There”s more for all fans of survival city-building! We reveal what the upcoming building secret Synergy has to offer on Steam
Maybe you”ve ordered a hoover or a Wi-Fi adapter or a set of potholders online in your life and then stumbled across the “Other customers also liked” tab. How about yet another WLAN adapter, just a little different?
While in most cases it”s nonsense to just buy a product a second time (I really only need a hoover), this is by no means true for games. If I like one survival-building strategy game, chances are at least I”ll like a second one too!
And although the gaming world has been literally flooded with clones since Frostpunk and Banished, there are one or two exciting candidates. Just think of Farthest Frontier or The Wandering Village!
That”s why I”ve brought you my latest haul from the Steam treasure trove today, and I”ll tell you why Synergy could be worth your while!
Table of Contents
What is Synergy about?
Instead of being about the Ice Age or medieval winter blizzard, Synergy is about living on an alien planet that doesn”t really feel like letting me live on it. Harsh weather conditions, natural disasters and rare diseases try to drive me away again. But not with me!
When you first look at Synergy, of course, the unusual graphic style jumps right out at you, reminiscent of games like Sable with its pastel colours and hand-drawn look. I personally love it, but of course that”s a matter of taste. Fortunately, Synergy has more to offer than its special cover.
In various scenarios or a free sandbox mode, I”m supposed to build a city, take care of the health and psyche of its inhabitants, adapt to the special conditions of each world, while living in harmony with its flora and fauna – and make serious decisions.
For whom is this exciting?
When I hear “survival” and “difficult decisions”, I naturally think of Frostpunk again. And also Synergy”s research with its various unlockable branches or the short-term and long-term goals (like ending a major water shortage) bear the hallmarks of Frostpunk and co. That”s nothing bad at first, after all Frostpunk is one of the best building games of all time – but fortunately Synergy also has its own ideas in store.
The different biomes of Synergy have different heat values, humidity, mineral deposits or natural deposits in the earth. These determine which resources can be found there, and my strategy for each scenario depends on that.
In addition, there are the special buildings: The pontoon pumps extremely toxic water from the lakes and ponds and – depending on the setting – can also turn it directly into clean drinking water. The forge and the foundry offer the possibility to create new tools or new building materials. In addition, there are special effects when I build certain buildings close to each other – so strategic placement and jigsaw puzzles are the order of the day here.
What do we like so far? What remains unclear?
What do we like so far?
- (Lots of optimisation potential): With resource management, construction planning, feeding my inhabitants, seasons and research, I”m unlikely to run out of activities in Synergy any time soon.
- (Coherent look): If you”ve looked at realistically rendered medieval towns or lunar settlements dozens of times, you”ll get a bit jaded by this sight. The hand-drawn comic look of Synergy offers a welcome change to my eyes.
- (Story and Decisions): If Synergy really manages to make me care about the fate of its inhabitants, its story could be an important unique selling point.
What remains unclear?
- Own signature? On paper it sounds like Synergy has good ideas. But if the gameplay loop ends up feeling the same as every other survival building game on Steam, then Synergy might have the same problem as last time (Land of the Vikings in our review).
- Long-term motivation? Even though it sounds like I have enough to do in the different modes, building strategy is a difficult genre to balance and the ever-popular long-term motivation is its biggest challenge.
We”ll know more when Synergy is released on (Steam) where it can already be added to the wishlist. The developers also post regular updates on the development status there, but there is no final release date yet.
Editor”s verdict
Two hearts beat in my chest. On the one hand, I flick through Steam”s virtual games catalogue every week and am delighted by every new entry that bears the tag “city-building simulation”. There can never be enough new building strategy! On the other hand, I”m getting a little disillusioned with the numerous failed attempts to unleash similar survival magic as Frostpunk or Banished.
And if I”m honest, of course I don”t think Synergy is going to be the new big city-building throwdown. But does it have to? Nah. I like to play several building games in parallel to satisfy all my needs. A bit of Anno, a bit of Survival, a bit of humour and a bit of relaxation. I”m hoping Synergy will find its own identity and give me some variety in my building strategy catalogue.
