6 Games Like Spy x Family

6 Games Like Spy x Family

A lot of anime fans have come around to Spy x Family, the anime adaptation of Tatsuya Endo’s Shonen Jump manga. The anime follows the mission of international superspy Twilight, assuming the pseudonym Loid Forger, who has been assigned an assassination target to prevent a massive world war. The target, however, only comes to functions for his son’s prestigious and elite school. Twilight’s mission is to assemble a family to enter a child into the school so that he can get close enough to his target to kill him and keep peace. It just so happens that the wife he finds is a secret assassin and the daughter he adopts is a telepath and no one is telling anyone else in the family about their skills.

The show has become massively popular with anime fans in the last few weeks, largely thanks to its incredible premise, fantastic animation, and enjoyable characters. If you’re a fan of the series and looking to play video games that scratch some of the same itches on modern platforms, we have you covered.

The games listed as available on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One are also available on PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series S|X unless specifically noted otherwise.

Fire Emblem Three Houses Which House

Fire Emblem: Three Houses

The most recent Fire Emblem entry changed the structure up a bit, but fans of Spy x Family will find a lot of familiar things in the game. The elite school setting is actually quite similar, so if you enjoy the tribulations of Anya Forger trying to navigate her upper-crust school, that’s most of where Three Houses lives. It’s also a game where you get to know all the characters individually, most of which have very large and loud personalities. There’s smaller ancillary similarities too, like the fictional political thriller aspect and the anime-style writing and art. The game itself is a strategy RPG, so players who don’t like fast-paced action or aren’t used to that should have an easier time.

Fire Emblem: Three Houses is available on Switch. An action-based reimagining named Fire Emblem: Three Hopes is releasing in June also on Switch.

The Ace Attorney Series

Fans of the Ace Attorney series have long been evangelists of the franchise’s quirky characters and dramatic storylines, drawing a fairly straight line to what people like about shows such as Spy x Family. In Ace Attorney, players follow the story of different lawyers — usually Phoenix Wright, but sometimes his compatriots or even ancestors — that try to get their clients cleared of what is usually a murder charge. It’s mostly a visual novel, but you search for evidence and present it at trial to contradictory witness statements to solve the case. The tone and writing is very similar to Spy x Family and several of the games even involve taking care of young children as they do their jobs.

The first three Ace Attorney games are available as the Ace Attorney Trilogy on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Switch. The fourth, fifth, and sixth Ace Attorney games are available on both iOS and Google Play. The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles, the most recently released Ace Attorney games in English, is available on PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch.

Psychonauts 2 Increase Health

The Psychonauts Series

While it seems a little off the beaten path of recommendations, Psychonauts actually has a surprising number of elements in common with Spy x Family. The first game follows protagonist Rasputin as he goes to a camp for gifted telepathic children as he endeavors to become a Psychonaut — a telepathic spy that is part of a heroic organization. In the second game, he makes that dream come true and takes on missions as a junior agent of the Psychonauts. It’s written very comedically and can be an absolutely trippy experience with a ton of influence from 60s and 70s spy thrillers.

The first Psychonauts is available on PC and Xbox One on Game Pass. Psychonauts 2 is available on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X with the last two also being on Game Pass.

Hitman 3 Save Transfer

The Hitman Reboot Trilogy

This one is a little on the nose, but I bet a lot of fans of Spy x Family would find a lot to like in the Hitman games. While they are essentially just games about finding and killing assassination targets, the Hitman titles also have a very dark and strange comedic bent to them. If you find yourself giggling whenever Yor Forger mentally calculates how exactly she would kill any given person in front of her, the dark humor of the rebooted Hitman trilogy might be exactly up your alley.

Hitman is available on PC, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, and playable with as a cloud version on Switch. You will want to pick up Hitman 3, as you can access all the missions from the first two games from within that title.

Persona 5 Royal Game Show Answers

Persona 5

One thing that a lot of anime fans love about Spy x Family is the show’s distinct sense of style. From the cool opening to the action sequences in the show to the also-cool ending theme, the show is absolutely dripping with confidence. If that’s a thing you dig about the show, you might also want to check out Persona 5. The turn-based JRPG follows a group of teenagers in modern day Tokyo that use supernatural powers to expose criminals that society thinks are squeaky clean citizens. It looks like an animated spy cartoon come to life has a soundtrack to match.

Persona 5 is on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4, but its improved re-release Persona 5 Royal is only on PlayStation 4. A more action-oriented semi-sequel, Persona 5 Strikers is on PC, PlayStation 4, and Switch.

SpyParty

SpyParty

Finally, if one of the things you like about Spy x Family is the dramatic thriller tension where none of the characters really know what the other one is hiding, SpyParty might be for you. The online multiplayer game pits two players against each other — one, a sniper trying to find their target at a party, and the other, a party-goer doing their best to blend in and not get shot. The sniper has to be hyper-observant to find their spy target, while the spy has to fool the other player and bait them into taking the wrong shot.

SpyParty is available on PC.

Are there any other games that remind you of Spy x Family? Anything coming up that gives you those same kind of vibes? Let us know in the comments below.

Author: Deann Hawkins