As the Spy the player’s first challenge is to blend in with the AI. Spy duel which is all about deception and behaviour in a world populated by AI characters.įrom a gameplay point of view, there is of course a little more complexity and, as a very asymmetric versus experience, it’s easiest to break things down from each player’s point of view. Likewise if the timer runs out before the Spy has completed all their tasks, the Sniper wins… and that’s it, a simple Sniper vs. The Sniper has a single shot to try and assassinate the Spy if they succeed, they win, otherwise the Spy wins. The Sniper player views the party from the outside, is able to pan around, observe the guest’s behaviour, and try to uncover who the Spy is. The Spy must blend in with the other guests whilst performing a certain number of Spy-like tasks. One player takes the roll of the Spy who must mingle with AI controlled guests at a suitably swanky reception hosted by the ambassador. … all these screenshots are taken in practice mode as there’s no way I could have effectively played and hit the screenshot button… It was the simple, yet instantly understandable, concept that hooked my interest, held it for all those years and is what makes it a very interesting experience now I’ve finally spent some time playing. Since then I’ve kept an occasional eye on the Spy Party website for development updates, I even bought the game in beta (although didn’t really play it at that point), and finally in recent months it has hit Steam albeit in early access form. I first heard about it in an issue of Games tm (so back when I still bought print magazines) maybe ten or more years ago. Spy Party is a game that has been in development for an extraordinary length of time. Now start studying my behaviour intensely and try to work out if I’m doing anything devious. Hello… are you sitting comfortably?…no, come closer… slide your chair in… closer… closer… move in to uncomfortably close territory as though you’re trying to see the flaw in a waxwork.