If you spent any of the late 90s crouched in front of a CRT trying to headshot a guard in a facility that ran at roughly nine frames a second, this one is for you. Agent 64: Spies Never Die is out on PC today, and it is openly, unashamedly chasing the ghost of GoldenEye 007 and Perfect Dark.
It is made by a small outfit called Replicant D6, and it does not pretend to be anything other than a love letter. You get a 14-mission campaign starring an agent named John Walter, objective-based levels that reward poking around rather than sprinting to the exit, and split-screen for two players locally or four online in co-op. That last part matters more than it sounds. Couch multiplayer in this exact style basically died with the N64.
Does it hold up, or is it just nostalgia?
The reviews landing today are cautiously warm rather than ecstatic, which feels about right. Shacknews called it a genuine callback to the era of unlockables, and TechRaptor landed on "an adequate homage" — praise and a small shrug in the same breath. The consensus so far: the gunplay feels good on mouse and keyboard, the enemy AI is smarter than the games it is copying, and the level design scratches the specific itch nothing else has bothered to.
The honest caveat is that "faithful to 1997" cuts both ways. If chunky low-poly corridors and objective lists read as charming to you, you will probably have a great time. If they read as dated, no amount of goodwill is going to fix that. This is a niche being served extremely deliberately, not a shooter trying to win everyone over.
For a tenner-ish and a demo already on Steam, though, it is an easy one to try before you commit. Worst case, you bounce off it in ten minutes. Best case, it is the split-screen night you have been missing for twenty-odd years.
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