Two very different flavors of ZX Spectrum action are lining up this year, and both are coming from the same guy: Tom Potter of Sausageware Games.
In S.C.I.O.N., you’re part of the Special Covert Infiltration Operations Network, an inter‑governmental black‑ops outfit sent to crush Maz Mort’s Morticians Gang. That means stomping through the jungle and the swamp before infiltrating a secret underground base, overloading its reactor, and then legging it before everything goes nuclear. Along the way, you keep an eye on a comms device that feeds you resupplies and upgrades, which sounds like a neat way to break up the usual Spectrum run‑right‑and‑die loop.
S.C.I.O.N. is targeting a spring 2025 release via BitmapSoft, with code and graphics by Potter, title and loading art from Kevin McGrorty, and music by Joe Olney, who is becoming Sausageware’s in‑house composer at this point.
On the other side, Knightmare is a very different beast: a moody dungeon crawler based on the cult 1980s kids’ TV show where blindfolded kids in the “Helmet of Justice” were steered through a creepy medieval labyrinth. The new Spectrum version is trying to feel more like the show than the old official game ever did, focusing on puzzles, ominous corridors, and that sense that one wrong step means a really embarrassing end. Crucially, the 48k and 128k versions share the same content; 128k just layers on a full AY soundtrack by Olney, including a fresh take on Ed Welch’s theme. It’s due to land for as little as zero dollars through BitmapSoft as well.
Will you be playing either game? Let us know in the comments below, and chat with us in our Discord!
Source: BitmapSoft via Indie Retro News (1, 2)
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