It’s sometimes tricky to write reviews when it comes to scoring games that show a ton of promise and are engaging but then have a critical flaw or two you can’t ignore. Synthetik very much fits that broad description, offering up some solid twin-stick sci-fi shooter play that is challenging, has some great gear to work with, and also has enough variety to keep you coming back for more. That said, when it comes to initial impressions the game is a really tough one to love as it simply offers no meaningful guidance of what you’re really doing, which buttons are for what, and conceptually how everything is meant to work. Sure, within an hour or two you can probably work most of it out, but I’d wager any nuance there may be will be missed by most people or they may have to look it up online to fully understand. Elements like the quicker reloads if you time things correctly and some of your abilities are interesting, but they’re also hardly self-explanatory. If you’re itching for some sci-fi shooting I’d probably recommend you be sure to check out something like Neon Chrome first, but since the list on Switch from that point is limited if you’re willing to take the time and care to understand what needs to be done to succeed you’ll probably have some fun with this one.