StingingVelvet: You're making arguments that they don't care about making a real Syndicate sequel and you're not wrong. None of it really says anything about the game itself being good or bad.
Where do I even start? The Syndicate name harms it considerably. It's like an average looking girl with zero personality who unquestioningly follows trends insisting that she's gorgeous and unique. The claims draw attention to her shortcomings, makes people feel the need to bring her down a few pegs and it all just becomes an embarrassment.
The same goes here. Don't claim you're a tactical game with several layers of gameplay if you in fact only have one layer of very much dumbed down gameplay that has been worn very thin. Don't claim your agents are soulless drones controlled directly by some corporate executive if you want them to break away and go on personal missions of revenge. Don't claim you have anything to do with an IP you plainly don't.
Good and bad are relative terms. In this case it's relative to the claims being made. The claim of being a Syndicate game. It falls short. It, by the standards it sets itself, is destined to be bad. It takes the name of a game from one of the true pioneers of the industry and goes on to take the path of absolute least resistance. It's bad by its own standards. It makes itself look sloppy and lazy.