The “Synduality: Echo of Ada” experience doesn’t really begin until you’ve lost everything. That’s what I learned after seeing hours worth of work explode in my face in an ambush. While scavenging the surface of an apocalyptic earth in a mech, a fellow Drifter ambushed me and took my haul and parts.
It was disheartening and thrilling at the same time. That’s often the case with these extraction-style games. Inspired by modes such as the Dark Zone in “Tom Clancy’s The Division,” this punishing but rewarding online genre has players scouring areas for items and power-ups and surviving to tell the tale. It pits players not only against computer-controlled enemies, but also against each other.
Players may have found an incredibly rare item, but to actually keep it, they’ll have to go to an extraction zone and fend off others who may want to steal it.
THE STORY SO FAR
“Synduality” works off that premise but sets it far in the future. A blue rain called Tears of the New Moon nearly wipes out humanity. It kills anyone it touches and mutates the environment, turning animals into deadly creatures called Enders.
Humanity fled underground for safety and created mechs called Cradle Coffins to fight off the mutated creatures and protect themselves from the harsh conditions. A Drifter pilots the Cradle while an android called a Magus provides support. Together, they venture to the dangerous surface to collect AO crystals, a resource that powers the underground civilization.
In “Synduality,” players take on the role of a Drifter and choose from one of four Maguses, who act as their sidekick. The android provides support with abilities such as speedy mech repairs, an anti-Cradle slowdown trap, and long-range detectors that offer better information about resources and rain protection. Players can add more Maguses as they progress, but it’s best to stick and bond with one.
Harvesting AO crystals is one of the fastest ways to make money in “Synduality: Echo of Ada.” (Bandai Namco)
BUILDING UP A BASE
At first, they have nothing more than a mech and a warehouse, but over the course of their adventures, players upgrade the mech and facility. They accomplish that by scrounging the surface for supplies in their Cradle. That means gathering items such as work gloves, metal scraps and power cables. Those resources improve the warehouse and unlock features such as crafting, repairs and other key services.
Although grabbing materials is important, it often doesn’t pay the bills. Players also need to mine AO crystals that players sell for credits to buy ammo, consumables and other items that increase their chances for survival.
That’s important because the “Synduality” surface world is harsh. The rain will gnaw at the coating protecting the Mech. Enders can attack from any direction while they scavenge. Bandits in their own Cradles can attack players and they also have to be wary of their fellow players. One never knows who will stab them in the back.
Players explore a destroyed Earth surface in “Synduality: Echo of Ada.”
A SIMPLE BUT COMPELLING GAMEPLAY LOOP
It’s a formula that’s fairly simple, but it works. Players face enough dangers to make adventuring exciting. The gameplay becomes more rewarding as players go on more sorties and figure out the map and its intricacies. They use the Magus to locate AO crystals for money-making ventures while other times they may be searching for hard-to-find items to finish a request or upgrade.
Aside from the free-form emergent gameplay, “Synduality” does have more narrative-focused missions that use special kitted-out mechs and the option to replay the missions at a checkpoint. They show what the combat is capable of in a more structured format where players have to obtain more powerful weapons by defeating rival Cradles and managing scarce ammo.
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Although it has a solid foundation, “Synduality” suffers from two issues. The first is that the game doesn’t have much enemy variety. Players will run into at least three types of Enders, bandits and parasitic Enders that can control wrecked Cradles. The other issue is that there isn’t much variety in the type of mechs that players have access to. They don’t provide much variety in terms of powers or feel.
The scarcity of content is expected for a game that publisher Bandai Namco plans to expand. It’s a curious model because players who have already bought the game face more options to spend money on it via dressing up their Magus or accessing stronger parts. It also has other elements more commonly seen in free-to-play titles such as the ability to speed up crafting in exchange for coins. These artificial roadblocks just make players want to put the game down.
All of this makes “Synduality” feel like a bad bargain, which is unfortunate for a title that has a promising gameplay loop and an intriguing premise.
‘Synduality: Echo of Ada”
Two stars
Platform:PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X and Series S, PC
Rating:Teen
