Agent 64: Spies Never Die Review: GoldenEye's Ghost Is Alive and Well on PC

Every few years someone promises to bring back GoldenEye 007, and every few years it goes nowhere. So forgive my scepticism when Agent 64: Spies Never Die finally hit 1.0 on Steam on August 11, 2026, after a long Early Access run. Two evenings later I was replaying missions on harder difficulties just to see the new objectives, exactly like it's 1997 - and I mean that as the highest possible compliment.

What it is

Agent 64 is a retro spy FPS built in Unity by Replicant D6, a solo developer from France, and it wears its inspirations openly: GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, a dash of TimeSplitters. You play secret agent John Walter across a 14-mission campaign against the villain Dominic Pulp, playable solo or in co-op - two players in split-screen, up to four online. Versus multiplayer supports four players on one screen or eight online, with bots to fill the gaps. It's PC-only for now; the console version's timing is officially "classified". The price is a wink in itself: $21.64, with an introductory discount running until August 25.

How it actually plays

This is the real formula, not a skin. Missions are objective-driven sandboxes - plant this, steal that, protect them - and in true GoldenEye fashion, higher difficulties layer on extra objectives, which turns 14 missions into something far more replayable than the number suggests. The blocky visuals and swaying weapon sprites are pitch-perfect, but crucially the game plays like a modern shooter underneath: mouse aim is crisp, the framerate is not 20fps, and there are unlockable cheats and modifiers for when you just want chaos.

The split-screen deathmatch is the part that genuinely transported me. Four people on one couch, Big-Head-style silliness, screen-peeking accusations - it's a time machine that still works.

The rough edges

Be clear about what you're buying: deliberately dated design. Enemy AI is simple by 2026 standards, stealth is more suggestion than system, and mission storytelling is functional at best. Critics were split - the Metacritic average sits in the low seventies while Steam users have it at Very Positive - and I think that gap is honest. If GoldenEye means nothing to you, knock a point or two off my score. There's also no console version yet, which stings for a game built for a couch.

Verdict

Agent 64 is the GoldenEye revival that actual GoldenEye fans deserved: reverent where it matters, modern where it counts, and priced fairly for what it delivers. A solo developer out-Rare'd everyone who's tried this in the last twenty years. If you have any love for objective-based retro shooters - or three friends and one screen - this is an easy recommendation.

Score: 8/10

Image: Evan-Amos / Public domain, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:N64-Controller-Gray.jpg