The best spy video games ever made

SunnyDemeanorGames · 7 months ago · Faq

As a video game player and also a video game developer, I've spent quite a bit of time playing and researching the spy video game genre, and I've even released my own multi-game spy video game series There's Always a Madman. So I decided to sit down and write out my recommendations for the best spy video games ever made - and some ones to keep an eye on for the future.

Last updated: November 2024

Top marks, still active (the best spy games you can buy today)

GoldenEye (available on Switch via Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack and on Xbox via a digital copy of Rare Replay or on GamePass)

The spy video game that dwarfs all others. You already know about this one, so I'll simply say that I've played the 2023 Xbox version and it held up really well due to the more modern control scheme. The NSO version doesn't get the same control update, but it does have online multiplayer with friends, which the Xbox version doesn't have. So pick your poison, I guess

Perfect Dark (available on Switch via Nintendo Switch Online expansion pack and on Xbox via Rare Replay)

A spiritual successor to GoldenEye made by the same team, only with a more outrageous story. If you enjoy GoldenEye, this is one to check out, for sure

Alpha Protocol (available on GOG and Steam)

Perhaps the best spy video game ever made. Nowhere close to being the best shooter ever made, but way up there in terms of being a good spy game. Decide which strangers will become friends vs. foes, and most interestingly, being friendly isn't the necessarily the way to always win people over in this espionage setting. Originally released in 2010, the game had been delisted from 2019 to 2024, but in March 2024, it got a re-release on GOG, which is a faithful version of the original (not a remaster or remake, just a re-release which preserves licensed music and runs on modern PCs). In June 2024, the game returned to Steam but without the quality of life enhancements in the GOG version.

XIII - classic (available on Steam)

A first-person shooter with a comic book art style, you start off as an amnesiac suspected of murdering the President of the United States. You have to clear your name and catch the real perpetrator. Even features voice acting by actors like David Duchovny and Adam West

Spycraft: The Great Game (available on Steam)

A classic in the spy genre. Set during the Cold War, you're a CIA agent tasked with ensuring the survival of the US president after a presidential candidate for a foreign power has been assassinated

Sid Meier's Covert Action (available on Steam)

Complete your mission via performing a variety of minigames like combat, driving, cryptography, and manipulation of electronics. Randomly generated plots mean there's always another mission and the world is never truly safe

I Expect You To Die 1, 2, & 3 (available on Steam and PS VR)

A series of VR games that puts you literally into the shoes of a secret agent as you have to work your way out of hazardous predicaments

Neon Struct (available on Steam)

A first-person stealth game where you're a disavowed agent suspected of treason who has to clear your name. If you're a fan of man-on-the-run spy stories similar to Three Days of the Condor or the first Mission: Impossible film (or in this case, a woman-on-the-run story), then this game is for you. It's not a visual spectacle by any measure, but if you're capable of judging a game on more than its looks, then this is a capable entry in the genre

Hitman games

You're more of an assassin than a spy in these games, but there's plenty of sneaking around and discreetly eliminating targets

Splinter Cell games

These games started off as very stealthy games and became more action-heavy over time, but still great for getting the adrenaline rush of being a spy no matter which Splinter Cell game you play

Framed (available on Steam and Switch)

Arrange images in the proper order to complete your objective. Excellent spy music to boot, so consider picking up the soundtrack, too

Agent A: A Puzzle in Disguise (available on Steam and Switch)

A point-and-click escape room type of game where you're a secret agent trapped in the home of a rival agent and need to get out to foil their dastardly plan. This one has a humorous tongue-in-cheek vibe, unlike many of the games on this list

Undercover Agent (available on Steam)

A text-based adventure where you're a spy planted in the highest level of a mega corporation and need to conduct corporate espionage against the company's owner. No images or music, but plenty of branching paths set this game apart from most other entries in the spy genre

Metal Gear Collection

Play as Snake across a variety of Metal Gear games as he infiltrates, evades detection, and puts a stop to world-threatening situations. These games themselves aren't new, but this collection does collect some Metal Gear and Metal Gear Solid games into a new package that's playable on modern consoles

Call of Duty: Black Ops 6

Call of Duty may seem like an unusual game to see on this list, but you'll find the single-player campaign in this game is a spy story about a CIA operative, not your typical military-soldier-on-the-frontlines campaign. And in retrospect, it really shouldn't come as that much of a surprise that Call of Duty is going in a more spy-oriented direction when you consider that Call of Duty: WWII (listed below in the "non-spy games with a good spy level" category) featured a level where you played as a spy infiltrating a party and needing to find your target

Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes

You know that scene in every spy or action film where the hero comes across a bomb and has to decide whether to cut the red wire or the blue wire? Well, that's the entire premise of this asynchronous co-op game where one player is faced with an elaborate explosive device and has to describe what they're seeing to another player who is armed with only an instructional manual. Work together to disarm the devices

Fracked (available on Steam and PS VR)

If you fancy your spy adventures to be more action-packed than stealthy, then this VR game is for you. If nothing else, it's one of the few games I know of (the other being The World is Not Enough video game) where you can do that James Bond thing of downhill skiing while being shot at. And of course, you can shoot enemies while you're going down the slopes

The Saboteur (available on Steam and GOG)

An open-world spy game where you have to free occupied Paris during WWII. Interestingly, the game begins in black-and-white and turns to color as you liberate each section of the city. Originally released in 2009 and has been on GOG for a while but only came to Steam recently in March 2024

There's Always a Madman series (available on Steam)

This is a comedic take on the spy genre, satirizing James Bond and Mission: Impossible. As a text-based interactive novel, they consist of choice-based gameplay like Alpha Protocol rather than the action-heavy gameplay typical in spy video games. In each installment (which are all designed to be standalone adventures), you play as a secret agent going toe-to-toe with a maniacal madman who's bent on taking over the world, so it's up to you to use your top-notch spy skills to save the day. Because there's always a madman, and you're the best agent we've got! Although these games are text-based, they do contain music to appropriately set the tone whether you're in a dangerous predicament or out of harm's way for the moment (note that I am the developer of this game series)

Top marks, undercover (great spy games masquerading as non-spy games)

Dishonored

From the outside, this is more of a fantasy game given its supernatural elements, but at its core, you're a royal bodyguard who has been framed and needs to clear your name. If that's not the basic setup for a well-known spy trope (such as the first Mission: Impossible film), then I don't know what is

Mass Effect 1

A game that feels like James Bond in space. Not like in Moonraker, but where there is life all throughout the galaxy, and you have a license to kill in tracking down a rogue agent bent on destroying the entire galaxy

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

In this game, you're constantly putting on masks and assuming different identities to infiltrate various factions. This game probably has more masks than all the Mission: Impossible films combined

Top marks, retired (great spy games that are not available for sale anymore)

The Operative: No One Lives Forever 1 & 2

A fondly remembered spy series that's a first-person shooter with stealth elements. A comedic take on the spy format is one thing that sets this apart from most other spy games, and another is the female agent's standard gadgets tend to be made out of feminine accessories like lipstick explosives or a perfume bottle containing sleeping gas

007: Everything or Nothing

An original James Bond story featuring a strong cast - Pierce Brosnan, Judi Dench, and John Cleese reprise their roles from the Bond films, plus Willem Dafoe, Heidi Klum, and Shannon Elizabeth. Not to mention you get to fight Jaws (Richard Kiel, returning from before the Brosnan era). And the gameplay is excellent. The verticality in this game is second to none, as you have a grappling hook that lets you ascend and descend, with entire levels built around this concept like you're Ethan Hunt running down the side of the Burj Khalifa in Mission: Impossible Ghost Protocol (long before that film came out)

007: From Russia with Love

Perhaps the last Bond story you'd think would make for a good video game, but Sean Connery actually does the voice acting, so that makes this game noteworthy in and of itself. Plus, they spice up the action from the book/film by pulling in things from across Connery's entire run as Bond, such as sections where you fly around with the jetpack from Thunderball. But your mileage may vary on these alterations - e.g. instead of Red Grant discreetly leaving a body in the back of a car to stoke mistrust, there's a cutscene where he steps out on an overpass and uses a rocket launcher to take out a car driving down the road. That about sums up the lack of subtlety the game deploys compared to the book or film, but it's still got Sean Connery doing the voicework, and anytime you do a hand-to-hand takedown, it has a rather brutish Connery-as-Bond feel to it, elements that set this game apart from spy games with a run-of-the-mill action hero

Good in a pinch (non-spy games with a good spy level)

Call of Duty: WWII

This is mostly your standard Call of Duty shooter, but there is one level where you play as a different character and need to navigate a party without arousing suspicion to accomplish your mission. A very welcome break from the bombastic gameplay present in the remainder of the game

LEGO Dimensions (Mission: Impossible level & world)

LEGO Dimensions was a LEGO game containing many different popular franchises in it. One add-on was for Mission: Impossible - you could purchase a physical real-world LEGO set with an Ethan Hunt minifigure and a car. Then, you could tap those to a reader and use them in the game, such as in a Mission: Impossible level that recreated the events of the first film in LEGO form

Not to be fully trusted (licensed games that are hit or miss)

Other James Bond games

I already listed three James Bond games above (GoldenEye, Everything or Nothing, and From Russia with Love), but there are some other ones that are worthwhile, namely Nightfire, Agent Under Fire, and The World is Not Enough. There are others that are more uneven, so tread carefully if you want to dive into the world of James Bond video games

Mission: Impossible N64

There have been a few Mission: Impossible video games, but none since 2003 (Operation Surma). However, the one that looms large is the N64 entry simply titled Mission: Impossible. It certainly has its flaws, but to its credit, it feels very much like a spy game since you're generally impersonating targets, setting up elaborate escape plans for later in the level, and of course lowering from the ceiling to steal the NOC list off a computer in the world's most well-protected vault (recreating the memorable set piece from the film). If you go around shooting everyone, you probably will not succeed, which is a mark in this spy game's favor. But be prepared for graphics that were never great to begin with, long missions you'll probably have to restart many times, and a story that deviates from the film just enough it might bother you

Archer: Danger Phone

The only free game in this entire list, the only one where you're running the spy agency rather than being a field agent, and one of the few comedic games on this list. This is a mobile game available on both Apple and Android

Alias

Set during season 2 of the TV show Alias, this is a third-person shooter/stealth game. The main selling point would probably be that it features the voices of the show's actors, including Jennifer Garner, so if you're a fan of the show, this would be for you. Metacritic has it rated as a 64 on both PS2 and Xbox

24: The Game

A third-person shooter exclusive to the PS2, this game also features the voices of the show's actors, like Alias listed just above. That means Kiefer Sutherland, Dennis Haysbert, Elisha Cuthbert, and more. But it's only rated 62 on Metacritic, so you're probably better off playing something like Splinter Cell: Conviction or Splinter Cell: Blacklist for a similar experience. And if you were expecting the game to be 24 hours long based on the show's runtime, the game is more like 12 hours to beat (although 12 hours is a decent length for a linear story-based game)

Robert Ludlum's The Bourne Conspiracy

This is a third-person action game, but I found it to be more of a button-masher whenever engaging in combat, which was often. You can perform some cool takedowns by smashing opponents into nearby objects, but first you have to have a boring fistfight with every middling security guard you come across before you can build up your takedown gauge. Worst of all, there was one boss I did a takedown on five different times, and he got up every time - I'm pretty sure I only "beat" that boss because he finally whittled my health down to zero. For a government-trained superspy, that seemed like completely the opposite of how that boss fight should have played out. Also, you are playing as Jason Bourne, but you look and sound nothing like Matt Damon, which is a bummer. It would be hard to recommend this one

Ones to keep an eye on (upcoming spy games)

IO Interactive James Bond game

This is the spy game you should have your eye on. IO Interactive is the team that makes the Hitman games, so they've got a good pedigree, and with the James Bond license, it seems like a great fit. However, this project was announced in 2021, and as we near the end of 2024, we still haven't heard anything about it, not even a title

007: Cypher

A brand new James Bond game that released in September 2023, marking the first time since 2012 that we've gotten a noteworthy James Bond game. It's exclusive to Apple Arcade and only released with two chapters initially, but has since received additional content related to The Spy Who Loves Me. Based on early reports, it does sound like what's in the game is great so far, but here's hoping the rest of the game is great too whenever it's complete (and that it hopefully is not exclusive to the Apple Arcade subscription service forever)

Perfect Dark remake/reboot (wishlist-able on Steam)

A big budget spy game based on the Perfect Dark franchise, this was first announced in 2020 and we finally got a first glimpse of the game via a trailer during Microsoft's "not-E3" 2024 presentation. There is no known release date for this game, but it's at least good to know it's still in active development. It can even be wishlisted on Steam, even though the Steam page is pretty bare bones with just a single paragraph of text

Splinter Cell remake

Another long-gestating AAA spy game, this Splinter Cell remake was initially announced in 2021 and doesn't even feature a Steam page (assuming it will come to Steam since previous Splinter Cell games are sold there today) nor much in the way of footage the last couple of years. But it's still one to keep an eye on if you enjoy a whole lot of stealth in your spy video games

Agent 64: Spies Never Die (wishlist-able on Steam)

A new indie first-person shooter coming to Steam that harkens back to the days of GoldenEye in terms of both graphical fidelity and gameplay. But in addition to having a single-player story mode and a PvP multiplayer mode, this will also have a PvE co-op mode, which is a rarity among spy games. There is a demo available now (look for a small, not-easily-spotted blue "Download Demo" button on the Steam page rather than the typical front-and-center green "Download" button), and the full game is expected later this year in 2024 after having been bumped back from an expected 2023 release

Dangerous Connections (wishlist-able on Steam)

This game isn't expected to release until 2026, but it's a first-person shooter in the vein of GoldenEye with modern-looking graphics and a Cold War setting. Even though it's a ways from release, it does have a Steam page where you can check out the trailer and wishlist the game

Killer Bean (wishlist-able on Steam)

This game got announced in style during the 2024 Summer Games Fest. Apparently, you will play as an anthropomorphic coffee bean who's a secret agent betrayed by the shadow agency he works for (seemingly every character in the game is an anthropomorphic coffee bean). Looks like this will be an action-heavy spy game for sure with tons of flashy moves, slow-motion bullet time, and even break-dance-style bullet dodging. There is no announced release date and it will be releasing into Early Access, but you can check out the announce trailer and wishlist the game on Steam

Pizza Spy (wishlist-able on Steam)

This is an action-adventure spy parody game coming to Switch, Steam, and GOG where you play as a secret agent named Ace Cook. Everything here is food-themed, especially pizza, and you can choose to play covertly (via stealth) or overtly (via dialogue and persuasion), including multiple endings. The game is expected to release in May 2025 - at least based on the Kickstarter estimated delivery date, so take that with a grain of salt given how Kickstarter campaigns are rarely delivered on time - but there is a free demo available on Steam now

There's Always a Madman series (wishlist-able on Steam)

A spy thriller interactive novel series that began with There's Always a Madman: Fight or Flight which released on Steam in March 2024 and continued with There's Always a Madman: Do Your Worst in November 2024 (although it should be noted that each game is a standalone adventure). Future games in the series are planned; the third entry is announced with the title There's Always a Madman: Bring the Thunder, an expected release in Q3 2025, and a plot about trying to stop a madman with a weather machine who happens to be named Zeus! (note that I am the developer of this game series)

Well, there you go - the best spy video games ever made. For top-notch spy stories in other media, check out these other links below: