Kilo is implanted with a computer chip that allows him to access the dataverse and can use hacking to defeat enemies and solve environmental puzzles.

Players assume control of Miles Kilo, an augmented agent working for EuroCorp in a corrupted, deceitful world in which corporations compete with each other for power.

[1] Players can run, jump, slide, hide behind covers, and carry two weapons and grenades to defeat enemies and bosses, who each have unique abilities.

[12] Players are tasked with using the breaching abilities to interact with objects, solve environmental puzzles,[7] strip the special armor of enemies and disarm explosives.

In 2025, EuroCorp releases the DART chip, a neural implant that allows users to access the dataverse, making most electronic devices obsolete.

After a successful test run of the chip's abilities, EuroCorp CEO Jack Denham (voiced by Brian Cox) assigns him to kill Lily's counterpart, Chang, at the rival syndicate Aspari.

Accompanied by his mentor Agent Jules Merit (voiced by Michael Wincott), Kilo attacks the Los Angeles branch of Aspari and corners Chang, who shoots himself.

Kilo kills a major Cayman-Global agent and rescues Lily, and they learn the syndicate is preparing a war against EuroCorp.

After they split up and head towards EuroCorp HQ, Kilo is betrayed by Lily and is sent into a trap with EMP mines, injuring him and disabling his chips.

Kris reveals he started the war so he could hack into the dataverse and kill the syndicates and their chipped populations as punishment for abandoning the unchipped.

[a] At EuroCorp New York HQ, Denham and Merit believe Kilo is brain-dead and send him to be rebooted while they plan to retrieve Lily's chip and recover useful information on DART 6.

Kilo begins to remember his secret past: he learns that Denham led a EuroCorp team to kill his parents and abduct him as a baby because he has genes ideal for becoming an agent.

As Cayman-Global attacks EuroCorp's New York HQ, Kilo and Lily head towards Denham's office to prevent him from activating the kill switch on their DART chips.

They eventually partnered with Starbreeze, which they recognized as an excellent studio for making first-person video games with distinctive styling.

[21] Pre-production of the game began in 2007;[22] it was carried out by a small team of staff members after the studio completed work on The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena.

The development team hoped the new title would appeal to both newcomers and fans of the series,[27] be accessible and introduce the franchise to a broader audience.

To achieve this, the company added the breaching system, which adds more varieties of combat and gives players more choices when dealing with the artificial intelligence.

[32] Instead of being purely a first-person shooter, the game features action-adventure elements that allow players to choose their progression and tasks them with solving environmental puzzles.

[21][33] The game's story was written by British science-fiction writer Richard K Morgan, whom the team approached after they read his book Altered Carbon.

[32] Syndicate was Morgan's second video-game script after 2011's Crysis 2; he used the original game for reference and included elements that those who had played it would immediately recognize.

The team aimed to maintain a consistent visual quality on all the platforms on which the game was released, even though the PC version had the advantage of higher resolution and frame rate.

The engine allowed the inclusion of post-process-effects previously used in Assault on Dark Athena, such as motion blur and depth of field.

[27] A demo of the game, which only included the co-op mode and the "Western Europe" map, was released for the Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network on 31 January 2012.

[49] Xav De Matos from Joystiq said the story is filled with promises but the overall product failed to differentiate itself from other shooters with similar themes.

[51] Peter Eykemans from IGN echoed similar thoughts, declaring that the motion bloom and blinding light a problem.

[49] De Matos said the game had encouraged players to work together to defeat enemies and to plan before attacking, which he said had turned the mode to a "gratifying" experience.

Despite the mixed response, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences nominated Syndicate for "Outstanding Achievement in Sound Design" during the 16th Annual D.I.C.E.

[57] The board was especially critical of what it considered to be the game's excessive violence: explicit depictions of dismemberment, decapitation, exposed flesh and bone from injuries; and copious blood spray.

EA also complained about Australia's "archaic censorship on games" and said Syndicate would be released on schedule and uncut with an adults-only rating in New Zealand.

[59] In June 2012, the international version was added to the List of Media Harmful to Young Persons, meaning the game can no longer be advertised and can only be sold to adults.