This week I’ve been incredibly fortunate to have been able to get hands-on with the upcoming PlayStation VR2 exclusive, Synapse. Synapse is the landmark next-generation VR action-shooter from nDreams, the award-winning team behind Fracked, Phantom: Covert Ops, Far Cry VR: Dive into Insanity, and the eagerly anticipated Ghostbusters: Rise of the Ghost Lord.

Synapse places players in a beautifully abstract world with dual-wielding combat that evolves Fracked’s acclaimed run and gun gameplay, combining expressive 1:1 telekinesis in one hand, and deadly, tactile weaponry in the other. Players learn to harness this lethal combination as they master their own combat style to fight their way through a hostile mindscape.

Designed to take full advantage of PlayStation VR2’s boundary-pushing hardware, Synapse delivers a feature set, including:

• Motion-controlled, 1:1 telekinesis with eye-tracking-enhanced aiming that equips players with the power to launch, levitate and smash enemies through destructible environments.
• Adrenaline-fuelled gunplay engineered for PlayStation VR2’s Sense controllers.
• Feel Every moment through haptic feedback and adaptive triggers.
• A stand-out art style designed to make full use of the PlayStation VR2’s stunning 4K HDR display.

David Hayter, the voice of Snake from Metal Gear Solid and acclaimed screenwriter of X-Men and Watchmen, plays Colonel Peter Conrad, a once-respected black ops leader who has since gone rogue and become a notorious enemy of the state. His increasingly deranged thinking has led to him threatening to unleash Armageddon.

Joining us on our journey to put a stop to this madness is our Handler, Clara Sorensen, a director of the ultra-secretive Bureau V, played by Jennifer Hale, who’s voice acting credits include Commander Shepherd in Mass Effect, and my personal favourite, Rivet, in Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart. Sorensen is the player’s sole link to the outside world from within the Colonel’s mind and acts as a guide through his warped subconscious.

In this preview build of the game, I was able to play through a brief tutorial to get familiar with the game’s controls and a sample of Synapse’s gameplay loop and two full levels. Certain aspects of the game had been adjusted in order to give me a taste of the abilities and upgrades that would normally be unlocked through multiple hours of gameplay and progression.

Quick to the trigger but not very accurate to start with, I went straight for the ammo capacity upgrade, though there are 3 different skill trees for you to work with depending on your chosen play style.

Taking on certain challenges, like crushing enemies with objects using your telekinesis, or kills while holding onto cover will earn you insight, which is spent on purchasing your upgrades. Completing these challenges to upgrade makes the progression system feel quite rewarding and also adds an element of challenge which I quite enjoy a lot in this rogue-like style of game.

Diving a little deeper into the controls, combat, and experimenting with newly found powers of the mind and the destructive force of my weapons, unleashing my inner anti-hero has never felt so engaging and thrilling. It honestly has my mind melted. The implementation of the Sense haptic feedback and adaptive triggers is the perfect complement to the simple and intuitive control scheme. My first wow moment in this area was something as simple as reloading my gun.

Initially, I was reloading with my opposite hand, only to realise that when I was in cover I had to let go, which cost me hits to the face and resulted in death. I quickly discovered that I could also maintain cover while reloading by ejecting the magazine and inserting the new one, either by tapping my gun on the cover I was holding or pressing the mag against my body to push it back into my gun. Hurling enemies and objects into the air and even crushing explosive barrels with your telekinesis makes you feel incredibly powerful.

Blowing me away yet again was the eye-tracking in use with the telekinesis ability. When it was really busy on screen with enemies moving about to try and flank me, and both blocks and barrels littering the level, I could still engage everything that I looked at with pinpoint accuracy.

Speaking of enemies, they will certainly keep you on your toes as they constantly try to flank you and attack. Thankfully, the radar that is built into your telekinetic hand will help a lot to maintain awareness of enemy location, and if you’re not into checking the radar the 3D audio will have you hunting down your enemies splendidly.

Synapse’s game world is brought to life in stunning 4K visuals and is quite possibly the cleanest I’ve seen yet graphically. The world itself is quite gritty and devoid of colour, save for splashes representing interactable objects, pickups, and glorious explosions. This art style was honestly a bit of a shock to the system at first, being that I was so used to playing games with very vibrant colours throughout the world, however, in saying that, I also found it to be very unique and it fits incredibly well with the traversal of a hostile mindscape.

Synapse has everything I love in a super-powered shooter. It is fast-paced, highly addictive, and let’s face it, who doesn’t enjoy tossing enemies aside like a ragdoll or exploding barrels by crushing them with your mind? I look very forward to diving deeper into Colonel Peter Conrad’s mind and exploring my very expressive, destructive force when Synapse launches on PlayStation VR2 on 4/7/2023. Massive thanks to nDreams for allowing MKAU to get an early look at this incredible title.

Written by: Gary Nielsen