There was mention of the existence and upcoming release of Bossa Studios’ (Surgeon Simulator, I Am Bread) SPY_WATCH, but now things are different. Now it’s something I’m super-anxious to get my hands on when it releases tomorrow - and I don’t think I should be the only one.


It turns out that when Bossa Studios claimed their new game had been designed from the ground up for the Apple Watch, they weren’t just blowing smoke (or throwing smoke bombs). They’ve planned SPY_WATCH entirely around the functionality of the watch; in other words it’s meant to be interacted with for only a few seconds at a time but spread out over the course of several days. It’s also meant to make you feel like you’re using a real spy watch doing real spy things. I know it sounds weird but here’s how it works:

SPY_WATCH is a sort of simulated reality game in which you’re in contact with a single agent. This agent will contact you periodically while he’s in the field, whenever he comes across a situation he’s uncertain of. For example, should he sneak past guards or try to knock them out? You get to decide how he should proceed, and depending on his performance you’ll earn some cash (or none at all if he fails miserably) that can then be used for training. Once he’s trained enough you can send him on more missions to earn more money to train more, and so on.

There are story missions you’ll need to complete in order to see things through to their conclusion, but you’ll also have plenty of procedurally-generated missions to jump into. All the while your agent will be checking in and asking for instructions. But don’t expect it to be like a needy virtual pet - the game actually increases or decreases the amount of notifications based on how often you respond to them. So if you’re busy and don’t respond it’ll learn to leave you alone. But don’t worry, your agent will make his own choices if you ignore him.

SPY_WATCH will be releasing tomorrow as a paid app. Those without an Apple Watch (or those who still have to wait a while for their preorders to show up) can play it on just their iPhone, although the experience will be slightly different since you won’t have a Dick Tracy-style communicator to play around with.

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