Syberia

Couldn't stop playing. Great story line, great graphics and it keeps you engaged.

Review too long :( Ok - the high points: The game treats you like an adult (something rarely if ever seen in games produced in the USA). In many ways, it plays like a good Nancy Drew on Senior difficulty: take your own notes, because the game doesn't hold your hand and lead you along. It's a 'mature' game (no, not sex and gore). The subjects of the story are _real_. It raises real questions as the game goes on (similar to Xenosaga trilogy or TWEWY). When I found out other game sites were selling the first game cut into three parts, leaving bits on the cutting room floor, I went and bought a copy of the full game. Now that they have it here and at this price it's an insanely good buy - you won't be disappointed.

I enjoyed my time with Syberia, but I don't think it will win any converts to the adventure game genre. It has a strong and distinctive setting, but doesn't really stand out in any other dimension. Gameplay-wise, this is smart enough to avoid unwinnable situations. For most of the game, I understood my goal and the puzzles were not too frustrating. Though they also weren't particularly hard, so those looking for a meaty mental challenge might be disappointed. I had to use a walkthrough in a few places, but this was usually because I'd failed to spot an interactable item. I also wasn't a big fan of the conversation system; sometimes you need to select "Help" to advance, sometimes "Mission", sometimes some other word, with no hint as to which. In practice, the correct strategy is just to try all of them every time you talk to anyone; which is bad for narrative immersion and also quite tedious. The story was fine. While hunting for Hans serves as the overarching goal, in practice you have a number of vignettes with only a loose thematic connection. The intention was presumably to indirectly shed light on Hans's character, which more or less worked; and to develop Kate's, which was less successful. I also think the game did a decent job at using the puzzles to develop the story and world. At then end of the day, I did like my time with Syberia.

Bought the game on phisical almost two decades ago. IIRC back then I was like 14. I usually despise point&click games, but this one reached uncharted territories of loathing. Always in my opinion of course, not only the puzzles and "quests" in this game are as random and single-minded as it could get in a genre where logic and facts are to be ignored in order to craft a plastic eyeball slingshot out of a pair of thongs and one brown branch that you may or may not find in an equally brown mud path to twist the doorknob of the old backyard shack. And God forbid you even lay a finger on the window pane of the rickety window of main house and accidentally break it, allowing you to directly enter and saving 2 hours of your life (random example, not spoiler, but I'm staring at you, stair-birds). Also the player runs suuuuper slow, and has to walk by default. So I hope you like doing that, cause each time you need to test a new object in a convoluted puzzle you'll have to walk sometimes the full map (of beautiful, yet soon repetitive backgrounds). I remember having this full guide at my side, refusing to use it until stuck, and having to use it 9 times out of 10. And still, finishing the game takes forever. Don't expect something as active and heart-racing as Broken Sword. So my experience was negative, my memories of this game are used to mock the genre when talking about it w friends, and I'm extremely biased, but I advice you to be prepared to a really, REALLY slow game with "take it or leave" logic and a kinda interesting story spoiled mainly because there is a (literally) railroad plot, where you need to do the "right thing" instead of the logic thing (which in this case would be the protagonist saying 'screw this' and going back home, where she has way more irons in the oven than a normal person should). But if this is your cup of tea, then by all means go for it, and I sincerely hope you enjoy it. I certainly couldn't, and I tried it.

Beautiful art, beautiful story (combined with Syberia II - Which is a must play if you play the first part). If you love great plots and storytelling you might like this one. The puzzles are simple and too easy most of the time - I think the main goal of this game was to show the story and the art. But that doesn't make me like it any less, because the story is that good :)