Full review of the stunning telekinetic rogue-lite Synapse from nDreams on PSVR2!
Synapse from nDreams promises a telekinetic tour de force but does it take things sky high or come crashing down to earth? Let’s find out.
First up thanks to the developer for providing me with a review key for the game but as always the opinions presented here are entirely my own.
Synapse, or should that be Sin-apse (and I’m going to use them as interchangeably as Sony and Sew-knee, so apologies in advance) sees you in the role of an agent trying to retrieve secrets from an enemy of the state by dropping into their mind via a process known as synaptic alignment.
The story is fairly minimal upfront, there’s no lengthy exposition or intro sequence, but instead you gradually reveal more as you play through the game in the form of dialogue snippets from both your handler, Clara Sorensen, and Colonel Peter Conrad, whose mind you’re infiltrating.
The game is predominantly a rogue-lite in many aspects which means you’ll be playing through the same levels repeatedly and levelling up your stats as you go enabling you to get a bit further with each playthrough. Each playthrough, or run, consists of 9 levels or zones with the aim of each level being to survive and eliminate a certain number of enemies, opening up a portal to the next one.
To properly unravel the entire story you’ll need to complete three whole runs through the game which may sound tedious but when each run can be done within an hour once you’ve nailed your technique and boosted your skills, it never feels like a chore. However, with each run increasing in difficulty you’ll also find yourself facing more of a challenge each time so don’t expect to breeze through it. Although the levels themselves are pre-built rather than randomly generated, some elements are randomised to keep things fresh, including the entry and exit points, the positions of powerup stations and enemy spawn locations. Because of this it actually takes a while to even realise you’re playing the same set of levels but eventually you’ll start to learn some of the layouts which will give you another advantage as you figure out the best ways to approach each one.
Tools at your disposal include a few weapons, starting with a basic pistol, and of course the star of the show, the telekinesis. Similar to Star Wars force power this allows you to grab distant crates, explosive barrels and even enemies and do with them as you please, whether that’s tossing them to one side or over a cliff, slamming them into scenery or each other, or juggling them in mid-air whilst laughing maniacally. This works in conjunction with the PSVR2’s eye-tracking to create intuitive and responsive interactions where you just have to look at what you want to grab and then squeeze the trigger to pick it up. It works absolutely seamlessly and feels more than a bit magical and the developer has completely nailed the feeling of power and control. Slamming crates down on enemies, exploding barrels with perfect timing and catching and throwing back enemy grenades never gets old and opens up a whole lot of gameplay possibilities.
If you played nDreams previous title Fracked you’ll be familiar with the grab and cover system from there, which is resurrected and improved on here. By simply reaching out and grabbing any part of the scenery you can then pull yourself down behind cover, popping up or around the sides to take pot shots at enemies. As with the eye-tracking it’s all very intuitive and soon becomes second nature. You also have the ability to climb up almost any part of the scenery, a fact which I often forgot in early play sessions as for some reason the tutorial gave me the impression you could only climb up certain ladder-like surfaces.
Reloading goes for a novel approach which is neither fully manual or automatic. Instead, once you’ve used up a round a new clip hovers near the chamber and needs to be slammed in either by using your other hand, or by pushing it against a bit of scenery or, for ultimate cool points, by hitting it against the head of an enemy pulled towards you with telekinesis. It all feels very slick and prevents any fumbling around when things get frantic.
Locating the enemies is aided by a nifty compass/radar device which you can view at any time by turning the palm of your hand upwards. This shows the location of enemies as red dots along with indicators of the power-up points, health stations, exits and so on.
During each run you gradually complete various achievements, known as Revelations, by completing certain tasks. This earns you Insight which, between runs, can be spent on purchasing permanent upgrades from the skill tree. This has three branches (Tactician, Assassin and Survivor) which offer a whole load of defensive and offensive enhancements which I won’t spoil here.
As well as those permanent skills you can also benefit from temporary perks and boosts within the levels themselves.
Defeated enemies drop Defiance, which can be used to purchase power-ups from special stations found within each level, including health boosts and ammo top-ups..
Weapon shrines offer you the chance to switch to another weapon or level up the one you’re currently carrying.
Finally, at the end of each level you’re also given a choice between two random power-ups, known as mind hacks, which take effect in the next level. Chosen wisely these can really tip the balance in your favour, but it’s also down to the luck of the draw as to which ones you’re offered.
As you can see from the footage the game has a really distinct art style with mainly monochrome graphics dashed with colourful neon effects, items and enemies. From early trailers I was worried this might result in everything looking a bit samey and dull but it actually looks stunning, especially in the headset itself with its vibrant OLED display. The reflective surfaces, dream-like architecture and dioramas give the game a fantastically distinct and memorable look all of its own. The spots of colour also work at a gameplay level, no doubt a conscious decision by the developer, as it makes it really easy to see which elements you can interact with, even at a distance. Graphics are sharp throughout and although it uses reprojection I never really noticed this whilst playing.
Sound is also great with some awesome music, a good range of meaty sound effects and chatter from the enemies and of course some stellar voiceover work from industry giants Jennifer Hale and David Hayter, who lend an ever so slightly but not quite Metal Gear Solid vibe to the proceedings. nDreams seem to have a thing for screaming, kamikaze enemies, as they were in Fracked and return here in full effect, totally putting me on edge every time I heard them as you have to quickly figure out which direction they’re coming from before they reach you and explode, something helped a lot by the 3D audio but still terrifying nonetheless.
Control-wise the game uses both Sense controllers and features some great haptic feedback not only on the controllers but also the headset, which gives you a subtle indication of the direction from which you’re taking fire. Squeezing the triggers lightly to pick things up, and then harder to explode them takes a bit of getting used to but again works really well. The eye-tracking which, as mentioned, works amazingly well, is actually optional if for any reason you don’t want to use it, and with it switched off you can instead use the more traditional method of targeting things with your hand. There are options for smooth turning or click turning, but the click turning is really just smooth turning by degrees, with no option for instant turning. There’s also no teleport locomotion here, it’s smooth loco all the way, so be warned if you’re susceptible but there are vignette options available to make things more comfortable. There are no dedicated jump or duck buttons but in my experience the game can be played equally well standing or seated.
So all positive so far but there are some negatives.
There are limited enemy types and weapons, essentially four of each, and although you meet stronger enemies along the way, including a half-way tough guy, there’s no real end boss to defeat, which feels a bit anticlimactic. It’s good to see variety in the environments but the later levels quite literally lose some of the sheen of the earlier settings as the shiny mirrored surfaces get replaced by more standard looking architecture. Anyone looking for a story-driven campaign may be disappointed by the rogue-lite approach and although the story is ok it takes second place to the gameplay itself.
Although it does present a challenge, especially on subsequent runs, it possibly gives you too much power too soon. It may have been a better idea to have given you less telekinetic ability at the beginning, perhaps with more limited range or usage duration, which could then have increased during your playthrough.
Due to the nature of the game it’s hard to say how long it is as the amount of hours you get from it will vary depending on your ability and approach to how you play it, though I’d suggest you’re looking at 6 to 12 hours to get good, level up your skills and make it through three full runs and expose all the story elements. Personally I think you could squeeze many, many more hours out of this game as there are so many ways to play it that even once you’ve completed it there’s an instant temptation to start over again and experiment with different techniques.
For the trophy hunters there are 42 trophies to collect, mainly for completing the various Revelations, including a platinum once all the others are done.
As you can probably tell, I loved my time with Synapse, and am still loving it due to its strong one-more-go factor. Equally fun to play in small bursts as it is in longer sessions. As long as you understand the type of game you’re getting, the £30 asking price is definitely reasonable for the amount of gameplay and just pure downright fun that you get in exchange. It may not be the most expansive game but the developers have clearly chosen to focus on a select few things and do them really, really well. The game is so polished in every aspect, makes such good use of the PSVR2 and feels so amazing to play that it’s an absolute must-buy in my opinion and easily takes its place as one of my favourite PSVR2 games so far.
