Frozen Synapse

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Recently a friend introduced me to Frozen Synapse. It's a tactical, simultaneous-turn based game on randomly generated maps with a lot of planning and tactics involved. I guess some of you folks might get a decent kick out of it aswell.

So far I've only played Dark Extermination mode, so I'll explain a bit.

In the game, turns are planned simultaneously, you tell your soldiers what to do that turn and when you're content with your orders, you finalize (Prime) your turn and wait for your opponent to finish doing the same. (Planning is like giving units advanced waypoints and behaviors in the ArmA editor).

When you're both primed, your plans are played out and you get the outcome, and the next turn starts. This continues until a team is eliminated or you reach the match turn limit.

There are 5 types of weapons and each of the soldiers is given a random weapon at the start of the game. Your opponents soldiers have the same weapon distribution as you do.

The weapons are:

• Machinegun (Assault Rifle)
  
• Shotgun
  
• Sniper rifle
  
• Grenade Launcher
  
• Missile Launcher
  

As I said, I've only played Extermination mode, but there are following modes available:

• Extermination (Kill the enemy before they kill you)
  
• Secure* (Defending/attacking a location on the map)
  
• Disputed (Boxes spawn at turn 5, collect and escape with most boxes)
  
• Hostage (Hostage escort/elimination, hostage is given his full escape plan at the start)
  
• Charge** (Charging down the map, trying to get as far as possible. Other team is trying to stop you)
  

"Dark" and "Light" are modifiers, in light matches you can see the current position of your opponents units at all times, in dark matches, it depends on line of sight.

Modes marked with stars involve bidding:

* - Players bid on the area they believe they can keep the enemy out of. Player who bid on the larger area is defending.

** - Players bid on the distance they think they can cross. Player who bid on the longer distance is charging.

The game also has a single-player mode with a campaign mode and skirmish versus AI. Both are interesting but PvP is way more interesting in my eyes. :)

Screenshots and videos can be found here, and here are some replays from couple of games I played:

It's currently available for PC and Mac, at $19.99 for a bundle of two copies and also on Steam (bit more expensive I guess).

If you've got more questions about the game, ask and I'll try my best to answer.

Edited May 27, 2011 by Sniperwolf572

[celery 8]

Interesting concept (a bit like miniscule Combat Mission?), but the presentation looks depressing and the price is a bit too steep for such a simple game.

[Hans Ludwig 0]

Is it on Steam?

[sic-disaster 311]

Frozen Synapse is good fun, i preordered it and played the beta for a long time.

Matches are fast and furious, with the possibility to play by mail. It's highly tactical and very reminiscent of the oldschool Rainbow Six mission planner, so if you got a kick out of setting up your own plans, this is a must-have basically.

The name of the game is guessing what your enemy will do and plan accordingly to counter their plans, and it's very interesting to see what other people do.

It takes a long time to get good at, though the controls etc are very simple and effective to use. Thankfully there is bot skirmish and a 55-mission campaign.

Graphics are sober but colourful, and aesthetically pleasing i think.

The soundtrack is on a whole other level though, and it is AWESOME. Yes, capital.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Is it on Steam?

Yes it is, link is in the first post. :)

... and also on Steam (bit more expensive I guess).

[-)rStrangelove 0]

Sound interesting.

The 2 keys & soundtrack edition on Steam for 22 Eur atm. So its now or never.

[gossamersolid 155]

)rStrangelove;1939190']Sound interesting.

The 2 keys & soundtrack edition on Steam for 22 Eur atm. So its now or never.

22 euro? It's $19.99 for two keys here (steam). You guys get screwed a lot with currency conversions.

[Cyteless 10]

9jJrUY27O0Y

Seems to be a very nice game. I like the graphic style, looks a bit along the lines of Introversion's games like DefCon and the 'winia games.

[Sniperwolf572 758]

Seems to be a very nice game. I like the graphic style, looks a bit along the lines of Introversion's games like DefCon and the 'winia games.

Well, that sums it up way better than I can. :p

[Wolfrug 0]

Seems like a nice game - reminds me of Laser Squad Nemesis (which was a lot of fun back in the day) - I always wondered why these kinds of simultaneous turn-based games never really caught on: they make so much sense!

Unfortunately the visuals is exactly what puts me off. I understand it's an indie game and bla bla, but to me it just screams lazy. I don't want it to be rendered by CryEngine - graphics don't matter - but it really seems almost no effort has been put into the visual design aside from what is necessary for gameplay. Darwinia/Multiwinia suffered from the same problem, although they at least had an excuse (it was 'supposed' to look like that since it was all a virtual world - still didn't care for it in the least). Defcon is different in that the visual design purposefully distances you from the terrible acts you are committing in the war - the sound design further accentuates this by making it clear you're sitting safe in some underground bunker ordering far-off cities to be nuked. Maybe Frozen Synapse has some similar story-reason for the way it looks, but at least the website didn't give me any information about that...and yes, I know some people really like the sleek, Tron-like stuff with bright neon colours and so on. I guess I'm not one of them.

Note: haven't played it, so I'm basing this off videos and screenshots. I'm sure the -gameplay- itself is brilliant, but...let's be honest. We care for more than just mechanics, don't we?

Regards,

Wolfrug

[Inkompetent 0]

Was €1 cheaper on Steam for me than from their website, after VAT had been added to the price (25% in Sweden).

Just bought it though, so can't comment on how it is to play. Looks interesting enough though!

[Cookieeater 10]

I got the game, it's very fun and original.

[Inkompetent 0]

Yet to try the game in multiplayer, but I've played 10 levels or so in singleplayer, and it rocks. Quite expensive for an indie game of its caliber imho, but still delivers a lot of original, thought through fun :)

[dmarkwick 261]

Looks interesting, but I'd need to play a demo.

[SFG 1]

Dying to play this! If anyone has an extra copy (game comes with two).... let me know :)

[gossamersolid 155]

Dying to play this! If anyone has an extra copy (game comes with two).... let me know :)

If you give me $10, I'll give you the second copy. (So we pay $10 each)

[NeMeSiS 11]

If you give me $10, I'll give you the second copy. (So we pay $10 each)

You mean you pay nothing and he pays 10.

(your -10 + 10 = 0, his -10 is -10)

If he gives you $5 you both pay $5.

(Your -10 + 5 = -5, his -5 is -5)

Unless its the beer talking. :p

[Inkompetent 0]

You mean you pay nothing and he pays 10.

(your -10 + 10 = 0, his -10 is -10)

If he gives you $5 you both pay $5.

(Your -10 + 5 = -5, his -5 is -5)

Unless its the beer talking. :p

No. The game costs $20 to buy, and for that you get two keys. So $10 per key :)

[NeMeSiS 11]

No. The game costs $20 to buy, and for that you get two keys. So $10 per key :)

See, good thing i added the beer disclaimer. :D

[Perforator 10]

My brother gave me a copy of Frozen Synapse today. It rocks! Seriously it's one of the best games I've ever played, I didn't have high expectations because I hadn't heard anything about it before but it really impressed me.

I love formulating tactical plans.

The troops are armed with machine guns, shotguns, sniper rifles, grenades and rockets. Timing is very important. Waypoints, range, stillness, aiming, cover, speed, aiming arcs, destructible cover and much much more all need to be taken into consideration during the planning phase. Don't be put off by the simple looking graphics, this game will truly test your tactical thinking.

[davidhaunte 10]

like the concept ! :)

[Mr. Charles 22]

It is on sale in Steam. got it for 11,49€ and i must say, it is harder than i thought :)

[gossamersolid 155]

Yeah I just bought it last night. $12 USD for 2 coppies :)

Gonna sell one to mah friend.

[mr burns 131]

Frozen Synapse is availabe for a fiver on humble bundle. Still a great game, very recommendable :)

http://www.humblebundle.com/

edit:

bfPytBKlQrA

:p

Edited June 27, 2013 by Mr Burns

[chrisb 196]

Old thread, I know. But as I played 'Prime' I thought I would put this up. It is being played at the moment 'limited', looks good. I'm not playing it yet, but will wait for release proper..

Frozen Synapse 2

Worth a look.:

 

Plus one more, not added to their playlist yet:

number 29