Infiltrator

Infiltrator is a fixed-screen, side-view arcade platform game similar to Lode Runner. The player controls an agent sent to retrieve stolen works of art and other treasure from high-security strongholds of an international crime organization. The agent is unarmed but is equipped with a can of very strong, self-regenerating acid that can dissolve almost any surface, which may be used to set traps for the numerous guards.

Like in Lode Runner, each level fits on one screen and consists of various platforms, ladders and ropes to navigate around. Once all treasure items have been collected, a ladder appears that leads to the top of the screen where the next level is located. Up to 15 guards can populate one level, chasing the player around, and any contact with them results in instantly losing one life. The only defense from the guards is that the player runs faster and can trap them in pits where the acid has corroded part of the floor. However, after a brief period of time these holes in the floor will self-repair. Anything trapped in such a hole will be instantly destroyed, but guards dispatched in such way will immediately respawn at the top of the screen. The acid is also required to access certain parts of the levels that have no other ways of entry.

Levels do not have a time limit, and the game generally puts a greater emphasis on finding the right way around, rather than outrunning the guards, which results in puzzle-like gameplay. There are various tricks and traps such as one-way passages and fake floors that look solid but can be passed through, designed to catch the player by surprise, but knowledge of these traps can also aid in completing a level, for example by permanently trapping a guard under a false floor.

The game allows players to manually save their progress at the beginning of a level, but there is also a lives system, with the game starting with five lives ("agents").

Infiltrator was originally sold as shareware. The unregistered version includes 50 levels, with more levels and tile sets in the full game. Registered users would also receive a level editor. Author Soleil Lapierre eventually released this extra content as a free download, and declared the game freeware. However, the source code is not available.