Syberia

Syberia is a point-and-click adventure- We will control Kate Walker, a Lawyer from New York, having to handle the sale of an automaton factory. The owner of the factory died before Kate could reach Valadilène, the small french town where the factory resides, and she now has to track down an heir, who disappeared a long time ago. This will turn into an unexpected adventure that will change her outlook on life greatly. The story is decent. The plot is not incredible, but the odd characters populating this world and their quirks are interesting, and rarely boring (some characters, especially the ones you can contact by phone, are quite annoying, though). The main draw is the atmosphere, with the automatons (the equivalent of robots, but functioning only on gearworks, which appear more magical than scientific) ever present in most of the game, giving a rather unique tone to it. The same can be said for the architecture in general, the music, and the world building that puts everything together to create a universe that is both melancholic and whimsical. Sadly, the gameplay is sub-standard. Interactive spots are sparse, you cannot examine anything (the game uses one mouse button to resolve all interactions), stairs are painfully slow to traverse, plenty of empty large rooms, you can't double click exits to "fast travel", the pathing is bad, animations are slow, inventory interactions are limited, and there is a good amount of backtracking (if you get stuck on a puzzle, it can be painful). Some puzzles have opaque hints, but they are rare. The pre-rendered backgrounds are gorgeous, even nowadays. The 3D characters are dated, but they don't look awful, for the most part. The soundtrack is sparse but very appropriate. Overall, the presentation is quite nice, despite the age. I think it's a good game for fans of the genre, if they can stand the slow animations, and aren't bothered by the "quasi-fantastical" elements stretching the believability of the setting.

For me, Syberia has the most amazing and the most beautiful lore in the history of videogames. So simple, but full of sincere magic, tenderness and childlish playfulness. There is a lot of sadness in the lore, there is also a lot of hapiness in the lore. There is this "autumn" atmosphere that I will not ever forget. Thank you Master Benoît Sokal for this! The story is very simple, but also very effective. You are a lawyer Kate Walker from New York who came to a small village situated somewhere in French Alps to make a business contract. Her boss is expecting great results and Kate is determined to fullfil them at all costs. But the more she gets deeper into the new "world" she came to, the more she moves away from her job and also her personal life. She is constantly changing. It is fascinating how the creators managed to write a mature story without any cutscenes. There are just small interruptions in the form of phone calls. Behind those calls dramatic situations are happening due to which the characters are developing throughout the whole game. Well, gameplay-wise, Syberia is a bit of letdown. Hm, that was maybe a too much. No, no letdown. The game´s gameplay is just too streamlined for its own good. When you need something to continue, you usually find it nearby your problem. Real puzzles are basically non-existent, 99% of the game consists of talking to NPCs and using items that you found next to your "problematic" passage. It is not terrible at all, it somehow fits the mood and the style of playing, but more interesting problems and puzzles would definitely be more pleasing for me (This was fulfilled in Syberia 2 by the way). I love the ending of the game. What an unchained beauty! The music is so good as if composed by angels themselves in the heaven! 78%

Ein Adventure mit packender Story und toll geschriebenen Charakteren.

I was pretty impressed with this game having never played any of the point and click games during the genres dying days of the early 2000s. Its Art Nouveau/clockpunk style is an interesting contrast to Grim Fandango's Art Deco/noir style. There's also just something about the pre-rendered backgrounds that still holds up in the way it was able to frame perspective, as opposed to today's live 3D rendering and moving camera that just seems too busy sometimes. The story for the most part is a kind of "cozy mystery" with bits of humor which is a nice change of pace. Characters and their development are pretty sparse but I thought the dialogue and voice acting was good for an independent release at the time. The puzzles are fairly simplistic and unfortunately if you get stuck at a certain point it's because you haven't explored all areas or found an item/talked to someone again rather than any puzzle being difficult. This was however a problem with the genre in general especially with the pre-rendered backgrounds.

This game means a lot to me. Actually the Syberia series means a lot. The first two games were a part of my childhood, especially the first game. I discovered the games in 2004 through a friend and since then I play them every year. Syberia 1 is one of the best games in video-game industry. The story is awesome, Kate Walker has a great character developement, the places where you go and the visuals...SUPERB. Benoit Sokal(RIP) has done a great job with the series. So bad that he passed away last year. Can't wait to play Syberia : The World Before. Long live Syberia !