Not long after mentioning how much I needed more good spy games in my life, I was given a heads up (via a dead drop, naturally) about the Spy Video Game Rendezvous, a dev-organised Steam festival showcasing spy-themed games, kicking off on May 23.
Hosted by There's Always a Madman solo dev Sunny Demeanor Games, the Steam fest will feature more than 30 spy romps and will run until May 30, with the week appropriately coinciding with the arrival of Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning and the 117th anniversary of Ian Flemming's birth. «The Spy Video Games Rendezvous will feature a wide array of spy video games, from first-person shooters to puzzle games to visual novels to strategy games and more,» says Sunny Demeanor Games developer Adam Bernstein. «Some games feature realistic graphics, some have an N64 polygonal aesthetic harking back to the days of GoldenEye, some have cute cartoon graphics, and others are completely text-based.
You can play as a put-your-neck-on-the-line field agent, a desk-bound surveillance operative, a spymaster pulling the strings, a wizard, a dog, a raccoon, or even a wraith.» To kick off the event, the Sunny Demeanor Games YouTube channel will also host a «State of the Union of spy videogames», showing off upcoming spy games that you might want to keep on your radar.
It's a genre that could definitely use a bit more love, beyond the usual stealth/action affairs that spy games typically focus on.
I love me some Metal Gear, but as the game most people think of when the genre comes up, it only captures a sliver of what makes the spy life such compelling entertainment.