Many modern adventure games have developed and evolved along with the genre, perhaps offering more cinematic and action based experiences, with the exception of a handful of indie titles (particularly the generally brilliant selection of games published by Wadjet Eye). Dead Synchronicity very much sticks to an old school form of point and click adventure, conjuring up thoughts of Broken Sword and the likes, though presents a unique aesthetic and theme.

 

Set in a post apocalypse of sorts, our protagonist Michael wakes up in a rundown trailer in the middle of a refugee camp, with no memory of his past or how he got there. Fortunately, and oh so conveniently for the narrative (the game is a little silly with regards to its exposition) the man who saved us is on hand to explain what’s happened to the world.

 

A terrible pandemic has struck the world after a mysterious rift opened in the sky, turning most of the world’s population into ‘the dissolved’, infected with an illness that appears to drive them mad before literally dissolving them alive. Some say, however, that the dissolved have special powers, claiming to be able to talk to the dead, though regardless of their ostensible gifts they are all facing a dreadful end. There’s not much Michael can really do, other than attempt to regain his identity, but along the way he discovers some things about this pandemic, along with the hope of finding a solution to the crisis.

It’s a pretty severe setting, and for the most part that comes across in the game. The population has quickly declined to living in poverty and under martial law. The refugees Michael wakes up with were promised they would be allowed back to their homes, however have been all but abandoned, and there’s plenty of shady behaviour and rumours about the army and how they’re dealing with the outbreak. It really is an interesting and impactful story and setting, and exploring the shabby camp and near-deserted streets sets a great tone.

 

Unfortunately, aside from that it’s not particularly well presented. I don’t mean visually, the art in Dead Synchronicity is a stand-out, if quirky, feature, however some of the voice acting and writing is rather poor. There’s a comical sense of drama to a lot of the writing, and it becomes a little bit cringe-worthy to hear. For example, the characters keep going on about this “new world” and how “it brings the worst out in all of us”. Or the obvious extrapolation, this being a genuine line from the game: “of course, you don’t know what I’m talking about, here let me explain”. It usually leads to some very detailed explanation which on the odd occasion I felt compelled to skip. There’s a character called The Hunter who is particularly unusual to listen to. Presented as this gruff, dangerous man in other characters’ dialogue, yet when you speak to him his voice is clear and unintimidating – ending every sentence rather awkwardly with ‘dude’. With a game that requires so much listening to characters it’s a little hard to avoid.

 

Having said all that, there is at least a good deal of detail about the story, and if you can deal with a bit of cringy dialogue then there’s a lot to get lost in. Of course, conversations work as they typically would in a point and click game, you click on a character and work your way through a list of dialogue options. Some pieces of information trigger progression, others gives clues and so on. There’s always a problem to solve, and in order to do so you need to explore the environments to find items that can help you. For example, an early puzzle sees you needing to distract a hobo so you can look in his shopping cart. He’s sitting next to a barrel fire (trash can fire? Not actually sure what to call that), so you look around, find a pot lid in the kitchen of the trailer van you woke up in, put it on top of the hobo’s fire which causes smoke to pour out and distract him while you pilfer something from his stash. That’s obviously a pretty simple one, and they get much more complex – some requiring you to hold on to items for a very long time before they become of use. Some of the puzzles can be pretty difficult, but generally they aren’t too unforgiving on the whole ‘point and click logic’ front. It’s often a lack of clarity, or missing something that causes the challenge in these types of games, however Dead Synchronicity takes care of that by providing a way of revealing interact-able things in the environment. It’s not much of a cheat mode, if you were worried about that, however it makes things less infuriating when you can’t figure out what to do next, because you press the button that reveals things in the area and discover “oh right, it’s because I didn’t see that piece of chipped tooth on the floor”.

I can’t fault the game for its gameplay, as I said, it’s a very old school design – which I happen to love – and it creates some creative and interesting puzzles to get to grips with, without being too crazy on the logic. If I were to criticise some aspect of the gameplay it would be the slow pace of our main character – making traversal a bit tedious – but again, the developers have a solution for that, as you can simply double click to instantly go to a different area (it doesn’t always seem to work though).

 

The thing about Dead Synchronicity that stuck me the most, however, is just how effecting it is. Forget about some of the silly dialogue and voice acting for a bit, Dead Synchronicity is a quirky and damn macabre game at times. Its visual design has a sort of comic book style, unusual hand drawn effect – characters with screwed up, squinting faces and very stark, harsh lines. It suits the theme and makes the game stand out for other adventure titles. But also it fits the dark, trippy overtones of the game.

 

In fact, one of Dead Synchronicity’s strongest points is its ability to flip from calm or quirky to disturbing and crazy. Michael suffers from sudden and violent visions where the space around him transforms – buildings and people disappear, and sometimes he sees an event that once took place there. The music changes to a chilling choir and the panic Michael is facing is palpable. That’s not to mention some of the terrible things Michael witnesses and even does himself when the tension rises. At times it’s a really shocking game. And that’s all positive critique.

But there’s one final issue I need to mention before I end this review. The game’s finale. When Dead Synchronicity first released this was much more of an issue than it is now, because it’s clear now that the game is meant to be episodic. However it’s not made brilliantly clear, and the game does just end rather abruptly on a great big cliff hanger. So you can imagine the horror of someone playing initially when the game comes to a close after only a couple of hours without having really answered any of your questions. It should be clearer in-game that the story is going to be continued, though I struggle to see the positives of the game being episodic anyway. I suppose if it’s easier for the developers to manage this way, then fine, but the story doesn’t suit the episodic formula in the way Telltale games do, particularly given the point and click, item puzzle gameplay – at the end we still have a bunch of stuff in our inventory, which makes me wonder how easy it will be to get back into the game when the next part comes out (which there isn’t a specified date of release – not that I know of, anyway). It’s just a bit of a weird direction.

 

Besides that, however, I do really look forward to seeing the next part of the game. It’s got its issues with regards to writing, but as an old school point and click it really hits the mark. The puzzles are solid, the story engaging and mysterious, and the setting hard hitting. It’s a quirky adventure, so if a dark, dystopian, noir sci-fi adventure sounds like your cup of tea, I’d definitely recommend Dead Synchronicity. It’s currently available on PC and PS4.

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