Developers always have to cut content from their games. Usually it's a matter of not finishing it, excessive content that needs pushed back, or it's become irrelevant. However, sometimes they leave it on disc. Most notorious for this is Shadow of the Colossus, where entire level sections can be found by hacking the game via an emulator. Today however, I give you both a tutorial and insight (with lots of pictures) on how to get back to an area you only visit briefly in Pandemic's swan song WWII sandbox epic, Saboteur. (minor spoilers on some unlocks)
First thing you're going to want to do after starting up the game is, if you aren't there already, go to the cabaret and head out the back to the garage. You're going to want a fast car so the Drake, Aurora or Dierker's car can do. Once you're in your car ready to go, you're going to want to head up to the north east on your map, like so:
Be sure to set a marker at the gates you need to pass!
There are two ways to get here, but one involves a German checkpoint, so you'll want to head the first route it gives from the garage, so don't try to take the main roads. Sticking to back country should get you there, along with a few handy targets along the way if you're willing to expend the resources. I advise also being post-campaign play to get to this area like me, so that you have the majority of the bonuses and perks because it will make it significantly harder to play around in this back area. There are no HQs to respawn at, and if you die, you'll be sent all the way back to Paris. Make each ride up there count.
Now, to get past the border gate you need two things. A Strumwagon and a Nazis uniform. Thankfully both of these are present in subtle ways. The uniform comes from punching out (without setting off an alarm) the SS sniper at the recon post outside the gate. Try not to blow it up, as he's the easiest way to grab a uniform before entering.
Now opposite the tower is a motorbike and a Strumwagon. Get in it and drive to the following location (pictures below) WITHOUT killing the Nazis border guards -- since you're disguised they won't think anything of it. unless you get right in their face or start shooting at them.
Alright, now get out of the car, and climb up the car from it's rear. This is the only way to get on top of the pipes as they aren't climbable, but you CAN jump on them. Jump until you reach here:
Alright, now keep walking the way I have Sean facing in the picture and you'll arrive at...
Congrats! You are now officially in the little slice of Germany used for the tutorial, and can explore freely. In my adventures I noted a number of things.
1. There's an untextured statue of Dierker at the town fountain.
2. Every single Nazis freeplay objective object has a separate counter in this region and doesn't contribute to the count in Paris.
3. The bar from the tutorial has Nazis oppression color scheme and the door can be knocked, but it won't open.
4. Graphics in the far distance will glitch up once you start free roaming in this area.
5. Dierker's Lab and military base is fully accessible and the first Nazis you kill there can still be found on the ground, along with two boxes of non-objective contraband crates. He will still bleed if shot.
6. There are near-finished aircraft models that further implicate, along with the airstrikes by the Nazis forces at Alarm 5-6, that airborne combat may have been a feature at some point. They presently are just static models, and can be blown up (they gib appropriately), but are not a side objective either.
7. Strangely, the AA guns at Dierker's Lab, like the contraband crates, doesn't appear on radar and their shots won't even alert the AI.
8. There's an airship docking station that may have been intended for some additional story mission.
9. Still no sign of Dierker's sluttily dressed female cohort. Despite her appearing in the tutorial, being mentioned by characters, and appearing in the loading screen, it would seem her parts in the game were cut, perhaps implying missions relating to her might have at some point been present here.
10. It's also possible this area was to be re-opened as DLC or via a patch but Pandemic closed before they could release anything.
11. The steepness of hills seems to have almost no impact on whether you can traverse them in this region.
12. You can only call in allied strikes or a getaway strike in the town -- once you head towards the Lab, it refuses to send them.
13. There's a unique waterfall model for under the small bridge.
14. There's an additional sight seeing spot on top of the bar, but there's almost nothing to climb on to get to it, but several wall parts that look like you should be able to.
15. You can climb up until the -very- top of the Lab, where it stops you with an invisible wall. I thought I saw another sight seeing spot once upon there, but couldn't see it again, so it may have been an illusion of my eye.
16. There are no hiding spots when an alert is started, so once you reach a certain level, the alarm keeps going until you're disguised or dead.
17. Zepplins can fly overhead but there was no sign of planes attacking even when I got an Alarm 5 rating.
18. Nazis soldiers are already scripted to patrol routes, even at the lab.
19. There are two destroyable power reactors at the Lab.
20. In the factory part of the lab, you can drive one of the parked Strumwagons on the working stations. You can't get far, but it's the only vehicle that can be driven in a building in Saboteur.
Perhaps you'll find something more. This was a fun little bit of game archaeology.
Cheers,
Paradigm the Fallen
La Seine, La Seine, La Seine!
Trivia: Saboteur was the first M-rated Sandbox game I ever played in full form, and remains one of my favorites alongside inFamous.