Satellite Reign

this one I really like as well, despite I actually expected a bit different game. I don't compare it to Syndicate, because, well, I'm the SW-guy, not S-guy. Don't get me wrong, Syndicate is/was excellent as well, but somehow, SW and its destructible buildings somehow made better experience (but it felt soo short compared to S.. eh) Anyways, SyndicateWars had its bugs and issues, and required a lot of good timing and planned running, weapons powered by funds and research, that gave rather repeatable thing across playthroughs if you knew what you're doing -- and here in SR - it could be played in similar way, running and blasting everything around, provided you got the right weapons at the right time, which is kinda random. So it's sometimes good, and sometimes just frustrating. But hey, it's can't be a 100% clone, right? Now paste mostly what @imranf1 said in their review. Running and blasting gets you punished fast, so either you go the hardcode was, or find the smart(er) way. Syndicate you had little choice, if any. In SW you could do some tricks with persuation, or explosives and buildings, but that was it. Here, most of the maps are constructed so everywhere there is some smarter way. But it takes time to find and execute. Personally, +1. I liked the story. It's constructed reasonably well. The ending got me by total surprise made and me a bit furious for a moment, but that's a good thing. That's one of the things that make the game memorable. The last one or two missions felt a bit boring, but I pressed on to complete the game, and meh, whatever, whole game was good, let's finish this. That only made the surpring ending even better, and now I seriously wonder, was it authors' intent to make it just a bit boring so the ending kicks in better. If they did, congrats, totally achieved! It's not Syndicate nor SyndicateWars. It's close. And it's damn good on its own. Just don't expect it to be an old game the way you remember, and you'll enjoy this one for sure.

I really prefered Syndicate Wars over original Syndicate. IMO, SW was THE best game out there for long years. There. I said it. Hate me if you have to. Now, finally, there is a worthy successor! Yay! Not as ground-breaking as the originals, but for a S/SW fan a very welcome new dose of the action. Uh ... maybe more stealth than sheer ACTION (see below)... From the moment you see the menus, you'll feel back at home (in SW :)). If not, tutorial will help you (IMO tutorial isn't half as annoying as some people say). The game screen is quite different though. Which is good in terms of graphics and zooming capability (though I spent 99% time fully zoomed out) and quite awful at not being able to rotate view all the way around. 3D environment is my main gripe: though it looks wonderful, it obscures your view too often. Enemy outlines *are* seen through walls, but that doesn't really make it up for the limited 90deg view turning. Besides, bugs in the map sometimes cause enemies (funny), your agents (not so funny) or people you rescued (disastrous) to get stuck. Gameplay is quite different than S/SW too. Each agent has hir own abilities, so they aren't interchangeable. And as enemies respawn, going in with guns blazing rarely makes sense - esp. as only your Soldier can tote a BIG gun without severe moving penalty. Using persuadotron to conscript half the city and use them as gun fodder, doesn't work either: you CAN hack a few enemies, but not hordes. So I found it best to hack an enemy just to scout, shoot out a few cameras and open the doors for me, then use my Infiltrator to sneak in, do whatever is required and get out. No saving during missions, but not much of a problem if you're careful - UNLESS the person you spent half an hour rescuing, gets stuck in a vent or falls from the map just before exit. =>:( But, as it was all made on a budget, I'm too grateful that they did it to rant about the bugs. All in all it's really fun to play. And that's what counts!

I got this game some time ago, tried playing it 4 times, and I just can't get into it. Can't get too far past after collecting all of your team for the first time. I love, love, love the way it looks and the background of this setting, but I am not impressed by the simple fact that it seems to be lagging the entire time on my beast of a computer, and a few simple facts of the gameplay that can't be ignored. Go ahead and read other reviews for the lame mechanics this game has, just know that if I could get a refund, I would.

Title says it all. Great game, kinda finnicky sometimes.

True spiritual successor to the Syndicate game from the 90's and Syndicate Wars. Four agents, an open world with multiple districts, a decent backstory + lore, plenty of weapons, items and augmentations. Which you'll have to discover first and then research, which costs money. After completing research, you can buy them, which also costs money. Everything costs money. You're a syndicate operation in a syndicate world. The game is very stealth focused. You can't go running around throwing nuke grenades everywhere like in Syndicate Wars (or were those cheats? I can't remember). I love the open world that feels very alive and the non-linear approach to the missions. It's up to you what you want to do first once you're out of the tutorial. Controls can be a little bit annoying at times though, specially since there's no pause option or quick-saving / loading halfway a mission. When things get tense I sometimes get hasty and careless with my commands. One miss-click and you get caught and you're done for... it spirals out of control with endless waves of enemies... There's no save scumming halfway a mission so making a run for it is your only option if you want to survive (and clones of course...). This adds to the tention but also requires patience for some missions. All in all it's a very good atmospheric futuristic dystopian succesor of the original Syndicate (Wars) games.