Did you once start up the Syndicate reboot early last year expecting the spirit of those original 90’s games to run vibrantly through its FPS veins, only to find out it was a bit, well, balls? You weren’t the only one. Turns out Mike Diskett, the guy behind Syndicate Wars, felt exactly the same as you. The difference between him and you though is he’s an industry veteran and has some friends who want to make a better successor to the original Syndicate. All he needs now is a bit of cash. Kickstarter ahoy!
The Kickstarter for Satellite Reign is only looking for £350,000, which is barely anything compared to the demands of Double Fine and Doug TenNapel. And from the look of the game’s concept art and in-engine footage, it looks to be a genuine successor to the soul of Syndicate Wars. They’ve even got the same guy coming back to do the music, which should go a long way in helping recapture the atmosphere.
So the important details are: Satellite Reign is being made by five dudes – collectivley called 5 Lives Studios – who know what they’re doing. It’s NOT an FPS. It IS a real-time strategy with class-based characters set in an open-world dystopia city. It DOES look a load like Blade Runner. It DOES appear to rain all the time. That’s pretty brilliant.
So will making Syndicate without a bunch of suits from a big corporation calling some of the shots mean that the game is everything fans could wish for and more? Mike Diskett certainly hopes so. He does need your money first though, so it’s time for you to make your call. You wouldn’t want them to look to a publisher for money now, would you? Kind of defeats the object of it being a spiritual successor to Syndicate, no?