Synapse’s State of Play reveal illustrated a potent combo of sidearm and telekinetic-infused combat. Last month at PlayStation Showcase, developer nDreams used the release date announcement to dig into the story of a lone operative diving into another’s mind to avert global catastrophe, and the reunion of two high-caliber voice talents who find themselves again involved in a black ops-style mission, but this time on different sides of a battlefield. And now, thanks to a hands-on with a specially-curated playable demo, we have a better understanding of how Synapse gameplay unfolds.

Let’s break down the core gameplay loop. It’s driven by tactical combat, using your base abilities of bullets and TK plus interactive objects to clear out multi-leveled arenas of enemies. Those encounters are punchy bursts of action which increase in complexity and intensity. You’re outnumbered, continually outflanked, attackers able to short-range teleport to better position themselves. The odds are put back in your favor through steadily unlocked abilities and randomized buffs, all tools built to nudge you into being as enjoyably, efficiently creative with your skills as possible. Synapse has the DNA of a roguelite.

Let’s dig deeper. A run will have you fight a growing mix of enemy types across multiple levels, the sequencing of those stages randomized and pulled from a large pool of potential locations. Completion of any opens a door to the next, at the threshold of which you’re offered one of two possible two Traits. These add fun modifiers for the rest of your run. Clutch an object with TK to kick in slo-mo. Add a curve to your bullets. Turn TK-grabbed foes into short-term friendlies or targets for other assailants to draw fire away from you. 

Synapse’s mini-map is thoughtfully executed. Flip your TK hand palm up for a radial-style device to materialize upon it. A 3D space floats above it, pinpoints enemy locations and collectables. It’s an interaction with the same simple satisfaction – and muscle memory – as checking your watch for notifications.

Revelations is Synapse’s name for permanent upgrades split across three skill trees, for your TK, weapons and general resilience respectively. These trees are available between runs and will grant you, amongst others, the ability to grab enemies (and toss them around like rag-dolls) or their grenades (catching them mid-throw), increase your weapon loadout. You can activate Shrines that’ll spawn within levels, granting you a health boost or new weapons.

All are unlocked and used during my hands-on, early access granted thanks to a generous dose of XP (called Defiance in Synpase) for the purposes of the demo. But before I step into several arenas to play around with my powers, I need to learn how the core mechanics work. Cue tutorial and the base mechanics.

Movement is an uncompromised first-person shooter, character movement and camera operated by the Sense controller sticks, with comfort settings also offered. You can also pick which of your hands does what. Gun hand is

is self-explanatory but doesn’t work in isolation: guns need to be reloaded by way of partially ejecting them then slamming magazines back into position. You can use your other hand. Or any solid surface, which includes cover points and an enemy’s noggin. Reloads continue to fe

Hello, today we’re very excited to bring you our next seasonal update, a limited time expedition called Singularity. This is a big one, part expedition and part update with a ton of new content, story, gameplay and some of our most exciting rewards.

The last few months have been very busy for No Man’s Sky. We opened the year with Fractal, bringing PS VR2 support and much more. Six weeks later we launched Interceptor, which brought the first hints of a broader narrative playing out in the No Man’s Sky universe.

Singularity delivers a story and challenge which is chapter two of a four part narrative which will play out across this year.

Singularity starts with players across all systems on the same planet as they set out to investigate curious robot heads that have been delivering cryptic clues across the galaxy.

We want to keep the mystery, but this is a story about AI corruption, robotic uprisings and strong hints of what’s to come in No Man’s Sky.

Throughout the five week long expedition, the whole community will be working with Nada and Polo on the space anomaly can try to breathe new life into the galaxy, and work together for some exciting rewards.

The expedition concludes with the player having to make a choice which will have far-reaching consequences…

On top of all this there are even more strange clues to decipher that hint at a deeper story to come!

As with all No Man’s Sky expeditions, Singularity comes with a large number of rewards and souvenirs which can be redeemed across all saves, including our first new full customisation set in years for your main character – an impressive robot suit.

Our journey continues.

The PlayStation Plus Double Discounts promotion comes to PlayStation Store June 7. For the duration of the promotion* there are discounts of up to 35% on the price of a variety of single player and multiplayer titles. And if you’re a PlayStation Plus member, that discount is doubled, giving you further savings on what’s on offer.