![]() Sadly, it pulls neither off quite as well as its peers. I see where Synapse pulls from Hades in particular, specifically in how it doles out the story gradually and lets players choose run exclusive abilities that are supposed to make every run feel different from the last. Synapse ends up feeling too linear and repetitious for a roguelite. Synapse is a game that pulls from those great PC and console roguelites to create a similar type of experience in VR but does so with mixed results. As someone who struggles to play VR for extended periods, roguelites, where runs take an hour or less, seem like an excellent fit for the gaming medium. I love a good roguelike or roguelite some of my favorites from the past several years include Hades, Slay the Spire, and Chasm. Sadly for the game’s roguelite structure, there isn’t much more to Synapse than that. They all make solid first impressions and are definitely on the more polished and enjoyable end of the VR spectrum. That’s the gameplay hook, visual aesthetic loop, and narrative that nDreams built the entire roguelite experience around. As a relative VR newcomer, moments like these are endearing to me, and early on, Synapse had a ton of them as I got used to the weapons and telekinesis, expanded by abilities with Insight upgrade, and discovered new in-run Mind Hack abilities. The actual action of the game had me constantly thinking about Star Wars …Īlthough this is trying to ape Nolan and Kojima’s mind-bending spy thrillers more, the actual action of the game had me constantly thinking about Star Wars as I used what was essentially the Force to toss enemies around or shot my pistol from the hip like Han Solo. (I definitely recommend getting the upgrades that let you pick up enemies and grenades as soon as possible.) There was childish fun to be had as I picked an enemy up and repeatedly slammed them to the ground or threw them into the air, a feeling only bolstered by being in VR. I can move “mental block” cubes for cover or to bash enemies, move and blow up exploding barrels, and eventually pick up certain enemies and toss them around as I please. What makes Synapse stand out, though, are its telekinesis powers that let players pick up objects - and eventually, enemies - scattered throughout each of the nine levels. These kill the mental construct enemies just fine, as aiming feels precise. Synapse gives me plenty of weapons to toy around with in VR, from pistols to shotguns, to a grenade launcher. It’s not entirely devoid of color, though, as some bright blues, pinks, and purples are tied to the primary gameplay power of Synapse: telekinesis. This aesthetic gives Synapse a gorgeous and immediately recognizable visual identity and a AAA feel that I wish we’d already seen more of from the PlayStation VR2. Color was drained out of the world, and everything became black and white, making it clear that I was exploring the dark recesses of Conrad’s mind and was not wanted there. Things quickly got otherworldly once I dove into Conrad’s mind. At first, the game tells players very little about the outside world, but the stakes and tension still felt very palpable as I existed within this universe in VR. Conrad is a former bureau agent who defected and is supposedly planning a terrorist attack, and the only way for me to find out where the attack is taking place is by delving into Conrad’s mind, which is where a majority of Synapse takes place. Synapse put me into the body of a secret agent working for an organization called Bureau V and dropped me off on a remote island to take out Colonel Peter Conrad. Reviewing a game in VR for the first time, I had to recontextualize the skills I’ve learned while engaging with console games unfortunately, nDreams wasn’t quite able to do the same when mapping its strong VR shooter design philosophies to a roguelite. ![]() The more I played, though, the more the cracks and flaws in Synapse’s roguelite design started to show, as it never strays far enough away from its core hooks. ![]() Within the mind of a rogue agent, I’d fight lots of mind contract enemies with a variety of weapons and exhilarating powers across starkly designed black-and-white levels, getting a bit more powerful after each level with mind hack abilities and a little more powerful after each run with Insight upgrades. Synapse makes a great first impression as a visually stunning and fun VR first-person shooter, the kind of exclusive the PlayStation VR2 desperately needs more of going forward. That’s all tied up in a political espionage sci-fi thriller inspired by the likes of Inception and Metal Gear (developer nDreams even got Solid Snake actor David Hayter to voice one of the characters) and structured as a roguelite. Synapse - Showcase Trailer | PS VR2 Games
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