Syndicate Gamescom reveal rumoured

By Wesley Yin-Poole Published 11 August, 2011

Pulled Tweet sets tongues wagging.

The Darkness developer Starbreeze's long rumoured Syndicate reboot may be set for a Gamescom reveal.

A Tweet from Starbreeze developer Rickard Johansson, spotted by PlaySyndicate.de (via VG247) set tongues wagging last night.

"Grand moment approaching. The reveal for Starbreeze and EA's Project Redlime. Time to meet the press."

The Tweet has since been removed.

Project Redlime is the codename for the new EA published Syndicate game. At E3 2011 in June then EA Games Label boss Frank Gibeau told Eurogamer Syndicate was in development, but refused to go into greater detail.

It has been suggested that Syndicate will reinvent Bullfrog's top-down classic as a first person shooter. It will also have a strong multiplayer focus, recent reports suggest.

The game has apparently had a rocky development, with the project being restarted several times thanks to tech issues, creative differences within the team and a number of staff leaving the studio.

EA holds a press conference at Gamescom on Tuesday, 16th August.

Picture of Wesley.

About Wesley Yin-Poole

Wesley is Eurogamer's news editor. He likes news, interviews, and more news. He also likes Street Fighter more than anyone can get him to shut up about it.

Read more articles from Wesley by visiting the Wesley Yin-Poole archive page.

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Comments (18) Latest comment 9 months ago

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  • OnlyMe #1 10 months ago

    Developers: destroying classics that you helped succeed.

  • mAc062 #2 10 months ago

    I loved the pc version of Syndicate it was one of the first pc games I played. I still have the floppys of it at home.

  • the_dudefather #3 10 months ago

    EA to twitter readers: 'MOVE ALONG. KEEP MOVING'

  • TheEarlOfZinger #4 10 months ago

    "reinvent Bullfrog's top-down classic as a first person shooter."

    Oh no, why?! This could be an awesome psn/xbla download, brand new game/story - but same style with new graphics.

    There'd be a lot of downloads I think.

  • jumpdeveraux #5 10 months ago

    Now do I get my hopes up for 4 player online co-op as part of a squad..

    .. or do I expect single player with 3 AI controlled buddies and you have the abiity to jump in and take control of each.

    With fond memories of Syndicate and XCom in particular, it still pains me to see these get rebooted into another genre.

  • Ged42 #6 10 months ago

    Rickard Johansson was last seen being dragged into a car, by 2 men in trenchcoats.

  • O11Y #7 10 months ago

    "...the project being restarted several times thanks to tech issues, creative differences within the team and a number of staff leaving the studio"

    If ever there was evidence of someone butchering a classic, this is it.

  • glottis0 #8 10 months ago

    It's funny - whenever I hear about first-person Syndicate or XCOM I scoff and think "bah marketing and their sales projections, trying to make everything like COD", but back when I was playing Syndicate Wars and XCOM 2, I distinctly remember thinking "Wow just imagine this as an co-op FPS". I guess the grass is always greener on the other side...

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #9 10 months ago

    It has been suggested that Syndicate will reinvent Bullfrog's top-down classic as a first person shooter.

    If it's still cyberpunk-y, still involves the persuadatron, and squad / minion commands maybe like Freedom Fighters or even Overlord, then this could be very cool.

    Otherwise if it's just some shit like FEAR, then I shall sadly let it pass me by.

  • Silvervein #10 10 months ago

    It would be nice if someone reinvented COD as isometric turn based strategy, based around directing squads of soldiers to achieve specific tasks. But no, all we have is giant maw of first person console shooter devouring everything. Next in line: Checkers: The Apocalypse, a first person shooter.

  • MENTAL1ST Verified Senior Software Engineer, Picsel UK Ltd. #11 10 months ago

    Well, look what happened when they tried to move a franchise from FPS to RTS in Halo Wars, it didn't exactly set the world alight.

  • the_dudefather #12 10 months ago

    The move from an isometric game to first person game worked pretty well for Fallout

    Not saying this will work, but hey, let's keep it balanced

  • metalangel #13 10 months ago

    I'm sure this would be a lot better if EA weren't so heavily involved.

    *shouts "no!" and hurls a lamp through his holo-screen*

  • geeza2020 #14 10 months ago

    "Persuadatron"
    "Selected"

    I know its not as good as the original, but I loved syndicate wars, even on the psone. If they manage to have all the weapons (including the persaudatron) in the remake, cities of the same size for each level, and the same level of destruction (I was blown away by being able to level tower blocks in SW!) as well as the same abilities to upgrade and tinker with your agents/followers, then this could be quite good. Still, I cant help but feel slightly bitter about the use of a FPS viewpoint.

  • Silvervein #15 10 months ago

    @the_dudefather
    Myself, I prefer fallout 1 and 2, to 3...The gameplay of the first two sits better with me, and besides, what bethesda did with the license was gutting it and nailing a few scraps to their frankenshooter. Just what I think.

    But more to the point, syndicate was always about directing squad from the safety of your airship, planning attacks and way to go around the city for your squad. If they put you in the boots of the agent, what kind of tactical planning can you do with view limited to that right before your nose? Point the cursor at anything that moves and pull the tigger? Eh.
    Similar story with the xcom 'reimagining' as fps. It's just sad. What amuses me about xcom though is that they already tried to shoehorn it into fps before, and it failed miserably.

  • septimus #16 10 months ago

    Just release the original with high quality audio and visuals that work at above 2560x1440. Win!

    Fuck FPS.

  • B1G_D #17 10 months ago

    And the console conformity machine keeps on rolling..... :(

  • CamberGreber #18 9 months ago

    Have Developers LOST THERE FUCKING MINDS?

    First Person shooter WTF