Were PC gamers right to take against Syndicate's FPS reboot? Only one man with an ancient disc copy can find out

Were PC gamers right to take against Syndicate’s FPS reboot? Only one man with an ancient disc copy can find out | PC Gamer Skip to main content Open menu Close main menu PC Gamer THE GLOBAL AUTHORITY ON PC GAMES US Edition UK US Canada Australia Subscribe Sign in View Profile Sign out Search Search PC Gamer Games Hardware News Reviews Guides Video Forum More PC Gaming Show PC Gamer Clips Software Codes Coupons Movies & TV Magazine Newsletter Affiliate links Meet the team Community guidelines About PC Gamer PC Gamer Magazine SubscriptionWhy subscribe?Subscribe to the world’s #1 PC gaming magTry a single issue or save on a subscriptionIssues delivered straight to your door or device From$1Subscribe now Don’t miss these Strategy Star Wars Zero Company is more than just ‘Star Wars XCOM’—it feels like Mass Effect but with turn-based tactics and permadeath FPS Marathon review: 77 hours later Graphics Cards ‘Cripple their sales, tank their stock price. 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Only one man with an ancient disc copy can find out Features By Jeremy Peel published 28 March 2026 Imagine a world with ever-so-slightly fewer cyberpunk games. Welcome to 2012. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. (Image credit: EA) Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter PC Gamer The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals Keep up to date with the most important stories and the best deals, as picked by the PC Gamer team. Contact me with news and offers from other Future brands Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors By submitting your information you agree to the Terms & Conditions and Privacy Policy and are aged 16 or over. You are now subscribed Your newsletter sign-up was successful Want to add more newsletters? 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Pop back every weekend to find out what Jeremy, Josh and Rick have become obsessed with this time, whether it’s the canon height of Thief’s Garrett or that time someone in the Vatican pirated Football Manager.At the turn of the 2010s, fans of PC tactics and strategy games were feeling justifiably hard done by. The indie boom that would eventually enable the likes of Mewgenics and Slay the Spire 2 to become chart-toppers was but a nascent spark. And the mainstream publishers? They were looking askance at their trove of beloved ’90s click-and-think licenses, wondering how to warp them into something with broader appeal.An XCOM reboot was announced, reimagined as an experimental first-person shooter from the creators of BioShock. And Starbreeze, the Swedish studio behind Riddick and The Darkness, was handed the reins to Syndicate, the isometric Bullfrog classic. That, too, became an FPS. (Image credit: EA)In the eyes of many PC gamers, these projects weren’t just disposable spinoffs, they were insults. EA and Take-Two were exhuming corpses and posing them like Captain Price—all in the vain hope of infiltrating the blockbuster shooter market. It was hardly an atmosphere in which these games could be judged on their own merits.Article continues below You may like A decade before Stalker, this obscure Ukrainian Quake clone was quietly breaking new ground for first-person shooters The best cyberpunk games on PC In defense of Deus Ex: Invisible War That’s a particular shame for Syndicate, which named one of its principal cast Merit, and hired seasoned Hollywood villain Michael Wincott to fill his lungs with raspy baritone evil. It was Merit who first sold me on the idea that Syndicate might be slightly better than its reputation. I watched with growing interest as he loped around glass-covered corporate towers with a chunky pistol and the ease of a man in his own living room—a standard-issue cyberpunk trenchcoat in place of a dressing gown.While Wincott’s voice definitely contributes to Merit’s air of insouciance, a lot of credit has to go to Starbreeze’s animation and mocap talent (inclu