Syndrome (english)

Amnesia in space

Engineer Gailen wakes up head hurting and memory lost from cyrogenic cold sleep. Cargo ship Valkeburg is drifting with systems down and there's bloodthirsty mutants wandering around in the corridors. Suppose this has already seen few times already? Syndrome is seventh published game from indie developer Camel 101. Stealth is hard playing style to master but luckly Syndrome does generate genuine interest with it's gameplay.

Game information

Name: Syndrome  Publisher/Developer: Bigmoon Entertainment/ Camel 101
Platforms PC, MAC, Linux (PS4 & XBox One 2017) Type: horror, stealth, action

Age rating(s): - (PS4 ja XBox One releases will have one)

Arvostelijat: Rami Sihvo (36)

Visuals:

Trailer

Gameplay demo

Mechanics and play

Syndrome is a first person game that's played out in the dark corridors of spaceship. The dangers are hanging wires, steam, gas and bloodthirsty mutants. The combat is actually pretty lethal here and the high set bar actually forces player to avoid fights. Stealth elements of the game are emphaisized by chronical lack of ammo and the fact that player starts again from last saving station. During the gameplay missions offer small puzzle elements but for most time player is running around the ship while trying to get a grip of things.

Something for experienced players?

Space horror games are trope on their own right and indie-developers might have trouble to actually stick their head out of the crowd. Syndrome is made with small team but that doesn't actually show up that badly. Sound effects are suprisingly good and shaders and lights look delicious. The game is written with reasonable degree of sadism so there's some 'jumpscare' events and monsters can spawn pretty close. Even the saving points are not 'safe' zones! Press version that we reviewed was still a bit unfinished - the game was clitchy with controls and XBox 360 controler was causing screens to actually crash. However reader should take account that Indie-developers don't have much resources to actually polish their game so with this taken account the game runs pretty smoothly.

Ethical message?

Other survivors have different take on what has happened. It's guranteed that army did bring 'something' on board and is acting out to prevent the infection spreading. The solutions seem conflicting at first and nothing seems real. The main character is experiecing hallucinations and for long time player is left unsure what's real and what's not. The monster design should be given some kind of reward: the mechanical mutants are definetly unpleseant with lot of 'body horror' happening. In fact this did remind me of one of classical games: System Shock 2. It would appear that horror games are not supposed to have 'good' ending. Although it can be debated if ending was 'good' or 'bad'. Also its worth menoning that much like in Amnesia the memory loss is just a way to start over and (probably) make better choices this time? At least logs and survivors hint that Gailen had something to do with previous events?

Interesting features?

Syndrome is dark science fiction story like quite many other game. However it's indie game and while press version was a bit 'rough on edges' and control bugs were daunting the game is still enjoyable. The game is indeed homage to System Shock, Dead Space and other games. The playing of the game is thriling and sound design is well made. The actual music is sparse and there has been really nice touches on some of the levels. The tension is kept high for long time which isn't always taken granted on with horror-action games.

For families?

I compared the content with TVTropes.com 'nightmare fuel'-list and found ~22 corresponding elements. While this was higher than original count with Amnesia (about 17) it should be noted that there's quite many definitions on 'body horror' so if we don't stress that much there's about as many nightmare fuel elements than with Amnesia. There is definetly psychological devices in use although panic attack isn't simulated to the extent that Amnesia had it. Besides although there's weapons in the game (something which I felt spoiled the Penumbra games) the game manages to keep player on his toes and be actually scary (a recommendation that I don't lightly give). The visuals and sounds are so good that players with families should think twice before playing it when minors are watching. Of course for horror freaks the game hits the spot.

Families can talk about

• The origins of game are cliche. What elements do generate interest to horror games?
• Stealth game is hard to make good. What demands game style causes to the actual game mechanics?
• Balancing the game? In your opinion how blanced the game is and how it can be changed?