Frozen Synapse Prime is the lesser-known sibling to the original Frozen Synapse, and while it carries the same DNA - simultaneous turn based tactics where you plot moves, predict your opponent and watch the outcome unfold - it takes a slightly different approach that’s both intriguing and uneven.

On the positive side, the concept is still gold: planning several seconds of action, second-guessing what the enemy might do and then hitting “prime” to watch both plans resolve in real time is endlessly tense. Matches can feel like high-stakes chess, where a single clever guess wins the round. The game also adds a bit more visual flair than the minimalist original, with 3D environments and units that feel more “tangible.”

But that shift in style comes at a cost. The clean abstraction of Frozen Synapse is replaced with a bulkier interface and a visual style that sometimes makes it harder, not easier, to read the battlefield. Unit silhouettes and line of sight aren’t always clear and that matters in a game where precision is everything. The campaign tries to flesh things out with a dystopian storyline, but the writing is forgettable and mostly gets in the way of the tactics.

Multiplayer, the real heart of the concept, suffered from a thin player base even at launch, and today it’s effectively dead, so you’re left with AI skirmishes and the single player campaign, which don’t quite have the same electricity as human opponents.

Frozen Synapse Prime isn’t bad, it’s still built around one of the smartest tactical ideas of the last decade, but it’s a clunkier, less elegant version of its predecessor in my opinion. If you’re curious, it’s worth a look, but the original Frozen Synapse remains the definitive experience.