If you haven’t guessed yet, I’m a big fan of the classic console games from 80s to the computer games in the 90s. I spent many quarters in the arcade but I played some of the best games ever made at home. Before they were swallowed by the EA behemoth, Bullfrog Productions was one of the best independent developers of the 90s. From Populous, Magic Carpet, Theme Park, and Syndicate, they were on the cutting edge of technology despite being a small shop. EA bought Bullfrog in 1995 and the rest is history. They did produce another classic, Dungeon Keeper, in 1997 that has recently reemerged (sort of) on tablets. I’ve played it for a week and it’s fun but nowhere near as good as the original or sequel. Go find those on GOG.com.

Anyways, back to Syndicate. A few months ago, one of the programmers from Syndicate Wars announced that Syndicate would be revived in spirit with Satellite Reign. In Syndicate Wars, ‘satellite rain’ was a tungsten shaft fired from space at your targets capable of leveling a building and anyone in it. In Satellite Reign, the megacorps are back (with different names, obviously) but the idea is same. The world is ruled by criminals and corporations and you are the new kid on the block. They just released a pre-alpha build that looks very much like the original Syndicate.