Synnergist

Synnergist is a 1996 DOS point and click adventure game, developed by Vicarious Visions and published by 21st Century Entertainment. It is notable for being Vicarious Visions' first video game, and was reportedly made by the company's founders during high school. The graphic backgrounds for Synnergist were produced by Pomono Productions. The game "features digitized actors (almost 70) and full motion video." The game had a Europe-only release.

Development

Csoon explained the development:

Five years went into the making of Synnergist which is a DOS only game and has VGA graphics. Most of the backgrounds in the game were hand painted to give a gothic and futuristic look and feel to the game. Some 3D effects are found within the game for certain animations. When speaking with other characters, a digitized video of the person speaking will appear providing a more distinguish image of the character. The music score that accompanies the game also provides for the futuristic and mysterious feel of the game. There are two difficulty levels for playing the game, Challenging or Novice. The default mode is Challenging. During the first half of Chapter one (there are five chapters in the game) you can press the F1 key to switch between difficulty levels. The Novice mode will provide you with extra tips when viewing an object or trying a specific action on what you should do next.

Plot

Mobygames explains "In Synnergist the player takes the role of Tim Machin, an ambitious young journalist forced by cruel circumstances to work for a trashy tabloid newspaper. Set in the year 2010, the game puts the player on the streets of New Arhus—a city of extremes, crammed with both cutting edge technology and the decaying remnants of a once proud past. Very soon, Tim finds himself on the trail of a sinister force that appears to be connected to the crime and killing". The storyline to Synnergist is much deeper than what it first appears - some hidden Easter Eggs in the game reveal secret to the game's plot, including what "Synnergist" actually means. They included new video sequences, rooms, and puzzles. When the game was released, Vicarious Visions offered a prize to the first five people to discover these hidden Easter Eggs.

Gameplay

Csoon explained the gameplay:

Controls for Synnergist are done with the left and right mouse buttons. Using the mouse you will point to where you want your character to move to. Looking at objects simply involves a left click, and to use an object you right click it. As your cursor moves overtop of the different items that you can click on or use, the name of the object will appear at the bottom of the screen. Your inventory appears at the top of the screen as small icons for each object along with another for saving and loading games. One other icon in the upper left hand corner represents the subway which is your mode of transportation within the game. The subway only appears when you are close to a subway stop, but these are available all throughout the game making travelling from place to place much simpler. When you speak to others in the game and their video appears, you'll also hear them speak as the text appears along the bottom of the screen. You never actually hear your own voice except in the introduction or when you are thinking to yourself. When answering back to others, various sentences will be available at the bottom of the screen for you to select.

Critical reception

Coming Soon Magazine gave the game 81 out of 100, Tap-Repeatedly/Four Fat Chicks gave 4 Stars, PC Player (Denmark) gave 73 out of 100, PC Games (Germany) gave 68 out of 100, High Score gave 2 out of 5, Power Play gave 40 out of 100, and PC Player (Germany) gave 2 Stars. Csoon wrote "Synnergist maintains a good story line throughout the game, keeping the player's interest high in wanting to solve the mystery... Some of the puzzles can be a little difficult to figure out, and once you are stuck, the game can be slow." The site gave the game a rating of 81%. In another positive review, Four Fat Chicks wrote "Here is a game that has an interesting plot with many twists and turns, nice graphics, unobtrusive sound and music, easy interface, and a good number of varied locations to explore. Synnergist has a similar mood and style to Noctropolis, with a little Gabriel Knight–type understated tension thrown in... It's a shame that Vicarious Visions didn't follow up Synnergist with any other adventure games."

In a contemporary review, Petra Tsimberov of Hardcore Gaming 101 found the game interesting for being a notable example of outsider art, drawing attention to how much of its development cycle was spent while Vicarious Visions founders Karthik and Guha Bala were still in high school. She noted "Wherever it fails, it’s a shame, but almost to-be expected. But where it gets things right, it’s all the more enthralling." The review went on to criticize the game's technical shortcomings but praised the game's ability to immerse and captivate the player through its painted backgrounds and atmosphere - "Objectively the whole game is really rather forgettable, but if you approach it with the same dream-oriented excitement the Bala brothers had back in 1991, it may just stick around for longer."