“You are a tool, Kilo. I can use you any way I want. But so can others.”

It’s kinda funny how this game came out the same year as Black Ops 2, and they’re so similar, but this one went completely under the radar. Though actually it reminds me even more of Black Ops 3 and everything that game couldn’t be, because it deals as much with typical cyberpunk tropes like identity, memories and transhumanism in a dystopian world dominated by mega-corporations with excessive power.

It’s nothing we haven’t seen before, and now from 2026 the story ironically feels like it was written by an AI. And the game’s main problem really is that it’s so story-driven while failing to deliver a story not just compelling but even coherent and comprehensive. It’s a story that the game would’ve been better off without as it actively drags the game down. The ending honestly feels like it’s unfinished.

But for what it lacks in the story department, I feel like there’s a meta-commentary on the state of linear spectacle-based shooters.

“I made you, Kilo, I had you custom wired for a purpose, and I can pull your fucking plug like any other machine.”

Syndicate clearly plays in the playground of Call of Duty. You have a two-gun limit, rather simple level-design, constant scripted sequences, and the gunplay feels just like it. But then the premise of the story is that you’re a kind of a robocop that belongs to a corporation and is given special powers to execute what the corporation demands of you, with very limited freedoms. Much like the game itself, it’s a power-fantasy that gradually becomes a dystopian nightmare. And I feel like the design reinforces that.

Early on the game will let you play around in areas with relatively complex level layouts, but as the game progresses, I feel like it gets more and more linear. There is depth that’s burgeoning beneath the surface, but it’s never allowed to break through.

The center of Syndicate’s combat is the so-called “Dart Overlay”, which is a mode that combines slow-mo with x-ray, increased damage output and decreased damage input. On top of that it adds damage multipliers when you kill several enemies in a succession and can be upgraded with other bonuses. It’s a great system because it encourages you to break out of the traditional Call of Duty formula and be more mobile and aggressive. You can even have your health-restoring “glory kills” that everyone loves so much from Doom 2016. At its best, this mode makes the game play like softcore F.E.A.R. But just like the protagonist, you’re not really allowed full freedom to use it whenever you want to. Sometimes the level-design makes it redundant, other times because you’re forced into set-pieces, boss-battles or scripted scenes.

You also have three superpowers, which remind me most of Black Ops 3. The first one makes the opponent kill himself, the second does damage and decreases the enemy’s defenses, and the third makes the target start killing his comrades. The last one has great implications, but again is heavily underutilized.

I feel like, Syndicate could’ve been a game where you walk into a room full of enemies and contemplate like 10 different strategies. But all that potential is lost like tears in rain.

What a shame.

It’s funny, but these are almost the exact words the main antagonist (Brian Cox) says at the end. Really hard to believe the devs weren’t trying to say something with that.

“I wonder what you’ll do now that you don’t have any orders.”

^And these are the last words you hear right before the game is over.

I feel like the devs didn’t want to create a Call of Duty game and did everything in their power to subvert the demands of the market. Also, yes, I am aware that this game is a kind of reboot of a tactical strategy game from the 90s. That doesn’t affect my evaluation of the game whatsoever. In fact, I find it hilarious that some of the people that hate this game on principle are perfectly okay with the reboot of Prey that was designed as a completely different game and had the title slapped on it at the last moment.

My first impressions with this game were really strong. But having completed the game, looking back at it, I struggle to remember one moment that felt special. Its best aspects are neutered enough that it never gets to shine.