''Synnergist'' is a

point-and-click adventure An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or Puzzle video game, puzzle-solving. The Video game genres, genre's focus on story allows it to draw ...

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device to gener ...

developed by

Vicarious Visions Blizzard Albany (formerly Vicarious Visions, Inc.) is an American video game developer based in Albany, New York. The studio was acquired by Activision in January 2005. After releasing its last game as part of that company, '' Tony Hawk's Pro Sk ...

and published by 21st Century Entertainment for

MS-DOS MS-DOS ( ; acronym for Microsoft Disk Operating System, also known as Microsoft DOS) is an operating system for x86-based personal computers mostly developed by Microsoft. Collectively, MS-DOS, its rebranding as IBM PC DOS, and a few oper ...

in 1996. It was Vicarious Visions' debut video game. The game includes "

digitized DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...

actors (almost 70) and full motion video." It was only released in Europe.

Plot

The game's plot centers around the player taking on the role of Tim Machin, a journalist in the fictional city of New Arhus in the year 2010. The city, once prosperous, has now fallen into widespread chaos and decay. As Tim investigates, he encounters twists, turns, and a mysterious humanitarian figure named Victor Ambrose. The game features digitized actors and full motion video.

Gameplay

Development and release

The graphic backgrounds for ''Synnergist'' were produced by Pomono Productions. When the game was released, Vicarious Visions offered a prize to the first five people to discover hidden

Easter eggs Easter eggs, also called Paschal eggs, are eggs that are decorated for the Christian feast of Easter, which celebrates the resurrection of Jesus. As such, Easter eggs are common during the season of Eastertide (Easter season). The oldest tra ...

Reception

''Coming Soon'' magazine gave the game 81 out of 100, Tap-Repeatedly/Four Fat Chicks gave 4 Stars, ''PC Player'' (Denmark) gave 73 out of 100, ''PC Games'' (Germany) gave 68 out of 100, High Score gave 2 out of 5, Power Play gave 40 out of 100, and PC Player (Germany) gave 2 Stars. Csoon wrote "Synnergist maintains a good story line throughout the game, keeping the player's interest high in wanting to solve the mystery... Some of the puzzles can be a little difficult to figure out, and once you are stuck, the game can be slow." The site gave the game a rating of 81%. In another positive review, Four Fat Chicks wrote "Here is a game that has an interesting plot with many twists and turns, nice graphics, unobtrusive sound and music, easy interface, and a good number of varied locations to explore. Synnergist has a similar mood and style to Noctropolis, with a little Gabriel Knight–type understated tension thrown in... It's a shame that Vicarious Visions didn't follow up Synnergist with any other adventure games." In a contemporary Hardcore Gaming 101 review, the critic found the game interesting for being a notable example of

outsider art Outsider art is art made by self-taught or supposedly naïve artists with typically little or no contact with the conventions of the art worlds. In many cases, their work is discovered only after their deaths. Often, outsider art illustrates ...

, drawing attention to how much of its development cycle was spent while

founders Karthik and Guha Bala were still in high school. She noted "Wherever it fails, it’s a shame, but almost to-be expected. But where it gets things right, it’s all the more enthralling." The review went on to criticize the game's technical shortcomings but praised the game's ability to immerse and captivate the player through its painted backgrounds and atmosphere - "Objectively the whole game is really rather forgettable, but if you approach it with the same dream-oriented excitement the Bala brothers had back in 1991, it may just stick around for longer."

References

External links

*{{moby game, id=/synnergist, name=''Synnergist'' 1996 video games DOS games DOS-only games Europe-exclusive video games Point-and-click adventure games Video games developed in the United States Vicarious Visions games Single-player video games Video games set in 2010 Full motion video based games