SYNCED officially arrives on PC this Summer, and there's a special Solo Mode demo available right now for players to try - grab it on Steam before the Eastern Game Fest ends on April 19!
Unlike our recent Open Beta which offered a large chunk of the game for players to test out, The Solo Mode Demo is instead designed to give lone wolves a taste of solo PvE action. There's two PvE sectors to fight through, and we've included some new Nano-powered traversal abilities, devastating weapon mods, and a selection of three Runners to play as.
For those who prefer a more social experience, SYNCED launches this summer on PC with both PvP and squad play available.
Speaking of launch, with summer almost upon us we wanted to take this opportunity to look back at how SYNCED came to be. Over the next couple of months, we'll focus on different elements of the SYNCED experience to offer an in-dept look from the dev perspective. We're kicking things off today with a look at the unique world of SYNCED.
Motivation and Inspirations
From the beginning, we were fascinated with the idea of advanced technology directly resulting in a broken version of our world - and how humanity's over-reliance on such technology led us down a dark path. The concept of the "Nano" was born, a technological creature that was part monster and part highly-advanced access node. From there, we began experimenting with ways for the player to harness this rogue tech for themselves through their interactions with Nanos.
Designing the World
Maintaining an element of realism was important to the story we wanted to tell, and so faithfully recreating a believable vision of a devastated near-future Earth was one of our early goals. We iterated a lot here. However, leaning on that more realistic aesthetic introduced some challenges, such as how to effectively differentiate SYNCED from other games set in similar real-world locations. Finally, we realized that embracing the core themes of SYNCED - a world overrun with rogue technology - provided the unique visual identity we were looking for, and our forests, cities, and caverns became punctuated with surreal Nano "Surge" elements. These living sculptures of twisted nano technology exist as an invasive entity, disfiguring the recognisable elements of our world and slowly turning it into something truly alien.
Adapting the World for Gameplay
Creating a world that both compliments and enhances the narrative is one thing, but balancing how it feels to actually inhabit the game world is something else entirely. For example, certain in-game lighting effects might result in a suitably moody scene, but if they impede a player's vision or negatively impact gameplay in some way, a change will be required. Again, we iterated often here, and constant play-testing enabled us to optimize the experience. We've worked hard to integrate compelling environmental storytelling into all of the the locations featured in SYNCED, while also offering players a range of strategic options to compliment their preferred gameplay style.
Experience the world of SYNCED for yourself in our new Solo Mode PVE demo, available on Steam until April 19, and don't forget to Wishlist if you like what you see. SYNCED arrives on PC later this summer.
https://store.steampowered.com/app/1008080/SYNCED/
The SYNCED team.