SYN showcased by Tencent as tech demo for new cyberpunk game

At its yearly press conference, Tencent Games showed off SYN, a technical demonstration for a cyberpunk open world first person shooters which it plans to launch for the PC and console.

An overview of the SYN tech demo:

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Welcome to Tencent Games’ Lightspeed and Quantum Studios’ SYN, a tech demo for a globally marketed PC and console open-world first-person shooter game. Everything you see in this demo is not final. We tried to push forward state-of-the-art, real-time graphics in a cyberpunk-style world with an intriguing universe and striking visuals.

Our characters are realistic, yet stylish, with various customization features including cosmetics, skins, and extremely realistic effects achieved with our strand-based hair system through cooperation with Epic Games.
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Players can choose to play as one of the three factions along with their very own cybernetic pet, each with their own unique customizable looks and traits.

Our immersive character and vehicle selection and customization process takes place within our open-world universe, so characters can interact with their environment even while being modified in real-time by users.

If you read the description and the first thing that comes to mind is Cyberpunk 2077, no one would fault you. This is basically what Tencent does best, so the thing to ask is what it intends to bring to the table in order to distinguish itself from’s CD Projekt own big budget release. Basing on the tech demo and official page, the one thing that stands out the most is probably the addition of pets.

We aren’t exactly sure what robotic animal companions have to do with the theme of cyberpunk per se, but it is cool to see their inclusion nonetheless.

Interestingly enough, the game boasts that it is adopting a realistic yet stylish approach to its designs, yet we got something that is more anime-inspired more than anything else. Perhaps that term means something completely different over in China.

As for the location the game seems to be based in, it is quite evident we are looking at the developer’s take on Hong Kong, a staple for the cyberpunk genre. In any case, there is little else shown in the accompanying video, so we are going to have to wait for the developer to divulge more information in future announcements.