Frozen Synapse 2’s combination of procedurally generated levels, simultaneous turn-based combat and asynchronous multiplayer is even more complex and unpredictable than we thought. It turns out that part of the reason for the game’s delay into 2017 is because of Mode 7’s decision to integrate multiplayer into the single player campaign, which promises to add even more depth to the game’s faction-driven narrative.

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The multiplayer integration will allow the player’s friends to join their campaign, assuming the role of one of the game’s many, many factions. They are able to expand their faction, compete over objectives and accept contracts just as they would be able to do in their own game. While this mode is intended for committed players – much like Civ’s extended multiplayer games – players will be able to drop out of the game without putting it completely on hold.

This doesn’t mean handing the reigns back to the AI (unless they’re happy to do that), instead the player will be able to give the AI orders while they’re away and even queue up turns. This all means that players will have the option to make Frozen Synapse 2’s city-sized single player even more treacherous and chaotic.

Mode 7 also unveiled a new multiplayer mode designed specifically for antisocial gamers. The game mode only allows players to submit a single turn of a given scenario as either a red or green team. Both teams have a different setup, but share the same goal: keep as many of their hostages alive while killing as many of their opposition’s hostages as possible. That single turn is then simulated against multiple red team players and compared against other green team players, which spits out a magic score that ranks their single turn on a global leaderboard.