In Rogue Agent, you’ll do more running than spying

You aren’t just any agent. You’re a rogue agent. And you’re trying to escape before the enemy agents find you. That’s the plot behind — you guessed it — Rogue Agent, a thrilling new puzzle game on iOS.

With 52 different worlds, several mini-games and a few power-ups, the spy game makes you constantly try to escape without getting caught. Don’t worry about whether there’s a concrete reason for that because, trust me, you’ll get hooked anyway.

In every Rogue Agent level, you’re the green agent and your enemies are orange or red. Every agent is on the move: To walk, you tap where you want to go and the game draws a path that your agent will follow. You can also double-tap to run — but be careful, because running is noisier and might lead to your downfall.

Before you make a move, you must carefully study the footsteps that enemy agents are taking. They follow designated paths as they make their rounds; you ought to avoid those so you don’t get captured and lose.

One way to give your enemies the slip is by hiding in the shadows. Every world has a few different dark areas; if you hide there to wait as an enemy passes by, you won’t be seen (unless you’re sticking out and get bumped into).

The first levels start out with minimal complexity. Avoid enemy agents, walk over to the escape portal, and you’re good to go. As the game progresses, shadows come in less convenient locations and enemy agents take more convoluted surveillance paths. Enemies get more vicious, too; some red agents are armed and harder to outsmart.

You’ll also discover two other important aspects of Rogue Agent: power-ups and mini-games.

Power-ups let you get by a bit easier in the game, but in virtually all levels they’re necessary to escape. For instance, an invisibility suit — called a “scramble suit” — often appears in levels where it’s otherwise impossible to get by enemies. You collect power-ups in each level; they only last for that level, which means you’ll likely have to use them.

After you collect a power-up, which shows itself hovering over a location in the game, you can activate it by double-tapping your rogue agent.

Mini-games also appear in certain levels. In these, you’ll complete small puzzles — like hacking, lock-picking or wiring — to move forward. These don’t appear for a while, but they’re really more like micro-games than mini-games — quick tasks to perform to advance in the level.

Rogue Agent, from developer Roguebox Studios, will seriously hook you. There isn’t much graphic intensity, but I can appreciate the minimalism since gameplay isn’t hindered in any way.

This indie game will make you sweat just enough to keep you playing more but not enough to bring out too much anxiety. The thrill gets you to focus and use your best tactics to find the escape. Throw in eerie music and sound effects, and you have yourself an awesome puzzle and adventure game that will keep you — and your agent — on your feet.

Download: Rogue Agent (iOS or Android, $2.99)