Melee

**Melee** is an usually unarmed method of attack that can be used by the player in all *Death To Spies* games, this article will cover all non-melee weapon attacks.

## Gameplay

Exactly how melee functions is game dependent:

### Death To Spies

In the original **Death To Spies**, Semyon can do a sideways punch/rifle buttstroke from behind an enemy with the use key, this is called **Stun** in-game (Similar to the Garrote/Chloroform though unlike those, the use key *must* be pressed, even unarmed, Semyon won't punch if the player uses the left mouse button unlike these close-range weapons.) this is also the only way to stab with the knife, with Semyon doing a quick quiet throat slit from behind.

**Stunning** negatively impacts the "Professionalism" stat and is relatively loud and can be heard by nearby enemies, who may investigate, not leaving the player much time to move the body if their attack is overheard.

While the player can't *normally* attack enemies from the front, certain unique characters are scripted to allow frontal stuns, even then, the player can employ a tactic of strafing around the target while mashing the action button, hoping to hit the stun prompt when Semyon is briefly behind the enemy as Stunning only requires to be *initiated* behind the enemy, a stun can still knock out from the front if the enemy turns arond.

### Moment of Truth

In **Moment of Truth**, Semyon can now throw punches, a pistol whip, a two-hit rifle buttstroke combo or knife slashes by pressing the mouse button to attack like with with shooting when close to an enemy, the enemy will initially react with a "stunned" animation and then promptly drop unconscious with repeated strikes (Most melee) or dead. (knife slashes)

Throwing punches are somewhat unique, the first punch Semyon throws will be a quick right-handed jab that stuns the target, melee attacking the NPC again (even after some time has passsed) will result in Semyon doing a flury of punches that knocks the target out.

### Alekhine's Gun

In **Alekhine's Gun**, melee with a knife is now an instant kill with a takedown animation, when Semyon punches an enemy enough times in a row, Semyon will do a takedown animation and either knock out the enemy or snap their neck, if the player doesn't punch in a row and does individual punches slowly, there will be no takedown animation but the enemy will always be knocked out. (Useful against the handful of enemies the player isn't allowed to kill.)

Two-handed melee weapons have been added, they function identically and will instantly kill an enemy with a single blow.

The "Stun" action from behind an enemy has been replaced with "Silent Takedown", requiring a full instinct meter, Semyon can choke out an enemy silently, this animation will also sometimes be used when punching an enemy from behind though Semyon may do a different animation that's a neck snap that will kill the target if attempted via punching and not the Silent Takedown prompt.

### Death To Spies: RedWolf

In an in-progress video for RedWolf, it was shown how melee is a mix of Alekhine and past games, Melee can once again be performed with firearms and blocking is now a mechanic, enemies will attempt to block Semyon's melee strikes while Semyon can also block their strikes, in addition a few melee animations now involve kicks instead of just punching/striking with a weapon.

Semyon attacking a Cryptographer with unarmed meleeSemyon pistol whipping a soldierSemyon attacking a Biker in Alekhine's Gun