Really Simple Syndicate: Satellite Reign Video Playthrough

Satellite Reign comfortably cleared its £350,000 Kickstarter target in July of last year, but that this Syndicate-inspired tactical cyberpunk game didn't extend its tally into the millions was perhaps the first sign that i) the crowdfunding service isn't a magic well full of money and ii) that we don't live in the best of all possible universes.

One of the signs that our universe is still very good however is the first pre-alpha playthough of the game, embedded below. It's dark, stealthy, cyberpunk, tactical, Syndicate Syndicate Syndicate. I like it.

I was pretty young when I first played Syndicate - too young - and mainly I remember it for the transgressive act of killing pedestrians. There's nothing like that in this video, but I like the look of its stealth, its action, and its hacking overlays which provide routes of neon wiring to show how the items in the environment connect. I also love the mood; I'm bored of orcs, but I'm not sure I'll ever tire of long coats and city streets at night.

The video was made in part because alpha backers should be getting a build of the game to play "very soon", according to a post on the Satellite Reign blog. I'm just thrilled that it exists and it looks solid, even if, as the post notes, there are still "more simulation systems to make, more characters to build, more environments to design and fill with art, more animations to make, and lots of balancing to do."