Demo transmitting for upcoming Synapse

• Announcements by Sam Amiotte-Beaulieu
• Published:

Full version of cyberpunk narrative pixel art thriller coming to Steam in October

It’s easy to feel like a product crunched down to a set of algorithmic values in our increasingly impersonal modern world, and developer SB Games looks to take that notion to the next level in its upcoming cyberpunk narrative pixel art adventure, Synapse.

In the dystopian future of the titular city, corporations “don't need violence anymore –  they have scanners, rank systems, and the quiet threat of being locked out” to keep the populace in line. This is a world where “human connection is both necessary and a liability,” as your “emotional score determines everything” and every action you take can raise or lower your rank in society. Everywhere you go you are monitored by Synapse tech, and as a former Synapse engineer, you know exactly how the surveillance machine works. That doesn’t give you an advantage in beating the system, however. Scraping by in your Rank 2 apartment and trying to survive any way you can, you must rely on “emotional stimulants, dangerous connections, and whatever's left of your instincts to keep your score above zero.” If you’re successful, you may be able to “uncover the truth behind the city’s control – and decide what to do with it.”

Synapse is a bleak cyberpunk thriller in which human existence is distilled down into raw data and numbers assigned to your emotional state. Had a bad day at the office? Better drink up a barely legal pick-me-up before trying to get past the scanner at your apartment entrance. You experience the game through a first-person perspective via point-and-click mouse controls. Each scene features gorgeously animated pixel art vibrant with neon colors that offset the horrific realities of Synapse City, accompanied by suitably moody synth tones. To survive each in-game day in this “deranged” city, you’ll have to “manage stress, loneliness, poverty, and desire in a system designed to use all of it against you.”

While the main focus here isn’t on puzzles, you can interact with each environment, collecting or buying items you can afford to store in your inventory. In between, every character interaction, whether with fellow humans or robots and other machines, plays out like a delicate dance, where any shred of human connection can potentially lift you up or plummet your rank in a nosedive. Choices regularly pop up with no right answers or “clean outcomes.” Whether risking your own rank for a homeless girl begging you for a hug, or hacking a VR machine for a chance to briefly hold someone’s hand, “every decision shapes who you become” and helps determine which ending you receive.

The emotionally oppressive Synapse isn’t due to release on Steam for Windows and Mac until sometime in October, but in the meantime there is a playable demo on itch.io in either downloadable or browser-based form for anyone looking to feel things out a little early.