Spy x Anya: Operation Memories Review – Not Quite Memorable

Most game adaptations of manga and anime franchises end up falling back on the tried and true arena fighter, leading to functional but often boring releases. Of course, franchises that don’t have a focus on fighting would have a harder time doing this, with Spy x Family being one of these.

This is where Spy x Anya: Operation Memories comes in — the change in name from Spy x Family likely due to weird licensing restrictions in the west — taking a more slice of life approach to videogame adaptations. It’s definitely a cute game, but also one that’s lacking in any real variety or interesting gameplay.

Creating a Photo Diary, One Picture at a Time

Spy x Anya: Operation Memories sees you taking on the role of Anya Forger, a young girl with the ability to read minds and adoptive parents with less-than-normal jobs. Despite the strange way her family came together, they’ve managed to make things work (for the most part.)

The focus of Spy x Anya is on the calmer side of things, with Anya being tasked with creating a photo diary. You’ll spend your time taking pictures at home, school, and various locations during the weekend. During the evening, Anya will record the events of her day, leading to the minigame side of things.

It’s essentially a chapter or episode, stretched in an attempt to fill an entire game. There are events between the family, Anya’s classmates, and a few supporting members of the cast, but for the most part you’ll just be taking pictures and playing a small handful of minigames.

Honestly, there’s not much here that you couldn’t get from the main series. The fact that it’s fully voiced is nice, but Spy x Family is already quite light on any story telling to begin with. Having a roughly 10 hour game that rarely mixes things up doesn’t really make for an engaging game.

A Repetitive Loop That Lacks Content

Each week plays out the same way. During school days, you’ll head to school where you can take pictures. Then you head home and can take pictures. During the weekend, you’ll be able to visit a growing list of locations to… take more pictures.

Actually taking pictures is a simple enough exercise. In fact, it’s actually quite restrictive on what sort of pictures you can take. After finding something new to take a picture of, you must have the correct angle, focus, and timing to get what the game considers a 3 star picture. While timed, most photo opportunities are quite lenient, and you get more than enough attempts if your first isn’t good enough.

It just feels a little odd that Anya is supposed to be making memories for herself, but the game basically shoehorns you into only taking pictures a certain way each time. While you can take multiple and choose the one you want, I doubt there’d be much difference if you looked at what each player has taken.
As for why you want the best pictures, better ones give you more Eurekas, the currency needed to earn rewards from minigames. With picture taking being such a core part of Spy x Anya, it’s a shame that this part is just so uninteresting.

When it comes to the minigames in Spy x Anya, these don’t fare much better. Despite the game framing the minigames as Anya recording her memories of each day’s events, the actual minigames are completely disconnected from any of the picture taking you’ve done.

Minigames are split into six different categories, ranging from things she does at school to what her parents get up to while she’s away. There are less than 20 total, with most locked until later weeks as you get to visit new areas.

Most of them are serviceable, though all are simple enough to easily complete on your first go. Some, like the vegetable chopping minigame, basically only require you to press a single button.

For how simple they all are, it makes little sense as to why there are so few minigames overall. You can’t even try them on harder difficulties until you complete the previous ones three times first. It makes some of the more boring ones even more unbearable.

Completing minigames gives you PP which lets you buy items that unlock new photo events during the weekends, or outfits for each of the main cast (including their pet dog Bond.) And… that’s it. That’s essentially the entire game. Take pictures to get Eurekas, complete minigames using Eurekas to get PP. Spend PP on items, then repeat the loop.

Visually, it’s fine. Characters can have some charming facial expressions, though it makes Anya’s default dead-eyed stare stand out even more. Some animations are stiff, with more active minigames like Yor battling through groups of enemies looking especially bad.

Oddly enough, it’s the UI that stands out from the rest of Spy x Anya. It feels straight out of something like Persona 4, masking the rather plain presentation of the 3D graphics. Despite everything, I’d have a hard time saying that the team didn’t at least try to make something worthwhile with the Spy x Family IP.

Spy x Anya: Operation Memories | Final Impressions

Spy x Anya: Operation Memories is repetitive, and barely offers enough content for its already short 10 hour runtime. I feel like it might go over okay with younger fans due to its simplicity, though everyone else would be better off just keeping up with the manga or anime.

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Spy x Anya: Operation Memories was reviewed on PC using a copy provided by the publisher.

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