Jordan Jones reviews Syndrome…
Syndrome is a frustrating game, and much of that has nothing to with it’s difficulty. You see, when Syndrome is good, it’s very good. The game generates a palpable feeling of tension in its best moments, but they are simply too fleeting. At times, I felt like the game was standing in its own way. There are some good elements to this game, but there are simply too many issues present for them to shine for long. Instead of soaking in the rich atmosphere, I was too distracted trying to overcome some fairly significant performance issues. Syndrome is a game with high aspirations, and some pretty effective scares, but the game simply lacks the polish that would have made it great. As it stands, finishing the game felt like a chore, and that’s frustrating for a game with so much potential.
Syndrome takes place on a derelict spaceship. You awaken disoriented from cryo-sleep to discover your surroundings deserted, and in disarray. Right away, the game tasks you with discovering who, or what has murdered the crew of the ‘SPS Valkenberg’. To survive, you will need to find a way to repair the ship, and avoid the many hazards along the way. As you have probably noticed, there’s definitely nothing original about Syndrome’s story, or setting. We have seen the derelict spaceship setting in titles like Alien: Isolation, Dead Space, System Shock 2, etc. If you’ve played Dead Space 1-3, you have encountered this game’s enemies, and if you have ever played Amnesia: The Dark Descent or Outlast, you understand Syndrome’s gameplay mechanics. Basically, you have played this game before.
Visually, Syndrome has a lot of detail. At least, it is detailed when you’re able to run the game at full settings, but I’ll get to that. To start, when first booting up Syndrome, I was immediately impressed by its aesthetic. Clearly, a lot of effort has been put into making this game as atmospheric as possible. This ship looks like it has been lived in, and truly feels like a believable environment. Adding to the atmosphere are the use of shadows, and shadows there are many. Unfortunately, Syndrome has also pulled some inspiration from the worst parts of Doom 3 in the way that it washes everything in darkness. Things became so dark that I actually needed to go into Settings, and adjust the gamma. Just as unfortunate, was how bland the environments began to look once brightened. Still, I’d rather be able to see items, and objectives, than simply fumble around in the dark.
None of this attention to detail matters if a player can’t experience it. Unfortunately, I had to spend the majority of my play time on the lowest settings, which brings me to the second thing I noticed about Syndrome. The second thing I noticed after booting this game up was how many performance issues were present. From the moment I started moving around the environment, I began experiencing copious amounts of screen-tearing, and drops in frame-rate. Naturally, I tried to remedy this by lowering my settings to medium. No effect. So, my next course of action was to turn off shadows… still nothing. Okay. Let’s turn off lens-flare, and any other visual luxury that the game offers: almost there, but still having trouble moving. Well, okay then. Lets just turn everything to low settings. There. Now I can run the game moderately well. Yes, you heard that right: even on the lowest settings I was still experiencing freezing, and stuttering.
I know what you’re thinking: maybe it was my computer? Well, I was able to try Syndrome on three computers, and it managed to run poorly on all of them. Asking people about their experiences with the game, I learned that this is a fairly common issue. At one point, I got stuck in the geometry: when hiding in a locker, I magically floated halfway through it, and became stuck. This came at a particularly difficult moment in the game, and it nearly led to me putting Syndrome away for good. Honestly, It is hard for me to say how Syndrome will run for you. If you have an expensive rig, there is a chance that it could run smoothly. All I can say is this: I have a computer that runs X-COM 2 like a dream, but I can barely play Syndrome on its lowest settings. Take that for what you will.
The worst part, and my main frustration with the game, is that these performance issues rob the game of every redeeming quality it has. Those beautiful environments I spoke of? Turning down the graphical settings leads to a significant downgrade. Now, instead of a beautifully detailed ship, I am left sneaking around an environment that looks straight out of Half-Life 2 (yes, Half-Life 2 is an old game now). What about the aforementioned scares? Well, they are completely dependent on the use of shadow, and if the brightness needs to be turned up to see, they are simply not scary. I felt no tension sneaking around enemies in brightly lit rooms, and the monsters themselves are not nearly as menacing in the light. As a result of these lower settings, and brighter rooms, I was able to see too much of my foe. The enemy AI is clunky, and behaves in odd ways. For example, if I’m hiding in a locker, an enemy will simply camp out in front of it. This results in players being forced to engage with the enemy, defeating the purpose of sneaking around at all. You can always run, but this is also a chore. Expect to stutter along because your stamina is always too low, all the while awkwardly animated monsters are shambling after you. As a result, each encounter ends up feeling like a slow motion game of cat-and-mouse. The fact that the developers threw in unnecessary environmental hazards makes each encounter all the more grating.
Despite the myriad problems, there were still moments I did enjoy Syndrome. The story picks up after a while, but it never takes players anywhere they haven’t been before. There were a few fleeting moments when everything came together just right, and I had a genuinely frightening experience. I can recall a particular moment where I was told to hide, just as a very grotesque enemy was introduced. It was unexpected, and really showed me the potential this game had. Furthermore, the music, and sound effects in the game are both very creepy, and totally sold me on some of the scarier moments. I only wish the rest of the game was as polished as the music. I also wish the game were shorter, cutting out some of the tedious backtracking. Lastly, I wish the game had the polish that would have made an average game good. The ideas are solid, and the concept is tried-and-true. The problem lies in the execution of these ideas. Clearly, the developers are passionate, and supportive. Going on Steam for help, I saw more than one instance of them enthusiastically helping players. Perhaps with future updates the game will live up to the developers vision, but right now, I’d hold off on boarding this ship.
Pros:
+ Creepy enemy designs.
+ Effective soundtrack.
+ Great visuals at high settings.
Cons:
– Performance issues hinder enjoyment.
– Too much backtracking.
– Questionable AI.
– Predictable story.
Rating: 6/10.
Syndrome was reviewed on both PC and Mac.
You can find Jordan on Twitter (@JordJJones) and Facebook.
