Preview: Desynced – Colonization of the planet

The scenario of Desynced is written in the spirit of science fiction – in the distant future, people have colonized the planets, using various robots with artificial intelligence as labor. Our hero is the leader of a group of colonizers preparing the planet for settlement – while only robots work on the surface, and people sleep in cryosleep in orbit. Suddenly we wake up from hibernation all alone…

• Developer: Stage Games
• Publisher: Forklift Interactive
• Release Date: August 15, 2023 (Early Access)

The beginning of the game immediately put me into a stupor – the player himself is asked to choose a place for the base and the first thought that came to me was: “What if I make the wrong choice?”

It turned out that this is not very critical, but can only save a little time due to the proximity of the necessary resources, however, the resources will still run out.

My second thought was that the game is very similar to StarCraft. There is some spirit, or something. There are blue crystals, drones scurrying here and there, and local crowds of beetles, a budget version of the zerg. However, the plot of the game is still in development, and therefore no more parallels can be drawn.

The key feature of the game is fully customizable units. The player himself chooses which components to install in the building or drone, and therefore its purpose. Components are divided into small, medium and internal. There are probably larger ones, but they are not presented in the demo version.

In addition, you can install a behavior module on a unit with an internal slot and literally program it to do what you need. This is implemented using visual programming.

But even without programming, you can assign simple action logic to the structure. In the example below, green arrows indicate current connections. Namely, in the upper Assembler (Assembler, in the original), information about the produced material is transmitted to the second Assembler and Visual Register, which will display the product and its current quantity. In general, even this is enough for a comfortable game.

Another interesting thing, for the first time, is the system for researching points of interest. First you need to complete a mini-game, and then deliver the necessary item for repair. Of course, there are also large problems that are 4 times larger than the example below, but this is rather an exception.

The game has a technology tree with several development blocks and several more branches inside. It looks really good, probably the best performance I’ve seen in a while. If you are also tired of pulling the technology tree right, then left, then down, then up – you will like it.

In co-op mode, Desynced offers you to take full control of a randomly generated world and create such an industrial potential that the entire universe will be jealous. Friends will build technological modules, produce millions of pieces of equipment and turn a modest base into a huge metropolis, shining with neon signs of many kilometers of skyscrapers.

Competitive multiplayer divides players into two teams, giving the factions hostility and unique technologies. Here the quantity and quality of units, the technological base for waging a protracted war and the banal amount of necessary resources come to the fore. It is also planned to support modifications to create your own scenarios, maps and units.

Overall, Desynced is a promising early access strategy game that impressed me with its innovative

customization system and automated scout bots. It was a steep learning curve, but once I figured out the components and how to automate them, the game really opened up for me. If you’re a fan of sci-fi RTS games, I definitely recommend checking it out.

Desynced was released on Steam Early Access on August 15, 2023. The developers have said that Desynced will be in early access for 12 months, and have just published a roadmap outlining their biggest milestones they’re aiming to achieve. . I’m definitely interested to see how this story plays out.

Rating: 8/10.
I would like to note that this is a look at early access. Objectively, there are not many opportunities presented yet, and the assigned tasks are carried out too easily.