ComX 2014: Syndaver

Made by dPiction Games, Syndaver is a psychological thriller set in an English hospital. There's a better summary of the game than I could hope to create myself on the dPiction website.

Anyway, it's an FPS along the lines of Killing Floor or Dead Space. Syndaver has procedurally generated levels and the option of entering seeds to generate known levels. Aesthetically, it's very well done - dark, with vibrant colours in the lit sections, there is a general feeling that something unpleasant will leap out at you, and it often does.

I can't comment on the sound much, as I only played the game in a loud room so couldn't really tell what was coming from the game and what was general event noise plus other people's trailers.

In terms of gameplay, it was a very solid FPS. I have a few issues with the build I played, but I hope by the time they bring it to commercial release (which I believe is their intention) these problems would have been corrected.

One majorly confusing bit was when I couldn't move the character much beyond a point. Eventually I looked down and found a rat blocking my movement. That was quite frustrating. There's also a lack of feedback that one would expect from an FPS: the enemies just vanish when they're killed, they don't react to being shot. The build I played also lacked any animation on the gun, which was disconcerting.

All in all, it's a good game - one I look forward to playing once it's been polished up.