Crusader: No Remorse is an action game developed by Origin Systems and published by Electronic Arts. It was first released in 1995 for MS-DOS, with the Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn ports following in 1997. Set in a dystopian future 22nd century, the game centers on The Captain, a special ops officer and supersoldier, who defects from the tyrannical world government, the World Economic Consortium (WEC), and joins the Resistance rebels.
Critically well-received, No Remorse was followed by the PC-only sequel Crusader: No Regret in 1996.
Gameplay
Crusader is divided into missions, each with their own locations and objectives. Settings vary from factories to military bases to offices to space stations, and contain a variety of enemy soldiers and servomechs, traps, puzzles and non-combatants (who can be killed with no penalty and their bodies can be looted for credits). All locations have alarm systems which are triggered by walking into view of security cameras or destroying a secured door, and can be deactivated by using an alarm box. So long as the alarm is active, either a new enemy soldier will teleport into the area every few seconds or a confined servomech will be released, depending on where the player is. In addition, the player cannot use keycard slots or door switches while an alarm is active. In the PC version, the Silencer can carry no more than five firearms at once.
The game featured an unprecedented level of setting interaction. Most of the environment can be destroyed by weapons fire and some traps or defenses can be manipulated for use against the enemy. The geography of the setting encourages the use of tactics and combinations of moves in order to hit the targets effectively with the minimum possible loss of resources. No Regret added a handful of new maneuvers to the original game, including the ability to dive forward, and to sidestep while crouching. Weapons, ammunition, credits (money), healing facilities, and other equipment are scattered through the levels, allowing the player to upgrade their arsenal.
Plot
Due to economic downfalls, the nations of the planet Earth began gradually to organize themselves into huge economic super-conglomerates. Eventually, these continental organizations merged into the World Economic Consortium. The WEC is a tyrannical entity, on paper an economic allegiance, but in practice a type of "New World Order" dictatorship. While the world is made to look peaceful and prosperous, the reality is that most liberties are suspended, taxes are well over 90%, military force is used mercilessly against those who dare oppose the WEC, and freedom is barely even remembered. Only an elite upper class of WEC executives have true power and wealth; among these are WEC President Gauthier and Chairman Nathaniel Draygan. The WEC is being fought by an organization calling itself the Resistance, led by former WEC colonel Quentin Maxis, promoted to general when risen to command of the group. The Resistance is a severely outnumbered and outgunned ragtag mix of disparate people: ex-WEC soldiers and employees rub elbows with political dissidents and criminals searching for pardon.
As No Remorse opens, a team of three Silencers—enigmatic super-soldiers—are returning from a botched mission in which they disobeyed an order to fire upon civilians who were (mistakenly) believed to be rebels. They are ambushed by a WEC mech and two of the Silencers are killed. The remaining one, a nameless captain (the player character), was able to disable the mech with a grenade. Reconsidering his options, the Silencer joins the Resistance, where, as a significant symbol of the WEC's military power and political philosophy, he is met with resentment, distrust and outright hatred. As the game progresses, the Silencer uncomplainingly undertakes dangerous missions, often with substandard equipment, and his continued success gradually earns the respect of his fellow Resistance members.