Synergy is a paid simulation game from the Leikir Studio team. This city-building challenge puts you in charge of a budding settlement in a hostile world. Filled with naturally challenging landscapes with extreme conditions and disasters that are far more difficult than those on Earth, you’ll need to find a way to create a habitable settlement that will make your residents happy.

With stylized visual designs, wide possibilities for decision-driven gameplay, and a compelling premise, Synergy is a terraformer with a learning curve. Imagine the visual quality of Sable with the strategy aspect of Dune: Spice Wars.

Find peace in a hopeless place

Synergy is set in a hostile world. The first thing to note here is its learning curve. It’s not immediately accessible, especially to players who are not too much into city-builders. Next, the parts that make it look or feel like the modern world works as a misdirection. There are counterintuitive choices to be made, whether for growth, sustenance, or satisfaction of your residents.

Happiness is also the main goal of this game, giving it a more wholesome approach to the player vs. environment aspect. There’s little to no combat involved, and conflicts are mostly social or political in nature. As you gather resources, grow your city, or achieve new levels of technology, the game has mechanics in place that will remind you to always keep your people’s mental state first.

Lastly, the visuals are something that greatly helps in making this game a relaxing sim. Its stylized linework goes well with its use of pastel colors, making it visually similar to modern French comics like The Adventures of Tintin. Even in its worst conditions, such as natural disasters, the game still looks calming and visually pleasing. It’s also complimented by a good soundtrack that evokes the same feeling.

Highly anticipated 1.0 release

Almost a year after it came out, Synergy is finally ready to introduce its highly anticipated version 1.0 release, promising a whole slew of features and new content for players to experience. This update directly builds upon version 0.5, so you can opt to finish your gameplay first before transitioning to the latest iteration, and all your progress will seamlessly carry over.

A highlight of this update revolves around transforming the gameplay into a more dynamic experience by introducing unique challenges and conditions for you to consider as you build and manage your city. There is now a dry season that greatly affects the properties of your land soils, which also directly affects how well your plants grow. Rising temperatures also impact exposed buildings and their production rates.

To help you offset the effects of heat, water distribution is fully automated. It's now easier to allocate and distribute supply throughout your city. The other highlight of version 1.0 is the overhauled exploration system that now allows for guaranteed resource rewards, and the option to plot your course to visit multiple destinations in a single trip, making the experience more dynamic and engaging.

Other notable additions include more detailed resource monitoring to keep track of consumption much easier and simpler planting mechanics and new harvest actions. These are just some of the things you can expect in addition to a new campaign, buildings, and plants. Whether you're a newcomer or a returning player, the wait was worth it with such a sizable list of inclusions.

Explore strength and resilience

Overall, Synergy feels more than just a simple city-building simulator. Its compelling premise and the combination of its graphics and audio all create a calming feel. This is especially appreciated once you realize that the game is particularly difficult and takes some time to get used to. If you can stick around to learn the game's ropes, you get a fun city-building experience with enough challenges.