English
Gamereactor
reviews
Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

"Welcome to the future. I bet you didn't picture it like this."

Subscribe to our newsletter here!

* Required field
HQ

Graphic adventures guru Tim Schafer told us that "it is important to think about videogames as art when you make them" when we chatted last summer, and the truth is that these interactive efforts are an excellent canvas to leave the mark of the author and their art.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today (hereafter DS: TCT), seems to have taken that quote by heart. This is a point & click adventure with a lot of personality.

HQ

This first game (Tomorrow Comes Today is just the first part of a multi-game story) tells the tale of Michael, a man without memories, who wakes up in a future that's on the brink of hell.

This is an ad:

Our protagonist must deal with temporary distortions that allow you to understand more about this dystopia in which you've somehow been intertwined with, and discover more about the 'Big Wave', which the populace is talking about, that is seemingly the source of everything that's went wrong. The world's been ravaged by a pandemic, which turns humans into strange beings with cognitive abilities called Dissolved.

Fictiorama Studios is not proposing a fun and friendly experience. it's a dark and cruel world, one that gets bloody within the first ten minutes. There is humour, but it's much more reserved than that of the genre's icons. Any inspirations from classic adventures like Monkey Island or Day of the Tentacle is limited to the mechanics.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

Gameplay wise the Spanish developer has opted for a classic approach with all the trimmings, something that could divide genre fans. And after playing a few of the latest releases from Daedalic, there's little argument that the menu and dialogue systems need an overhaul. Trying to browse windows and sub-windows looking for dozens of items is tedious. Adhering to genre tropes feels like living second childhood and sacrificing all the changes that have developed since the first one.

This is an ad:

It's not something we can criticise as a development flaw. Choosing to be old-school in its design is deliberate, and arguably its truer to the genre as a result. And DS: TCT establishes a good system of solution = reward. Each solved puzzle gives a little more detail to the world around us, motivating us to continue and find out more.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes TodayDead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today

The topic of non-linear story arcs and temporal paradoxes is common in science fiction, and Fictiorama Studios have managed not to abuse or muddle the idea. The team are committed to tell an interesting story with human drama emphasised over space paranoia. There's some mind-blowing stuff, but it's delivered in a measured way.

You may not get to connect with the characters on an intimate level, but you familiarise with the story in general and care about the outcome. However, involvement works in some levels, but not others.

There's subtle warmth to some scenes, but there's a predominately cold grey tone to most, with the visuals echoing that of European comics. Environments managed to convey the emotional conflict of the characters within them - apathy, pain, resignation. The soundtrack, composed by indie rock outfit Kovalsky, doesn't quite sync with what's on screen at times. The opening sequence is excellent, a barrage of images timed perfectly to the music, but then there's some scenes that'd have benefited from slower pieces which would align with events better.

HQ

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today is a dichotomy: it's different yet conservative. And as such, puts us in a dilemma as how to score it. Reviewing it as a new title with clunky mechanics would be a mistake, yet it's trying something new in a genre that rarely strays outside what is familiar. It is a game that is very aware of the audience it addresses and provides exactly what is expected, but at the same time is innovative in terms of maturity.

If you want an old school graphic adventure , Dead Synchronicity is one of the best of its type available right now. If you want a story loaded with symbolism and great design, DS: TCT is a great choice. But you have to be aware of the inner conflict, of this not being quite one thing or the other: that subtitle has a lot more subtext than you'd initially think.

Dead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes TodayDead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes TodayDead Synchronicity: Tomorrow Comes Today
08 Gamereactor UK
8 / 10
+
Great character and environment design, 2D style that resembles European visual novels. Interesting story anchored to a reward system that encourages progression.
-
Soundtrack not that well adapted. Despite being intentional, game is stuck in traditional ways, and doesn't feel fresh.
overall score
is our network score. What's yours? The network score is the average of every country's score

Related texts



Loading next content