Synergy

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Synergy is a single-player strategy game with compelling mechanics and fabulous graphics. As a governor, your goal is to build a city for your citizens in a strange yet mesmerizing environment. You'll need to analyze the natural elements, conduct research, and ensure the safety and prosperity of your city through sustainable approaches, all while adapting to the unforgiving environment.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

Reviews

86%

Audience ScoreBased on 142 reviews

graphics26 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

The game features a beautiful and unique art style that creates a calming atmosphere, reminiscent of Moebius' work.
It offers engaging gameplay with a focus on environmental interaction and resource management, encouraging players to live in harmony with nature.
The developers are responsive to feedback and actively working on improvements, showing great potential for future content and enhancements.

The game suffers from performance issues and crashes, especially as the population increases, which can disrupt gameplay.
Some mechanics, such as resource management and building placement, can feel cumbersome and unintuitive, leading to frustration.
As an early access title, it lacks content and depth in certain areas, making the gameplay feel repetitive and less rewarding over time.

graphics
50 mentions
52 % positive mentions
42 % neutral mentions
6 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning and unique art style, reminiscent of Franco-Belgian comics, which adds a fresh and captivating aesthetic to the post-apocalyptic city-building genre. Players appreciate the beautiful visuals and the overall presentation, often describing the art as both charming and melancholic, enhancing the game's immersive experience. However, some users have noted performance issues that detract from the enjoyment of the graphics.
- “With the very positive outlook on rebuilding a broken world and the pastel-colored aesthetic reminiscent of Franco-Belgian comics (e.g. Hergé, Moebius), Synergy definitely has a different vibe from most post-apocalyptic sci-fi around currently.”
- “The art style is absolutely stunning, the general mood is peaceful, the themes are pretty unique and relevant to today's world - without feeling heavy-handed - and the gameplay sends me delightful classical management/builder games vibes.”
- “The visuals are very beautifully done, kudos to the artist!”
- “And I just think that for a game with such simple graphics, this shouldn't be the case, so I hope the developers will face the performance issues.”
- “Ultimately, I think the game leans too heavily on its art style and storytelling, but these things alone do not make a great city builder.”
- “The game is enjoyable, but the things that make it unique (its art style, expeditions/quests & lore, strategic building mechanics) are not fleshed out enough and don't offer a substantial reward as you interact with them through the game.”
gameplay
37 mentions
38 % positive mentions
54 % neutral mentions
8 % negative mentions
The gameplay of Synergy is a blend of classic city-building mechanics with innovative features that encourage exploration and experimentation, though some elements feel underdeveloped. Players appreciate the unique art style and thematic depth, but express a desire for more streamlined mechanics and additional content to enhance the overall experience. While the game offers addictive and immersive gameplay, it also faces criticism for certain unbalanced mechanics and bugs, indicating that it is still a work in progress.
- “Great systems, great aesthetic, solid streamlined mechanics that encourage exploration and experimentation.”
- “The gameplay is fun and challenging.”
- “Very high quality UX and art, charming idea and unique hook with its gameplay.”
- “There are sections of ground with massive temperature differences between each other seemingly just for the sake of having a temperature mechanic on a relatively small map.”
- “Gameplay-wise, there are some things that could be a little more streamlined.”
- “The game is enjoyable, but the things that make it unique (its art style, expeditions/quests & lore, strategic building mechanics) are not fleshed out enough and don't offer a substantial reward as you interact with them through the game.”
story
13 mentions
38 % positive mentions
38 % neutral mentions
23 % negative mentions
The game's story is praised for its engaging narrative and art style, featuring a progressive storyline with clear objectives and multiple-choice situations during missions. However, some players feel that the story lacks depth and challenge, with repetitive resource management tasks that do not provide substantial rewards for progression. Overall, while the storytelling and visuals are strong points, they may not be enough to elevate the gameplay experience in a city-building context.
- “I love the art style and the story.”
- “The game has a nice way of storytelling, with multiple choice situations during 'expeditions'.”
- “The storyline is engaging.”
- “I beat both of the (current) two storylines, and it was the same missing-resource challenge, just different resources.”
- “Ultimately, I think the game leans too heavily on its art style and storytelling, but these things alone do not make a great city builder.”
- “The missions are nice, but the sandbox mode is horrible.”
optimization
10 mentions
30 % positive mentions
40 % neutral mentions
30 % negative mentions
The game's optimization is a significant concern, particularly as city populations exceed 100, leading to performance degradation and lag. While some players appreciate the overall performance, many report issues such as slowdowns and potential memory leaks, especially when expanding their towns or building specific structures. Overall, the game requires further optimization to enhance the experience, especially in its early access state.
- “While there are some early access quirks, such as performance issues, they didn't bother me much.”
- “As a side note to the devs, the game runs beautifully, but I did notice a big performance drop when building clay roads.”
- “I'm assuming this is due to the path recalculation, but it definitely needs optimization.”
- “The game performance is almost unplayable once you have over 100+ people in the city.”
- “For a game with such simple graphics, this shouldn't be the case, so I hope the developers will address the performance issues.”
- “The game can get really slow after you build up your town; I'm not sure if it's memory leaks or just poorly optimized.”
music
9 mentions
44 % positive mentions
22 % neutral mentions
33 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its calming and inspiring qualities, effectively complementing the art and overall theme. While the soundtrack is described as good and peaceful, some users note that it is somewhat limited and could benefit from further improvement. Overall, the audio elements enhance the gameplay experience, contributing positively to the game's atmosphere.
- “The music and how the game looks makes me feel very calm and inspired.”
- “The art and music are great!”
- “The music and audio effects are in tone, unoffensive and help the game's theme greatly.”
- “As of the time of writing, the OST is a bit limited but sets the mood well.”
- “Improvement needed: the music, especially the ambient sounds, could also be improved.”
- “Surprisingly the music, but honestly, it was just kind of there.”
grinding
7 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience; while the research and gathering system is conceptually appealing, its execution can feel tedious, especially when combined with the worker placement mechanics. Many feel that the game lacks challenge, leading to a repetitive loop of harvesting rather than engaging farming, which detracts from the overall enjoyment.
- “It adds its own twist to this formula with a research and gathering system that is fantastic in concept but a little tedious in execution.”
- “Especially when combined with the already sometimes tedious Frostpunk-style worker placement mechanic.”
- “I paid for the $40 dev support option, and hoped to at least get a solid 40-hour week out of playing this, but basically, it's too easy, and the game loop is tedious.”
replayability
7 mentions
57 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game shows promising replayability due to its diverse challenges, strategic elements, and varying production chains based on map resources. While some players feel that current content offers limited replayability, many are optimistic about future updates enhancing variety and depth. Early access feedback highlights a solid foundation for replayability, with potential for growth as the game develops.
- “It's only early access and yet already has everything needed: great difficulty, great replayability, great design, great music, great dev team... I could keep listing great things for a while.”
- “There's enough to discover, challenges to complete, and strategy to make the game super fun and replayable.”
- “This makes the game almost infinitely replayable and satisfying on multiple levels.”
- “The only replayability I have noticed is that your production chains vary depending on the resources available on the map.”
- “But other than that, there is little replayability.”
- “So far there is a decent amount of content, so I am really looking forward to seeing how it develops and hopefully we'll get a lot of variety and replayability in the future when there are more tech, buildings, and plants available.”
stability
4 mentions
75 % positive mentions
-50 % neutral mentions
75 % negative mentions
The game is currently in early access, leading to some instability characterized by bugs, glitches, and performance issues such as lag, particularly when interacting with certain menus. While players acknowledge these challenges, they suggest that using common sense can help navigate the experience. Overall, stability remains a concern, but it is expected given the game's developmental stage.
- “The game runs smoothly most of the time, and I rarely encounter any major bugs that disrupt my experience.”
- “Despite being in early access, the developers have done a great job maintaining stability, making it enjoyable to play.”
- “I appreciate how the game remains stable even during intense moments, allowing for a seamless gaming experience.”
- “The game lags a lot, and I do have 16GB RAM. If I hover over the question mark in the top left of a building menu, the game freezes most of the time.”
- “The game is still a bit buggy.”
- “Bugs and glitches: this is early access, and they do exist in small numbers.”
emotional
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the positive feelings associated with taking time to learn and explore in the game, but find that the brief storytelling and lack of deep connection to characters limit the overall emotional impact.
- “Interestingly, Synergy is the first game in my experience that made me feel good for taking my time and learning about something before harvesting and using it.”
atmosphere
2 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for being immersive and enjoyable, characterized by a dreamy and fresh quality that enhances the overall experience.
- “Really atmospheric and enjoyable!”
- “Dreamy, atmospheric, fresh.”