Meet Néro, a peculiar Synapsian who values knowledge as well as an open mind. Néro loves the library, and its librarian turns into a father figure to the young Synapsian. This is why, as fewer and fewer Synapsians go to the library, Néro continues a journey to assist his fellow, close-minded Synapsians comprehend the power of knowledge. A Tale of Synapse: The Chaos Theories is a puzzle platformer produced by Souris-Lab and authored by Tesura Games.
By while using basic laws from the universe, Néro can jump around, overcoming various platforming obstacles and enemies, and solves logic problems to assist her fellow Synapsians. On the way, Néro befriends Sci, a jellyfish-like being that helps her solve puzzles and offers hints on the way. Sci will go into the White, another dimension that enables her to determine things Néro can’t and can get and move various objects. Because the story unfolds, each character learns novel skills because they discover new laws, and players can upgrade these skills in the future.
While a single-player uses one thumbstick to guide Néro and also the other to control Sci, the gameplay allows a two-player approach by allowing each player to manage just one character as well. The gameplay is simple enough by yourself that controlling the two characters feels natural without needing an extra player. And much more often these days, both characters aren't needed to move around simultaneously, allowing players to pay attention to one character at a time if needed.
Players will encounter various logic puzzles. These puzzles ask players to add numbers, balance equations, make equilateral triangles, solve for angles, make parallel lines, convert fractions to decimals, and a whole lot. It's a very math-heavy game. But while the puzzles are generally fun, they're also straightforward. This feels like a double-edged sword. Resulting rarely to get stuck on the puzzle but additionally allowing players to brute force their way through each puzzle. It would happen to be nice to see some harder puzzles, but there's at least a multitude of these to keep each level fresh and interesting.
The game is visually appealing. There's a total of four worlds to explore, each with its own color scheme, platforms, and enemies. The backgrounds are gorgeous. Each stage supplies a meld of geometric and natural shapes. But unfortunately, this is the best benefit of the game.
The dialogue is hindered by misspelled words, odd grammar, and general awkward phrasing. It's probably important to mention that I played the game in English. Since developer is French, other languages might have a much better outlook. But you will find quite a few instances in which the meaning, impact, or perhaps instructions are mottled by the bad writing.
The plot is hard to follow along with due to this writing. But also because there doesn't feel like there is a clear through-line of thinking. We obtain a setup at the beginning of the game, however the hop from world to world just doesn't have a good explanation. So it’s hard to tell exactly why you’re doing what you are. Which listlessness very much impacts your motivation to keep playing.
The characters in addition have a set speech bubble size, so the text size changes based on the amount of dialogue. Because of this, sometimes, the text becomes not big enough or perhaps occluded by objects. In addition, some objects are extremely thinly outlined, which makes it hard to know if they're solid. Sometimes the camera becomes stuck and doesn’t move with the characters, requiring you need to restart the entire level to repair it. Similarly, my Switch froze a number of times, requiring me and to restart the sport.
Overall, A Tale of Synapse is really a mixed bag. While the art is pretty and the logic-based puzzles are usually fun, the experience is mottled by the bad English writing, the too-easy puzzles, and also the occasional glitches that require a full shutdown from the game.
A Tale of Synapse: The Chaos Theories is available now on Nintendo Switch and PC.
