Hey Folks,

We’re getting very close to the release of Frozen Synapse Prime, and I wanted to go over what is really the biggest aspect of the game – the online multiplayer.

Online multiplayer in Prime is both synchronous and asynchronous, as the game is hosted off Double Eleven’s set of dedicated Amazon cloud servers. In other words, two players can either play against each other at the same time when they both have a PS Vita in hand, or they can play it like chess by post, where turns can be taken minutes to days at a time. So you could quick-match against an online opponent now, or take a weekly turn against your friend if you’re not able to meet at the same time to play.

The asynchronous multiplayer aspect allows you to have several games on the go at once, against friends and opponents around the world. The game alerts you when a turn has been made in one of your matches, and players can track and manage their matches via their Active Matches area.

There’s a variety of online modes to choose from; from classic deathmatch style of play to protecting VIPs, rescuing hostages, infiltrating and controlling areas of the map, collecting items to score points, and more.

Extermination – Classic team deathmatch

Hostage – Cover and escort hostages to safety

Disputed – Collect and extract data cells safely off the battlefield

Infiltration – Get one of your team into the enemy zone

Secure – Control and defend your zone against the enemy

Charge – Bid against an opponent as to how far you believe you can make it

The person who takes the most risk becomes the attacker, the other the defender

Dark Mode – For a deeper challenge across all of these modes. In Light matches the opponent’s squad can be seen on the map at all times. In Dark matches opponents can only be seen when entering one of your unit’s line-of-sight.

Typically squads will contain a mix of different units, but players are free to customize their squads, in multiplayer and vs AI matches. The battlefield and match rules can also be customized.

Leaderboards score and track player performance in all multiplayer match types, and allow you to inspect another’s match stats.

Every individual online match is also saved on our FSP servers, allowing you replay the action, control the camera, toggle each squad’s plans, and learn tactics from the pros.

Using the in-game Replay Theatre you can browse specific channels to replay your multiplayer matches, your friends’ victories, or the top matches chosen by the game. Each match generates a unique code, so you can share your coolest matches with friends.

Finally, offline Skirmish matches allow you to battle against the AI, with all the squad and battlefield customization options available.

The FSP AI think like human players do, they survey the map, consider the strengths of their squad against that of the player’s, predict the player’s moves and utilize built-in strategies to cover each other, flank, suppress, clear rooms and hold areas.

That’s a quick overview of online multiplayer; hope you guys find it useful — thanks for reading!