Synthetik: Ultimate – Classic Top-Down Shooter Meets Roguelike
Who misses the good old days of classic top down shooters? We certainly did, and that’s why we made Synthetik: Ultimate – a fresh shooter roguelite that captures the intensity and richness of a late ’90s title while not missing out on the comforts of modern games and taking full advantage of modern hardware like Xbox Series X|S.
Hello everyone, I’m Alexander Luck and I make up half of Flow Fire Games, along with my co-founder Eric Krutten. Together we built Synthetik, and it’s been a joy to find out that there’s a whole world of people out there who have been hungering for a meaty shooter game. Synthetik has top quality shooting, with even more depth and new mechanics added to the genre. In short, Synthetik challenges you to shoot your way through increasingly difficult levels and defeat powerful bosses, while collecting special items, upgrading weapons, and expanding your arsenal. You likely won’t make it on your first try, but between runs you will level up your classes and unlock new perks for future attempts. We wanted players to have many more choices than just what weapons to use, so as to allow experimentation and different playstyles.
For us, that went hand in hand with what we loved most from those ’90s games – the fact they weren’t afraid to put in a ton of features and explosive content. That’s why we have more than 90 weapons (and these are distinct weapons often based on real guns, not randomly generated stuff that all feels basically the same), and 125 different items which can give you powerful active abilities or passive bonuses. Those weapons can all be upgraded, by the way, and there are variants and attachments to discover as well!
In Synthetik, we wanted the player to really get a feel for their weapons, and as such you will need to learn how to handle mechanics like overheating and jams which will need to be cleared. Reloading involves manual ejection of magazines and clips – do you preserve every last bullet, or make sure you have full ammo for the next fight? This accompanies an active reload system that earns you bonuses and faster reloading if you can master it.
It’s worth noting that if you really don’t get on with the manual ejection and active reload mechanics, you can disable it as part of our custom difficulty settings. We consider it a key part of the experience so we recommend you keep it on, but ultimately you’re the one playing. Whether you can’t do it for whatever reason or just don’t like it, it’s your call. All our difficulty options are basically modifiers which will increase your rewards from play while making certain things tougher. You can use whatever mix of these difficulty features you like.
If you want an even more challenging active reload which is also more powerful when you get it right, that’s an option. Make it so that enemy shots can cause you to flinch and slow, or increase how quickly weapons overheat. Everything is calculated to enhance the game experience and make you think more tactically about your actions, rather than just making the game arbitrarily harder by things like boosting enemy health.
While making Synthetik we also took a lot of inspiration from roguelike games. We call Synthetik a ‘roguelite’ because the primary focus is still on the shooting. You don’t need to search for food, there aren’t any mysterious magic items to identify, and you are always moving forward towards your ultimate goal: the Heart of Armageddon. You will have to contend with permadeath, new layouts on every run, a lot of different ways to use your credits, and a whole lot of enemies!
Last but definitely not least, there are 8 classes to choose from in the game, each with special abilities, strengths and weaknesses. The number of possibilities for insane combos starts out huge, and the options only increase the further into a run you get. You can carry up to nine different items – combine that with class perks and weapon traits, and the combinations are endless. There’s always a healthy discussion on our Discord server about what the hottest loadouts are for each class, and what to look out for on a run.
On top of all that, our latest free update, the Ultimate Edition brings another 12 new items specifically designed for incredible synergies with other gear (as well as new rare enemies, new story content, and much more!). The Ultimate Edition is new for all Synthetik players, and Xbox gamers will get it straight away on launch day – hence the game being called Synthetik: Ultimate!
It’s going to be awesome seeing what builds you all come up with! We hope you’ll enjoy playing Synthetik: Ultimate as much as we’ve enjoyed creating it… make sure to share your best runs and cool builds!
SYNTHETIK: Ultimate
Flow Fire Games