Playing Sovereign Syndicate was like reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time. (I know, I know… Bear with me for a second.) The book was a difficult read at 12 years old. Yet, after a few read-throughs and viewings of the movies, it has become an integral part of my approach to storytelling and world-building. Sovereign Syndicate had a lot of similar elements that tripped me up. While I can’t say it had the same impact as Lord of the Rings did, it was a deeply rewarding experience that I can’t recommend enough.
Sovereign Syndicate is Crimson Herring Studio’s brilliant first offering. This cRPG lets you play as four characters to explore Steampunk Victorian London utilizing their stories, actions, and skills. This game has you clicking through a 3d world to walk around, but it plays like a text adventure for the most part. All dialogues and information are presented through a text box.
In terms of locations, the game is set across six city boroughs, where you meet a range of characters who help you explore the world and solve the problems faced by the city and the characters. The game throws you into a fully formed world without any explanation of the rules or mythology. It’s a wild ride, but it’s well worth it since you have no idea how your decisions will impact the story.
A Lush World
Sovereign Syndicate is a world where mythical creatures like the Minotaur and werewolf try to co-exist with humans during the height of the Industrial Revolution. Steam power has given rise to quaint automatons, and everyone has a hard time surviving capitalism and fending off bigotry based on race and species.
The game’s characters are from the poorer part of town, and through their eyes, you have a different look at the politics and impact of these societal trappings on the common folk. Atticus Daley is a minotaur magician who ran away from the orphanage he was raised in, only to get caught up in the vicious world of gangs and addiction. When we meet him, he is struggling to find a purpose.
More Reviews: The Night Is Grey Demo Review: Moody, Promising, Vague
Then there is Clara Reed, a human courtesan desperately looking for a way out of London. In spite of being very aware of the struggles of everyone around her, she is jaded by the greed and disconnection of the industrialists she has for clients. The third character is Teddy Redgrave, a clever monster-hunting dwarf with a traumatic past. The fourth character is Teddy’s automaton, Otto. Through Teddy’s tinkering and adventures, Otto gains consciousness and a sense of morality. This is all the base of an interesting story with interesting mechanics to explore.
They provide a very colorful commentary of a beautifully designed world. Sovereign Syndicate is a beautiful game with detailed environments and a rich cast of characters. Every location is accompanied by its own musical theme that adds a lot to the atmosphere. It truly becomes expansive when we interact with elements and trigger conversations. Like any RPG, we get reaction and choice options based on the character’s traits. This game is different because we also get character commentary based on these traits. As Clara Reed, if you use tact in a choice, that trait gets stronger, making later skill checks easier.
Jumping In The Deep End
Simply put, Sovereign Syndicate is a hard game to get into. I played three chapters, one with each main character, before I even began to understand what was happening. In many cases, you’re just trying things to see what happens without knowing what the outcomes might be.
Sovereign Syndicate’s use of a card chance system for skill checks instead of a straightforward die system makes this a little more confusing. It is a great art and mechanic choice for the game’s mythical theme but difficult to understand and predict. The different traits and skills made it challenging to determine how my choices would impact the story or narrative.
This is partly due to the language used by the designers to tell the story in Sovereign Syndicate. The designers have gone out of their way to use the vocabulary and slang of the late 1800s. While it was fun at times, giving the world a unique flavour and personality, it was hard to read and understand most of the time. It’s almost like they grabbed a thesaurus and threw it at the game—and I am saying this as a fairly advanced reader.
Until I could get into the groove of the game’s narrative, I would find myself reading paragraphs and sentences repeatedly to try and understand what was happening. The game does try and help you. Most tricky words and phrases are highlighted so that you get a definition when you hover over them. However, this hurts the rhythm and pacing of the game. Unfortunately, you can’t play this game quickly if you want to be even slightly deliberate about how you proceed.
Not That Deep A Pool
Due to this bloated narrative structure, the story sometimes moves slowly and sometimes leaps forward. The details get lost in the noise, leaving me with a vague understanding of parts of the story. In some cases, side missions feel like busy work because so much effort was put into these main stories. As a matter of fact, I still don’t know why some of the missions failed.
Sovereign Syndicate tries to be true to the time period by exploring a lot of different themes but fails to do so effectively. As a result, we only ever get a superficial exploration of class inequality, the evils of colonialism, and racial discrimination.
The Shortcomings Don’t Matter
The above negatives didn’t matter after a point, even if they seemed like big negatives. Somewhere between looking for a serial killer and missing children, I got hooked on the characters and their quirks and really got into the game. It got easier, smoother, and very interesting once I got into the groove of the language, and I went hunting for details. Ultimately, the game succeeds where it should because I am chomping a bit to play it again and try different choices. I want to see how the narrative will change and if my luck will improve.
More Reviews: Exilium Demo Review: The Potential For Something Great
That, more than anything, marks this as a brilliant RPG. It’s amazing that I could wade into this obtuse world and walk out wanting more of this world, characters, and mythology. It is also very impressive just how vast this game is and how much detail is crammed into it. I really can’t recommend it enough. I urge you to push through the initial chapters of confusion. Having said that, if you do not enjoy reading detailed stories, then this is not the game for you since it is basically a wall of text.
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Beautiful art | Difficult to understand and get into, both narratively and in terms of gameplay |
| Interesting world-building with intriguing characters and politics | Difficult to understand choice structure (repeated because it’s that hard) |
| Amazing music and atmosphere | Lots of text to read |
| Potentially complex choice and narrative structure | |
| Ultimately rewarding experience |
Rating: 8/10
GamesHorizon recieved a Review copy for steam
