Satellite Reign

Syndicate holds a special place in my heart. It was one of the games that I was able to get running on the rickety old family PC - getting a game to work on a ‘90s PC was never a foregone conclusion - and it was a game that if my parents had known what I was playing, I almost certainly wouldn't have been allowed to play it. Doubly exciting.

Satellite Reign calls itself the spiritual successor to those Bullfrog games of the ‘90s, and there's some obvious comparisons beyond the fact that project lead Mike Diskett is heading up development (he was lead designer on Syndicate Wars). Notably there's similarities in the form of the isometric perspective and the cyberpunk styling. We're in the future, we're controlling a small team of trench coat wearing agents, and we're on the rampage using a variety of futuristic abilities.

Satellite Reign was Kickstarted back in 2013, and the Early Access build of the game launched on Steam at the end of last year. Having sampled the recently added tutorial area and tackled some of the early game missions, any concerns that I had about the direction this spiritual successor might take have dissipated. 5 Lives are making the game that I wanted them to, and for that I'm grateful.

That said, I'm still not going to recommend it just yet. As the on-screen notice says, this is in pre-alpha, and that means that it's a bug riddled game and there's plenty of issues. From the off there were problems that had me restarting the game. The tutorial that's been added is helpful, but it's not perfect yet and there's more to be done when instructing new players. There's a long way to go before this is ready for general consumption, such is the number of bugs and the amount of placeholder content on display.

It is, however, looking very promising. Players control a squad of four agents and direct them through the streets of a futuristic city, dodging patrols and the gaze of security cameras, and taking on missions as they seek to expand their influence. There's options for stealth, or play can go loud and the team can engage in gunfights with the various guards positioned around the city.

Each of the agents under your control can be levelled up, and they all have different strengths and skills that can be explored and added to. As characters become more capable, your options in any given situation increase. It'll be interesting to see just how deep this progression system goes, and how much flexibility it'll give players, but the early signs are encouraging. When a character dies their skills and consciousness are re-sleeved in a fresh clone at the last checkpoint you activated; lower numbers handicaps you during any given situation, but it doesn't ruin the game because you can gather your strength and go again later.

The AI of the enemies you come up against isn't great, nor is the pathfinding of the civilians that exist in the simulated city. Most significantly the clunky AI means that the real-time combat lacks finesse at the moment. There's certainly work to be done in this area, but again a solid base is there. On top of that the city is dense and full of character. The cyberpunk styling, the neon signage, the dark colour palette - it's a world that reminds us of Bladerunner and its ilk. It looks fantastic and we're excited about digging deeper, discovering more about the lore. The overall structure seems to focus more on side-missions, and instead of a campaign, as far as we can tell the narrative looks like it'll be unveiled as the player digs deeper.

Atmosphere is one thing that this Early Access build has in abundance. There's a well-chosen soundtrack thrumming away in the background. It keeps you company while your marching through the dark, rainy city, watching the world hustle and bustle around you as you plan your next move. That atmosphere is accompanied by freedom; you can decide how you want to approach any given scenario, and it feels like the developers are working hard to ensure that there's genuine player agency. When all the systems are in place, and if the AI is up to scratch, we could be looking at a game that facilitates emergent gameplay. When you consider everything this game could be, it's an exciting proposition.

If you've been waiting twenty years for this - and there are some of you out there who have - then take heed: there's a good game bubbling under the surface, and we're certainly looking forward to revisiting this once it's finished, but right now it's only suitable for people who are happy to ignore the glitches and the bugs, or those who actively want to help with its development. For everyone else out there, our advice is to wait, because when this is finished it could well end up being a very special game indeed, and worth the extra wait.