Does anyone here play Spy Party and want to get a game together sometime?
For anyone who hasn't, Spy Party is a 1v1 espionage game currently in open beta. The game takes place during a party with 7-13 guests. One is a spy. During the party the spy has a limited amount of time to complete a list of objectives typical to the genre: bugging a foreign ambassador, exchanging a code phrase with a double agent, etc. The other player is a sniper who has one shot to kill the spy. Kill any other character and the spy wins.
Both players are virtually omniscient. The spy knows where the sniper is and where his cursor is pointed, and the sniper has a fantastic view of the party, and can move freely around the room's perimeter. Everything the spy does is in plain sight unless she can put a crowd of people in between the sniper and herself. Then again if there seems to be a character the sniper rarely has a clear view of, that may be grounds enough for a shot. Maybe it isn't. It's almost never a sure thing. Even the spy's tells are usually non-obvious: a statue's appearance blurs for a second as it's switched, a hand hovers over a book for a half a second too long, long enough to take a roll of microfilm from a secret compartment.
The spy can make these animations less telling with a well-timed button press, though she does so with the risk of activating a clumsier one should she fail, but for the most part gameplay is a matter of observation and misdirection. It's a stressful game to play on either side, my sessions with it usually only last about 5-10 three minute-odd games, but it's also incredibly rewarding. Every victory feels earned, as does every defeat.
Access to the beta requires a pre-purchase of the game for $15, and it doesn't look like it's going to be done for a while. However the game is extremely playable, and most of the objectives and maps are better balanced than a majority of retail releases. It's also exciting to see the game grow: trying incomplete gametypes is fun, and there's something charming about the incomplete visuals (though some of the final character models have been revealed, and they're gorgeous). The community is smallish right now: I usually only find 20-50 or so people on at a time, but that number is pretty constant and I've never had trouble finding someone of the appropriate skill level. The community is also really friendly to new players, partially because everyone wants to help the community grow, but also because it's almost impossible to have a match and not want to discuss it immediately afterwards.
The beta can be purchased
here.
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Director of the Department of Orderly Disruptions