This GoldenEye Clone Has Fans Talking

"GoldenEye" fans are still searching for any hint of a remake — including in leaked Xbox achievements. Thankfully, they might be able to get some temporary solace from a "GoldenEye" clone that just announced its Steam demo. 

"Agent 64: Spies Never Die," the clone in question, has been in development for a while, but only emerged into the public eye during this year's PC Gaming Show. There, it was featured along with many of the other upcoming PC releases, earning a spot as an indie to watch. PC Gamer, the publication running the showcase, wrote, "This tribute goes all-in on nostalgia, and pulls it off." It's not just its premise, either. "Agent 64" purposefully imitates the blocky graphics from the Nintendo 64 era with a filter. Even better, it incorporates "GoldenEye" references for fans to appreciate. "I had to smile when, halfway through the demo level, I had to drop into a toilet cubicle," PC Gamer's Rich Stanton wrote in the preview.

Developer Replicant D6 took inspiration from '90s era shooters like "GoldenEye" for the objective-based missions and shootouts of "Agent 64. It stars a retired spy named John Walter, a.k.a. Agent 64, who's called in to save the world one last time. Here's what fans had to say about "Agent 64" so far.

Many "Agent 64" players noticed and appreciated the game's similarity to "GoldenEye." "Agent 64 is an homage to what old farts like me loved about Goldeneye and Perfect Dark. Precision aiming to elicit different body reactions and crafting objective-based missions," one Twitter user wrote.

Others had more complex feelings about the demo. "Feels like a reasonably broad-strokes take on the Rare N64 FPS template," another player said. "3D models are decent in invoking the era, but the character animations (esp. deaths) are pretty disappointing. Level design seemed more linear than its inspirations, too." However, they liked the demo enough to hope that the developers received enough funding to afford a "second-hand Kinect or two" and a "crash mat to bring back that primitive motion-capture spirit."

As per PC Gamer, Replicant D6 plans to release "Agent 64" with three story-based missions and will add more after its release. These missions can range from hacking terminals to saving hostages, and include varying difficulty levels with more or fewer tasks, depending on what the player wants. 

"Agent 64: Spies Never Die" just launched its free demo on Steam. It's also available on Steam Early Access.