karabiner 98k
Lee-Enfield No. 4 Mk. 1
M1 Carbine
M1 Garand
Mosin Nagant Rifle
Springfield M1903A3
Tokarev SVT-40
Grenades
Note: Thanks to Capt. Strogov's saboteur training, all grenades can be used to make booby traps. Doors can be rigged to explode when opened, and incapacitated NPCs can be turned into "body bombs" that detonate when examined by enemies. The latter will also detonate if the trapped body is raised to be moved around by Capt. Strogov. He can safely disarm and retrieve grenades used as booby traps at a later time. Grenades cannot be "cooked" when thrown, and the ingame stick grenades cannot be thrown further for the same amount of throwing force than conventional hand grenades (as they can in real life).
F1 Grenade
Model 24 Stielhandgranate
RGD-33 Stick Grenade
Landmines
Note: All landmines can only be carried in backpacks, not in Capt. Strogov's "regular" inventory. Landmines cannot be buried or otherwise concealed when placed, but are still invisible to enemies anyway. Unlike many games with landmines or similar weapons, an NPC must directly step on a planted landmine to detonate it. Capt. Strogov cannot detonate landmines by stepping on them, but he can still shoot them to detonate them prematurely.