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

85%

Audience ScoreBased on 188 reviews

graphics41 positive mentions

grinding9 negative mentions

The game features a stunning art style inspired by Moebius, creating a beautiful and immersive environment.
Synergy offers a unique gameplay experience that emphasizes environmental interaction and resource management, encouraging players to learn about and adapt to their surroundings.
The game has a relaxing and chill vibe, making it enjoyable for players who appreciate a slower-paced city-building experience.

The tutorial and early game mechanics can be confusing, leaving players unsure about how to progress effectively.
Performance issues arise in mid to late game, particularly with lag and crashes as the population increases.
The gameplay can feel tedious and lacking in challenge, with some players finding it boring after a while due to the low stakes and repetitive tasks.

graphics
75 mentions
55 % positive mentions
41 % neutral mentions
4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their unique and beautiful art style, heavily inspired by Moebius and Franco-Belgian comics. Players appreciate the soothing color palette and captivating visuals, which enhance the overall experience, despite some concerns about performance issues and gameplay pacing. Overall, the art style is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's charm and appeal.
- “The art style is fantastic!”
- “The visuals are very beautifully done, kudos to the artist!”
- “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.”
- “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.”
- “The game is enjoyable, but the things that make the game 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.”
- “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.”
gameplay
55 mentions
31 % positive mentions
64 % neutral mentions
5 % negative mentions
Gameplay in the game has received mixed reviews, with some players praising its unique mechanics and beautiful art direction, while others criticize the lack of clear tutorials and the underutilization of certain features, such as injury mechanics. Many appreciate the intricate systems that encourage exploration and experimentation, but note a steep learning curve and a need for more streamlined management options. Overall, while the game offers an engaging experience with innovative elements, it still feels like it requires further refinement and content development.
- “The gameplay is fun and challenging.”
- “Great systems, great aesthetic, solid streamlined mechanics that encourage exploration and experimentation.”
- “This game has some interesting mechanics that differentiate it from other city builders, mainly its focus on interacting with and learning about natural resources in the environment in order to best use them for your city and people's benefit.”
- “The tutorial does an incredibly poor job of explaining mechanics that are going to be relevant in the actual campaign, and the game itself does not explain it either.”
- “It got to the point where I would just let it run while I stepped away from my computer because I got bored of waiting for research and expeditions to finish.”
- “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.”
story
22 mentions
27 % positive mentions
59 % neutral mentions
14 % negative mentions
The game's story is set in a post-collapse world where players help humanity rebuild through missions and expeditions, featuring a progressive narrative and engaging art style. However, many players find the story lacking depth and challenge, with some quests leading to harsh penalties and a lack of clarity in resource management. While the missions are enjoyable and the themes are promising, the overall storytelling feels underdeveloped compared to other city-building games.
- “In the story, it seems humanity established itself (some colonies?), collapsed, and is now trying to rebuild itself in part through your efforts.”
- “The story line is engaging.”
- “The art style is awesome and the story is really good!”
- “You might get a mission where you need four culture and 8 knowledge; the game will tell you that culture and knowledge are capped at 10, which is true, but what's not explained and is not well demonstrated is how the value of culture or knowledge is calculated.”
- “And trust me, every dumb quest has an incredibly harsh punishment that will send you into a spiral of failure, and you can't refuse the quests.”
- “I had originally planned on a longer review of synergy, but the game’s text-based story in which you seek out fellow settlers and study the world’s strange glowing phenomenon doesn’t currently feel fleshed out enough to fairly score.”
optimization
14 mentions
21 % positive mentions
57 % neutral mentions
21 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received mixed feedback, with players reporting significant performance issues, particularly in the mid to late game as city populations grow. While some users noted that the game runs well initially, they experienced stuttering and lag when managing larger cities, suggesting a need for further optimization, especially given the game's relatively simple graphics. Overall, while the game shows promise, many players are hesitant to recommend it until these performance issues are addressed.
- “Pretty enjoyable spin on a city builder, and while there are some late-game performance issues, it's in a better state than most Paradox games I've been happy to play on release.”
- “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.”
- “Aside from an initial crash after the first launch, I've had no stability or performance issues, but we'll see how it holds up as the population increases, as high population counts is where these games always start to chug under CPU load.”
- “My primary issue is performance issues in the mid-late game.”
- “The game performance for some reason is almost unplayable once you have over 100+ people in the city.”
- “The game can also get really slow after you build up your town; I'm not sure if it's memory leaks or just poorly optimized.”
music
11 mentions
45 % positive mentions
27 % neutral mentions
27 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally praised for its calming and inspiring qualities, effectively complementing the vibrant art style. While the soundtrack is described as good and peaceful, some users note that it is somewhat limited and could benefit from further improvement, particularly in ambient sounds. Overall, the music enhances the game's relaxing atmosphere and contributes positively to the overall experience.
- “The music and how the game looks makes me feel very calm and inspired.”
- “The art and music are great!”
- “A lovely city builder with absolutely fantastic art and music.”
- “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
9 mentions
0 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be somewhat tedious, particularly due to the repetitive nature of resource management and worker placement mechanics. While the research and gathering system is conceptually appealing, its execution can feel laborious, leading to a sense of monotony in gameplay. Additionally, the ease of progression may detract from the overall experience, making the grind feel less rewarding.
- “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
43 % positive mentions
14 % neutral mentions
43 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is seen as a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the potential for varied strategies and challenges based on resource availability, others feel that it currently lacks depth and variety. Many hope for future updates to enhance replayability through custom difficulty levels and additional content. Early access feedback suggests that while there is a solid foundation, further development could significantly improve the game's longevity.
- “It's only in 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.”
- “There are a few things that could clearly add more replayability and should be easy enough to tweak - I'd love to try making custom difficulty levels, for instance.”
- “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.”
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 and glitches, particularly noticeable during certain interactions, such as hovering over menu items. While users acknowledge that the systems can be unclear and the game may lag even on capable hardware, they suggest that players can navigate through these issues with patience and problem-solving.
- “The game runs smoothly most of the time, providing a stable experience that allows me to focus on gameplay rather than technical issues.”
- “Despite being in early access, I've encountered very few bugs, which speaks to the developers' commitment to stability.”
- “The overall performance is impressive, with minimal crashes and lag, making for a reliable 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.”
atmosphere
3 mentions
100 % positive mentions
0 % neutral mentions
0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is generally praised as dreamy and enjoyable, creating a fresh experience for players. However, some users feel that despite the impressive art, it falls short of their expectations for a more immersive atmosphere.
- “Really atmospheric and enjoyable!”
- “Dreamy, atmospheric, fresh.”
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.”