Sounds interesting. I hadn't heard of the game before and mobygames doesn't even bother linking the page to the normal sellers.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

Sounds interesting. I hadn't heard of the game before and mobygames doesn't even bother linking the page to the normal sellers.

Games that are flops are usually difficult to find later on because there weren't that many copies sold in the first place. That's probably why there is no listing of a copy for sale to link to. A Google shopping search doesn't turn up any copies for sale, either, so it looks like the 17 year old mystery is going to remain a mystery for a while longer.

I know a guy who knows a guy at VV. We'll push it up the food chain to see what they remember, but no promises. 😉

Blue Ice was originally supposed to have a contest attached to it, but apparently the rules governing such things (see for instance Push, Nevada) are apparently quite strict and they never went through with it. The actual solution is rather thoroughly nuts, to put it mildly.

It's possible if there was actually a contest attached to Synnergist that the relevant bits were quietly excised before publication.

Stiletto wrote:

I know a guy who knows a guy at VV. We'll push it up the food chain to see what they remember, but no promises. 😉

Thanks! I'm planning to eventually let's play the game, so I'd absolutely love to hear anything you dig up.

gatz wrote:

I'm planning to eventually let's play the game, so I'd absolutely love to hear anything you dig up.

Looks like there already is one here. Maybe you could do a highlights video and explain the plot instead.

The difference between a longplay and a let's play is fairly simple: a longplay has no commentary, while a let's play does. Even if there was a let's play of Synnergist on youtube, it doesn't mean that someone else can't do their own. Not to mention I made no comment on where I would be hosting the videos, or for what audience I would be let's playing for.

SKARDAVNELNATE wrote:

gatz wrote:

I'm planning to eventually let's play the game, so I'd absolutely love to hear anything you dig up.

Looks like there already is one here. Maybe you could do a highlights video and explain the plot instead.

wow that's so bad it's almost hilaribad. i've never heard voice acting so terrible.

Just a heads up, I found one of the easter eggs. It doesn't tell me much about the plot, though. In chapter 3, if you don't collect more subway tokens when Tim is running low, you'll eventually be forced to go to the subway station at the Murder Scene location. In here, you'll witness a drug deal go bad, where one person ends up being stabbed.

From there, you can either ignore the body and head to the skyline restaurant, for Tim's date with Jessica, or you can investigate the body. You have to investigate the body for this easter egg to appear, as far a I know. After the two cutscenes play out when Tim investigates the body -- including another black & white vision -- you're transported to the entrance of the skyline restaurant.

Instead of investigating the body, you need to click Go To Subway. Normally, this would have the same effect as if you just brought up the map, but this time it leads to a secret area. It's worth noting that, normally, the arrow points to the left, but this time it points down. If you didn't investigate the body, this doesn't happen since you're on time for the dinner.

There's a hooded man to talk to, but he just mutters some vague dialogue about watching "everything and nothing at the same time", before saying that you should be going. Then you can't interact with him at all. There are other things to interact with, but they seemingly have no effect on the plot progression. I can't tell if this area is supposed to lead to more secrets, and if you leave, you can't get back. Tim says that it's "interesting" that the second garbage bin is larger than the first, but that could just be another red herring that the game likes to throw at you. I'm wondering if the player is supposed to find a way to shut down the electricity so they can travel down the tracks, but there's seemingly no way to do that.

Does this ring any bells for anyone who played this game?

Update:
There's a recent video by Grimbeard.
He mentions that someone had to tear apart the code and find the flags.

Here are the easter eggs and how to reach them, for those interested.

There's also a pretty cool interview with the studio's founder and project lead at the time. They discuss the easter eggs among other things.
I was intrigued by Synnergist upon hearing about it for the first time in ~2008-2009, as I don't think I ever saw it at the time or in any contemporary magazines in my area. I gave it a go once but it never quite clicked with me and I'm not especially fond of the art style. Still, it's a fun curiosity and it led to the creation of Vicarious Visions (RIP : - / )