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We Need More Spy Games

We Need More Spy Games

For as many video games as we have to choose from these days, there’s little variation when it comes to genre and content. You’ve got dozens of FPS/RPG/and 3rd-person-action titles released every year, but most of them don’t stray too far from a very specific formula. Sci-fi is covered, as is fantasy, modern settings, and even historical settings. You’ll have a few crime tales sprinkled in there, but for the most part that’s all there is to be had. There’s one important genre that almost never gets any love in video games: spy stories.

For context, two recent examples of games that dealt with spies off the top of my head were Alpha Protocol and Counterspy . One was a character action rpg in the style of Mass Effect , and the other was a 2d/fps hybrid. Both have great qualities, but neither were break-out smash hits that thrust the genre back into the spotlight. That’s a shame because the years between the release of each game showcases just how few and far between spy games can be. It’s a genre that offers storytelling avenues that other genres strain to accommodate.

We Need More Spy Games

Spy stories deal in intrigue, subterfuge, backstabbing, and moral ambiguity better than almost any other genre out there. You can get shades of these adult matters in other types of stories, but none quite capture them or play out as compellingly as they do in spy fiction. That’s because a spy’s entire existence and survival is dependent on mastering them and living in the space between each of them. Imagine Confessions Of A Dangerous Mind, Burn Notice, or even the Bourne series done as a well-executed game. It would easily be one of the most compelling released in its given year.

This is why we need my spy stories out there. Without them, adult gamers are missing out on huge compelling tales that they could interact with. It’s time to assume a cover identity, and infiltrate a secret party being held in the Alps.

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