Classic Syndicate infiltrates GOG on Jan. 19, asks how to conquer world first

@Osmium
There's a little crossover in some areas (research/development), but the core gameplay in Syndicate was in realtime, while XCOM was turn based.

I loved em both.

@Osmium
Like XLM said, it's got the research and development stuff, but that's about it as far as X-Com similarities go. Mission progression involves choosing a region and having a 4-person squad do a mission there, rather than jumping across the globe and killing all enemies in a randomly generated map.

The actual gameplay has you move your squad or individual squad members around RTS-style, but combat feels a lot more like you're directly in control. Squad members will shoot exactly where you click and when you click, so it feels more like you're pulling the trigger as opposed to giving the order to do so, and it's pretty cool.

Research and development is there so you can research augmentations and new weapons. You can get these from enemies by ordering a squad member to do that syringe thing you see in all the trailers for the new game. Then you research it with funds you earn by doing missions. It's like X-Com in that sense, but I don't think it has any end of month fees or anything.

I've only played four levels so far and that's my take. If there's anyone with more experience with the game I'd like to know if my assumptions are correct.

@Osmium As was said, Syndicate is real-time and much more combat-focused. It's less intensely strategic and more about just gunning people down and blowing things up.

For what it's worth, that's probably why it's making the shooter conversion more elegantly than X-COM is.