So this is interesting. And by interesting, I of course mean "completely unconfirmed and potentially a bit perturbing of true". A extract of script, reportedly from Starbreeze's still unofficial, still unannounced, rumoured-to-within-an-inch-of-its-life reboot of Syndicate haspopped up on Siliconera. Is it real? Does the game exist? Is the script any good? Maybe, probably, and "Weeeeeell...". Those are your answers, in that order.Read on, and I'll tell youof my worries for it with my normal rambunctious charm.
The Syndicate script, if it is to be believed to be so, seems to detail some opening exposition, as well as some scenes regarding the protagonist's origins. The good bits? It does a great job of setting up a deeply layered corporate-political cyberpunk world, in which companies act as nations and cybernetic augmentation reigns supreme. It even introduces good old-fashioned Total-Recall-style memory implants as a new must-have product (for those who can afford it).
So far, so Syndicate. The bits I'm not sure about though? Well for starters thescenes set inthe main character's childhood seem rampantly set upon cuing him up as a misguided but morally-sound victim of the corporations. Parents murdered as a kid as part of Eurocorp's attempt to have his infant self for their own. Anti-corporate, rebel father gunned down in front of him. Yeah, a far cry from the original Syndicate's deliciously amoral mega-corp leaders. I fear for the sanitisation of one of the most gleefully mean-spirited games of the '90s. Oh, and some of the dialogue is more than a bit lumpen on the page.
Obviously it's impossible to tell how much the introduction of good actors will improve (or even improvise) the lines on show, and Starbreezehas always been really good in respect of dialogue before, so I'm not worrying that side of things too much yet. If indeed, any of this is real at all. Which it very well may not be.
Above: That's a Syndicate heart. A cold metal heart
But yeah, if it is thenI can pretty much write the entire plot of the game right now, based on the tropes indicated in this snippet. Life-long, amoral, corporate agent fights other corporations. Discovers something weird going on with his corporation's commercial memory-chips. Maybe has one himself, maybe doesn't (OR DOES HE!?). Is suddenly plagued with dreams of his parentsbeing gunned down in front of him as a child, which don't tie up with his "real" corporate upbringing. Are the dreams implants? Are his "real" memories implants? Was he stolen as a child, before having the incident cybernetically erased from his mind? Has his mind been hacked by anti-corporate rebels trying to get him on-side with thoughts of his fake-parents' fake-murder? Who will he ally himself to? What will he fight for? Is a man more than the sum of his memories?
Would you kindly!!!!??
Yeah. If this script is genuine, I'll put a tenner down on that being the game's plot right now. So I kind of hope it isn't. Becaus that plot is a bit boring, hackneyed, and not very Syndicate at all.
Your feelings?
May 26, 2011
The Syndicate script, if it is to be believed to be so, seems to detail some opening exposition, as well as some scenes regarding the protagonist's origins. The good bits? It does a great job of setting up a deeply layered corporate-political cyberpunk world, in which companies act as nations and cybernetic augmentation reigns supreme. It even introduces good old-fashioned Total-Recall-style memory implants as a new must-have product (for those who can afford it).
So far, so Syndicate. The bits I'm not sure about though? Well for starters thescenes set inthe main character's childhood seem rampantly set upon cuing him up as a misguided but morally-sound victim of the corporations. Parents murdered as a kid as part of Eurocorp's attempt to have his infant self for their own. Anti-corporate, rebel father gunned down in front of him. Yeah, a far cry from the original Syndicate's deliciously amoral mega-corp leaders. I fear for the sanitisation of one of the most gleefully mean-spirited games of the '90s. Oh, and some of the dialogue is more than a bit lumpen on the page.
Obviously it's impossible to tell how much the introduction of good actors will improve (or even improvise) the lines on show, and Starbreezehas always been really good in respect of dialogue before, so I'm not worrying that side of things too much yet. If indeed, any of this is real at all. Which it very well may not be.
Above: That's a Syndicate heart. A cold metal heart
But yeah, if it is thenI can pretty much write the entire plot of the game right now, based on the tropes indicated in this snippet. Life-long, amoral, corporate agent fights other corporations. Discovers something weird going on with his corporation's commercial memory-chips. Maybe has one himself, maybe doesn't (OR DOES HE!?). Is suddenly plagued with dreams of his parentsbeing gunned down in front of him as a child, which don't tie up with his "real" corporate upbringing. Are the dreams implants? Are his "real" memories implants? Was he stolen as a child, before having the incident cybernetically erased from his mind? Has his mind been hacked by anti-corporate rebels trying to get him on-side with thoughts of his fake-parents' fake-murder? Who will he ally himself to? What will he fight for? Is a man more than the sum of his memories?
Would you kindly!!!!??
Yeah. If this script is genuine, I'll put a tenner down on that being the game's plot right now. So I kind of hope it isn't. Becaus that plot is a bit boring, hackneyed, and not very Syndicate at all.
Your feelings?
May 26, 2011
