Syberia

Kept giving the game the benefit of the doubt, but it never really redeemed itself. And by no means is this a case of playing a game 15 years later - I've played and am playing many other older games, and can enjoy them now, but this one was hard to. - Slow and tedious movement: there are a lot of "empty" screens, put there as visuals but adding nothing to the puzzles or stories. But you have to walk through them - generally multiple times. Sometimes a screen will be used just to show a walking-up-the-stairs animation. Kate can either walk slowly, or if you double-click, she runs, but then wastes precious seconds doing this slowing-down-looks-like-i've-run-into-a-wall animation. Even the original Myst had the lighting-bolt method of quick travel, something this game really needed. - simplistic, linear puzzles: the puzzles were nothing to rave about. Generallly pretty linear, as there are only a few items to collect at one time. Doesn't leave you feeling immersed like many other puzzle games. - unlikable characters: everyone was one-dimensional, annoying, and pretty horrendous voice-acting. And really - you're going to include a "village idiot" kid in a 2000's era game??? - weird story: not a big fan of steampunk in general, and the rest of the story doesn't much help. The long-and-short is that this was more of an Interactive Fiction kind of piece, rather than a puzzle/adventure game, and a fiction that wasn't very engrossing.

The game is ok, but the slow animations (which you can't skip), will make you go nuts. Not worth the time.

I will keep this short because there are other. longer reviews which make clear what some people will find lacking in this game. As others have pointed out, there aren't really what I would call "puzzles" in this game. It may be I just don't find them particularly interesting as puzzles. When the final puzzle for a section of a game is mixing someone a drink, you aren't talking about a lot of excitement and mystery. I know a lot of people enjoyed the story but I find the premise unlikely at best. The idea of a woman having an adventure and learning self-reliance and independence is fine, but the particular events that take place are so bizarre for the most part that I can't imagine anyone, woman or man, feeling like they were on a journey of self-discovery. I imagine most people would think they were trapped in some Kafka-esque novel that was leading the to their doom. It's possible I'm thinking too much about the story. This game kind of reminds me of the first time I walked into a Big Lots store (deep discount remainder store for those who have never heard of them). The tool section in particular made me feel like I was shopping in some Eastern European Soviet-era store where you couldn't actually get what you wanted, but instead had to settle for third-rate knockoff tools that would break two weeks later. Other than that, it's a great game!

I've played games that made me cry, games that had great atmosphere - tense, lifting or otherwise, some with great mechanics, great story etc. And I played through both Siberias, scratching my head when is all the hyped stuff going to come out. It didn't. All I got from both games was one long dip in a sea of depression. I played hundreds of games but this is one of the very few I wish I didn't. Play it when you're too happy and need to tone it down.

The short version: I dislike this game because the story and characters are boring and unlikeable, and the way some of the puzzles need to be handled is infuriating and ridiculous. The really long version: www.youtube.com/watch?v=cS1WYHqzRhw&list=PLpGluF4rfRcj67eAITEkB0kxWg1OdLbpQ