Syndicate

About

Syndicate is a single-player real-time tactical strategy game. The game is set in a cyberpunk future where governments have lost control to multinational corporations known as syndicates. Much of the population is pacified through implanted technology that shapes perception and obedience, while rival corporations fight for territorial control, resources, and influence. The player leads a new syndicate from a corporate command position, directing agents in the field and expanding control across the world. The gameplay is visually reminiscent of the X-COM series. The objective is global domination. From a world map, the player chooses territories to attack, sends agents into cities, completes corporate missions, and then collects tax revenue from conquered regions. Captured territories provide money for research, equipment, and agent improvement, but high taxation can cause unrest or rebellion. As a result, the strategic layer is built around selecting targets, funding development, managing income, and keeping conquered areas under control. Missions are played in real time from an isometric view. The player commands up to four cybernetically modified agents through urban environments filled with civilians, police, vehicles, guards, and rival syndicate forces. Objectives vary by territory and may include assassination, rescue, kidnapping, persuasion, theft, destruction, or elimination of enemy agents. The player can move agents as a group or issue orders to individual members, depending on the situation. Combat is direct and fast. Agents can use pistols, shotguns, Uzis, miniguns, flamethrowers, lasers, explosives, and other weapons developed or acquired during the campaign. The player must manage positioning, weapon range, collateral damage, and enemy response while navigating streets, buildings, bridges, and traffic. Civilians and police are part of the same active city space as the mission targets, and the game generally treats them as tactical factors rather than moral boundaries. Agent enhancement is a major progression system. Agents can receive cybernetic upgrades to body parts such as legs, arms, chest, eyes, brain, and heart. These improvements can increase speed, durability, perception, accuracy, and other combat capabilities. Agents can also use stimulants that temporarily affect aggression, perception, and adrenaline, allowing the player to adjust behavior during missions for pursuit, combat, or survival. Research and equipment management connect the tactical missions to the global strategy layer. Money earned from territories can be invested into new weapons, cybernetic upgrades, and useful devices. Equipment is then purchased and assigned to agents before each mission. The Persuadertron is one of the game’s distinctive tools, allowing agents to take control of civilians and, with enough persuaded followers, more important targets such as guards or scientists. The campaign does not use dialogue choices, character classes, branching story scenes, or role-playing party interaction. Its choices are strategic and tactical: which territory to attack, how much to tax controlled regions, what to research, which agents to equip, and how violently or carefully to complete each objective. Lost or damaged agents can be replaced or repaired, but setbacks consume money and may affect the player’s ability to continue the campaign efficiently.

Description and score courtesy of MobyGames ↗