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Frozen Synapse

An elegant game of pure tactics and psychology, won by wits instead of reflexes. Good against AI, great with friends.
Frozen Synapse Game Cover
87%Game Brain Score
gameplay, story
grinding, stability
86% User Score Based on 1,947 reviews
Critic Score 90%Based on 2 reviews

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Frozen Synapse Game Cover

About

Frozen Synapse is a single player and multiplayer tactical turn-based strategy game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by Mode 7 and was released on May 26, 2011. It received positive reviews from both critics and players.

Frozen Synapse is a simultaneous turn-based strategy game that brings the genre to the modern age. It allows you to plan detailed orders for your squad and execute them simultaneously with your enemy's. The game features a single player campaign with dynamic dialogue, a skirmish generator, and multiple multiplayer modes. With Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube integration, you can connect with friends and share your progress.

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Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
Frozen Synapse screenshot
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86%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,947 reviews
gameplay104 positive mentions
grinding20 negative mentions
  • Frozen Synapse offers a unique simultaneous turn-based strategy experience that emphasizes tactical planning and psychological warfare.
  • The minimalist art style and excellent soundtrack create an immersive atmosphere that enhances the gameplay.
  • The multiplayer mode allows for asynchronous play, enabling players to engage in multiple matches over time, making it convenient for casual gaming.
  • The steep learning curve and complex controls can be overwhelming for new players, making it difficult to grasp the mechanics.
  • Long loading times between turns can disrupt the flow of gameplay, leading to frustration.
  • The campaign can feel repetitive and unbalanced due to randomly generated maps and enemy placements, which may lead to unfair scenarios.
  • gameplay
    276 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay of Frozen Synapse is characterized by its innovative simultaneous turn-based mechanics, allowing players to strategize and execute plans in a highly tactical environment. While many praise its depth and rewarding nature, some find the learning curve steep and the gameplay can become repetitive over time. Overall, it offers a unique blend of strategy and planning that appeals to fans of tactical games, despite some criticisms regarding its interface and occasional lack of clarity in mechanics.

    • “Excellent, strategic gameplay, an incredible amount of ways for each level to play out, a high skill ceiling, you can be as intricate, well thought out, and professional as you want to be here, as you're given every action and tool you need to lay out your best plans, check your corners, and take the shots.”
    • “Frozen Synapse takes the best of both worlds: you plan out the next five seconds of combat on a 'turn,' but you and your opponent take both turns simultaneously, making for very interesting tactical gameplay.”
    • “The gameplay has the perfect balance of depth and complexity, managing to be easy to learn, but with tons of possibilities.”
    • “For such a long campaign, the gameplay loop itself does get tedious.”
    • “Gameplay gets repetitive and boring very quickly.”
    • “The gameplay is incredibly solid and the music is super nice.”
  • story
    244 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The story in the game is set within a loose cyberpunk narrative that revolves around themes of rebellion and digital control, but it often takes a backseat to the gameplay mechanics. While some players find the writing intriguing and the mission variety engaging, many criticize the story for being convoluted, poorly presented, or lacking depth, with a reliance on text boxes that can feel tedious. Overall, the narrative serves more as a backdrop to the tactical gameplay rather than a compelling driving force.

    • “The single-player campaign features a very well-written, cyberpunk-ish story.”
    • “As you work through the campaign, an interesting narrative is unveiled about various splinter organizations trying to overthrow the cyber-overlords of the city of Markov Geist, something that makes the individual missions all the more meaningful and enjoyable – which is unusual for a turn-based game such as this.”
    • “Singleplayer: 55 missions with a lot of variety (stealthy infiltrations, ambushes, extracting data, straight up gun fights and much more), a very intriguing story and a great sense of humor.”
    • “The story, while serviceable, often fades into the background against the mechanical brilliance of the gameplay.”
    • “The story is really stupid though and totally unconvincing, like they were trying to take inspiration from The Matrix but didn't know how to translate it over to this title.”
    • “The story is equally lacking in both color and texture, and is easily forgettable.”
  • music
    234 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game, composed by nervous_testpilot, is widely praised for its exceptional quality, blending ambient electronic tones with pulsating rhythms that enhance the game's atmosphere and gameplay experience. Many reviewers highlight the soundtrack as the standout feature, often stating it is worth purchasing the game solely for the music. Overall, the soundtrack is described as one of the best in gaming, significantly contributing to the game's immersive and engaging environment.

    • “The game’s soundtrack, composed by nervous_testpilot (Paul Taylor), deserves particular praise—its blend of ambient electronic tones and pulsating rhythm captures the mood perfectly, reflecting the mixture of control and anxiety that defines each encounter.”
    • “The soundtrack is phenomenal, as well, and really helps to enhance the cyberpunk world you inhabit.”
    • “Beyond its brilliant core gameplay, Frozen Synapse boasts an intriguing storyline and setting that's vague in all the right places along with an absolutely fantastic soundtrack.”
    • “I also faced a sound bug which skips to the next music track after every single explosion sound.”
    • “Soundtrack distracts you from the game so you don't play the game, but you hear the game and still don't play the game and win.”
    • “Buy the soundtrack and not this game.”
  • graphics
    141 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game are predominantly minimalist and simplistic, often described as clean and functional, which some players appreciate for enhancing gameplay clarity. While many reviews highlight the visuals as lacking in detail or being uninspired, others argue that the aesthetic effectively complements the game's strategic depth and immersive atmosphere. Overall, the graphics may not be visually impressive, but they serve their purpose in supporting the core mechanics and gameplay experience.

    • “The battlefield is presented through abstract geometric spaces, with vibrant neon outlines and clean, uncluttered visuals that make readability paramount.”
    • “The graphics are simplistic, but that only accents the highly stylized, clean, and frankly, quite beautiful look.”
    • “A fantastic concept, with haunting visuals and backing music, a must-buy for anyone who's after an original and well-executed strategy game.”
    • “The graphics are ugly, uninspired, and boring, and the story is a bunch of cyberpunk technobabble which made my eyes immediately glaze over because it was so boring.”
    • “It seems like pretty much no effort was put into designing any kind of graphics at all.”
    • “I'm sure you can tell that the graphics are horrible without me telling you.”
  • grinding
    20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The reviews consistently highlight the grinding aspect of the game as tedious and frustrating, primarily due to excessive micromanagement and long loading times that detract from the overall enjoyment. Players express disappointment with the game's complexity, which often feels more like a chore than a strategic challenge, leading to a slow and insufferable campaign experience. While some appreciate the tactical depth, the overwhelming tedium ultimately overshadows the potential for fun.

    • “Unfortunately, the micromanagement becomes tedious quickly.”
    • “For such a long campaign, the gameplay loop itself does get tedious.”
    • “The micromanagement is pointless and tedious and removes fun from the game by making it inexplicably hard work just to plod through each round.”
  • replayability
    19 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game is praised for its high replayability, largely due to features like randomly generated levels and various gameplay modes that keep each playthrough fresh and challenging. Many players highlight the game's addictive nature and the endless possibilities it offers, making it a favorite for those who enjoy strategic skirmishes. However, a few users noted a lack of replay value in certain aspects, though they still found the experience enjoyable enough to warrant a second playthrough.

    • “This is an intensely fun, stylish, cyberpunk/tactical skirmish game that, for me at least, has effectively infinite replayability.”
    • “A variety of modes and the ability to freely create your own skirmishes gives the package great replay value.”
    • “It has little to no replay value; however, I loved this game and would buy it again to experience it again.”
    • “The levels are randomly generated every time you start a new mission or fail the one you are on, adding to the difficulty and replayability, though you will probably take a serious amount of time to beat the huge campaign.”
    • “If you like randomly-generated level layouts for replayability.”
  • humor
    14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in the game is generally well-received, with players appreciating its engaging dialogue, funny character interactions, and clever one-liners, particularly in single-player mode. However, some critiques mention that the humor can fall flat or feel forced, especially in certain gameplay contexts. Overall, the combination of humor and engaging gameplay contributes positively to the experience, particularly in multiplayer settings.

    • “It also leads to some hilarious mistakes and funny moments when you have no idea what you're doing.”
    • “The single player story is engaging, challenging, and hilarious.”
    • “The writing is funny, with some dry one-liners from your teammates.”
  • atmosphere
    11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its immersive qualities, enhanced by a fantastic soundtrack and a distinctive graphical style that complements its cyberpunk setting. Reviewers highlight the combination of retro graphics, atmospheric music, and a dystopian storyline as key elements that create a captivating experience, making the game feel more engaging than its simple visuals might suggest. Overall, the atmosphere is described as tense and well-suited to the game's tactical gameplay.

    • “The soundtrack is fantastic and the graphical style adds to the atmospheric feel of the game.”
    • “Awesome, tense strategy game with more atmosphere than a game with such simple graphics ought to have.”
    • “There is a lot to like about Frozen Synapse: the turn-based tactical gameplay mixed in with a real-time element; the delightfully retro-cyber graphics; the atmospheric music; the dystopian cyberpunk storyline.”
    • “I really don't like electro or whatever this is, but it just fits the atmosphere of the game better than anything else would have.”
  • stability
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's stability is notably problematic, with frequent crashes and freezing issues reported, particularly after launch and during co-op play. While some glitches are present, they are not consistently game-breaking, but they can still be frustrating. Overall, players find the game enjoyable despite these stability concerns, though support for these issues appears lacking.

    • “Runs great on a netbook too, and it's turn-based, so you can take as many days as you want while playing it.”
    • “Game freezes immediately after launch and crashes the computer; no decent support found, need help.”
    • “It just freezes and doesn't advance past the loading screen.”
    • “Great game, but a bit buggy at this point (don't try to alt-tab while it's running).”
  • emotional
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    While "Frozen Synapse" features competent characterizations and effectively communicates information, it ultimately falls short emotionally due to its poor AI, shallow gameplay, and a lackluster story. The dialogue could benefit from refinement to enhance the emotional impact.

    • “The emotional depth of the characters truly resonated with me, making their journeys feel authentic and relatable.”
    • “I was genuinely moved by the story; it evoked a range of emotions that lingered long after I finished playing.”
    • “The game's ability to convey complex feelings through its narrative and character interactions is remarkable.”
    • “In the end, Frozen Synapse gets dragged down by poor AI, shallow gameplay, and a boring story.”
  • monetization
    3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization strategy has drawn criticism for including unsolicited advertising from the developer, which some users find intrusive and unwelcome.

    • “The developer decided to send me unsolicited advertising for its new game.”
    • “The in-game purchases feel exploitative and ruin the overall experience.”
    • “I feel pressured to spend money to keep up with other players.”
  • optimization
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game performs well on medium-spec machines, delivering a smooth experience typical of its age. However, it suffers from poor optimization, particularly in pathfinding calculations, leading to extended processing times after each turn. Native Linux support is comparable to other games, but the optimization issues remain a notable downside.

    • “Performance-wise, as you'd expect for a seven-year-old game, it is smooth as butter on any medium-spec machine these days. The native Linux support is as good as any other game out there.”
    • “The only downside to the game is the bad optimization (pathfinding calculations probably?), resulting in long processing times after each turn.”
    • “Performance-wise, as you'd expect for a seven-year-old game, it is smooth as butter on any medium-spec machine these days, but as far as I can tell, the native Linux support is as good as any other game out there.”
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90%Critics’ scoreBased on 2 critic reviews
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3h Median play time
11h Average play time
1-30h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 3 analyzed playthroughs
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Frequently Asked Questions

Frozen Synapse is a tactical turn-based strategy game with science fiction theme.

Frozen Synapse is available on PC, Mac OS, Phone, iPad and others.

On average players spend around 11 hours playing Frozen Synapse.

Frozen Synapse was released on May 26, 2011.

Frozen Synapse was developed by Mode 7.

Frozen Synapse has received positive reviews from both players and critics. Most players liked this game for its gameplay but disliked it for its grinding.

Frozen Synapse is a single player game with multiplayer support.

Similar games include Into the Breach, Door Kickers, Frozen Synapse 2, XCOM: Enemy Unknown, Frozen Synapse Prime and others.