Syndrome

Syndrome is a science fiction first-person survival horror game developed for PC, PS4 and XONE. It was created by Camel 101, a studio founded by experienced developers of Camel Entertainment. The team previously released several well-received titles, starting from simple casual games (e.g. Aquatica: The Sunken City) to quite extensive real-time strategy games like Gemini Wars or Mechs & Mercs: Black Talons.

Plot

The game’s plot is not too original and takes place inside an extensive space station where the protagonist wakes up from a long cryogenic sleep. He quickly discovers that some tragic and unexplained events occurred on the station. As a result, part of the crew are dead, while the rest turned into bloodthirsty monsters. Our goal is naturally to solve the mystery of this tragedy. We will be constantly interrupted by numerous opponents and a number of various threads.

Mechanics

With quite unoriginal plot, the developers at Camel 101 focused on such aspects as gameplay mechanics, atmosphere, and playability. Syndrome is a sort of a comeback to the roots of the survival horror genre that puts emphasis not on fast-paced action but claustrophobic atmosphere and omnipresent feeling of danger. The game world is observed from the first-person perspective, and the action is mostly focused on exploring the space station, finding clues, and solving logic puzzles that let us gradually learn the background of the entire story.

While playing, the aforementioned monsters are lying in wait for us, although direct combat should be avoided. The reason for that is the fact that the weapon arsenal and the ammunition stock are very limited, which forces us to carefully manage these resources. The key to success is most often to hide and avoid enemies as well as to recognize their strong and weak points, letting us gain an advantage and several invaluable seconds to escape.

Technical aspects

Syndrome for PC, PS4 and XONE features high-quality graphics that utilizes the potential of modern hardware. Most of the locations we visit are gloomy which let the developers create a very suggestive atmosphere that is further enriched by the play of lights and well-made audio layer. Another highlight of Syndrome (for PC only) is the support for the VR headsets such as Oculus Rift.

Last updated on October 6, 2016