The first person shooter may be evolving with each passing year, but I always find myself coming back to games like Perfect Dark and GoldenEye 007. There was something about those simpler shooters that made them stand out, something nobody ever seemed able to properly replicate. Well, until now, that is. Developed by a single person, Agent 64: Spies Never Die is possibly the closest anyone has come to recreating the GoldenEye I know and love. It looks, plays, and feels exactly as you’d hope, whilst introducing just enough quality of life improvements to smooth out the rough edges. The result is a game that feels less like dated jank, and more like a genuinely competent love letter to a classic.

Admit it. You can hear the bullet sound effects in your head.

I was shocked to find out that Agent 64 was actually crafted on Unity. In no moment does it feel like a “modern FPS”. Phyiscs, shooting mechanics, aiming systems… all identical to GoldenEye… or better yet, that remaster released on Xbox a few years ago, which retained the visuals and physics, and just added a handful of quality of life options and modern controls. In true nostalgic fashion, I decided to play the game with a controller, not a keyboard and mouse, and it felt legit. With the exception of dual-stick aiming (I am a purist but I am not a maniac), it played incredibly well, and akin to the Xbox remasters of Rare’s shooters.

Visually-speaking, it reminded me a lot of the Perfect Dark remaster released for Xbox 360. That means that characters look dated and intentionally cheap (though charming as hell, of course), but environments look a bit more polished. Lighting effects are more modern as well; that dichotomy did not feel as noticeable or off-putting as one would imagine. Sure, there are lots of reused assets, and the occasional cheap-looking model. There’s no denying that Agent 64 suffers from its budgetary shortcomings. Still, the level design, whilst not in the same level as Perfect Dark, was still quite impressive. It is largely tied to the limitations GoldenEye had back in the day, and that’s by design.

This is basically this game’s equivalent to the Surface level, combined with the Crash Site level from Perfect Dark.

Another interesting design choice was the inclusion of a handful of sound effects that were originally present in the GoldenEye game. You see, a good chunk of the more famous sound effects in that game, be it the enemies reacting to getting shot or some weapon noises, were actually taken from royalty-free sound libraries. That means that the Agent 64 developer was able to freely take these snippets, add them to the game, give it an increased level of fidelity, and save some cash in the process.

Agent 64 is a short game, but it offers far more replayability than I was expecting. Considering its budget, and the fact it was developed by a single person, it’s surprisingly solid in what it offers outside of the main campaign. It includes both splitscreen and online multiplayer, and by multiplayer I don’t just mean standard deathmatches. That alone would have been impressive enough given the game’s scope, but it even lets you tackle its admittedly short campaign in co-op with a friend.

Are there any real issues? Mechanically, not really. More than anything, there’s an overall sense that the game is a little rough around the edges and a little too brief. Then again, this is a low budget passion project from a lone developer. It’s an ambitious game whose scope was naturally limited by manpower, and that’s something worth keeping in mind. It doesn’t excuse every shortcoming, but it also doesn’t stop Agent 64 from being an easy recommendation.

It might be a PC shooter, but I had to play it with a controller. For nostalgia’s sake.

I really liked Agent 64: Spies Never Die. Sure, it’s limited in scope, and Xbox owners can already play excellent remastered versions of both Perfect Dark and GoldenEye 007, but that didn’t stop me from having a blast with this surprisingly well-put love letter to Rare’s legendary shooters. It faithfully recreates their physics, controls, and mechanics, while adding just enough quality of life improvements and modern visual flourishes to make it feel like much more than a fan project. This isn’t a game that’s content with riding on the coattails of the classics that inspired it. Instead, it feels like a genuine (and successful) attempt to stand alongside them.

Agent 64: Spies Never Die is available now on PC.

Reviewed on Intel i7-12700H, 16GB RAM, RTX 3060 6GB and Asus ROG Ally.

A copy of Agent 64: Spies Never Die was provided by the publisher.