Syberia

Probably one of the better, if not top 10, point and click/adventure games I have played, and I have played a lot. Syberia has a unique story with very creative quests, puzzles, and characters. The puzzles are doable! As crazy as they may seem sometimes, I only had to use a strategy guide once (making the mixed drink), most of the puzzles can be figured out rationally. Pros: characters, character development, puzzles, beautiful backgrounds, story, ability to run, and music. Cons: Outdated graphics, but hey you're on gog, what do you expect?

After hearing so much about how this game is masterpiece and saved the adventure genre I decided to give it a spin, and found it to be severely lacking. The good: the setting is luscious, with dozens and dozens of screens depicting the impossibly intricate world where the game sets place. There are lots of details and videos, and there is an animation for almost anything that happens. The bad: everything else. The characters are all flat starting from the main character, both because of the sub-par writing and the emotionless voice acting. The most interesting persons you meet are a retired opera singer and an automaton, and that's because they provide some well needed humour to the story. This lack of emotion makes it also hard to get into the plot: you never quite seem to get the impact on Kate of the things she discovers or the places she visits. Whether it's talking to a bureaucrat or stealing from a church or sending a man into space (!) she seems to take it all in stride as if it was standard fare. It doesn't help that much of the locations you visit or objects you see are non-interactive, so you can't even hear her talk about the scenery. The puzzles are usually simple once you find out what you have to do and where's the item you need. Unfortunately that is not always as obvious as the authors thought, and often involves a severe case of pixel hunting or mental leaping. This is made worse by the fact that the character sprite is s-l-o-w, and running through the mostly-empty screens to get to the item you need will often take several minutes of your time. Oddly enough, I was not too troubled by the ending. While it does not explain much, it does accomplish the original goal the protagonist and gives a certain sense of closure to her arc.

I gave up on adventure games pretty much completely more than 15 years ago, but found myself sort of curious to try this one ever since it was given away for free and did in 2019. And I was stubborn enough to never glance at a guide, figuring everything out on my own, the fact that I was able to do so quite clearly meaning that there wasn’t much Moon logic involved. There were also no inventory puzzles, and in fact there were few items in inventory at any one time, being able to pick up an item usually meaning that it’ll be used soon, and the pointer indicating invalid actions doing away with the need to actually try everything. For that matter, most of the time there was just one actual available action, the trick being to find it. That did lead to a few moments of searching the entire current area from one end to the other for something I missed, but those were fewer than expected, and once or twice the solution had been staring me in the face all along, and actually more interesting than I thought. Other than that, the story was interesting enough, and while Oscar was rather too much to ask in terms of suspension of disbelief, the rest of it did quite well in walking that line between being too mundane for such a game and too ludicrous for one nevertheless placed in this “reality”. Also, quite liked the locations, the backgrounds, the whole setting and atmosphere. Liked them enough that I wasn’t bothered by the screens that had no relevance from a gameplay perspective, though I would have been if I wouldn’t have quickly discovered that double clicking made Kate run. The 3D characters didn’t fit so well, and they moved particularly oddly, but I guess that has to do with the technological limitations of the time. Stairs were always annoying though.

Let me say it straight, this isn't a game for everyone. This game is slow, you will have to walk around and resolve riddles and puzzles. Don't play for the graphism either. Put that aside and you have a game with atmosphere (sound design and voice acting are really good), and a good story. You will meet several characters who will help you in your quest. Those are well written and add credibility to the world, who is, i must say, quite empty. But let's not forget that it came out in 2002. And then you will learn about Kate, through phones calls with relatives. Even if sometimes i was frustated by her reaction, this is a great idea that remind me of firewatch. In the end a good little game with a unique world and story, enjoyable, even if dated on a technical point of view. Looking forward for Syberia II.

Granted, there's Syberia 2 but I have not played that one so it would be dishonest for me to say otherwise. There are few games that can capture the essence of loneliness. Syberia is perhaps one of the greatest. Although it manages to guide the reader through a compelling story of a world with many decaying landscapes and an independent woman diligently trying to find her client, the story ends rather abruptly. Yet, in all honesty, it does end rather well. If only those who complain about work could find a reason to leave their lives behind like Kate does. It certainly would give certain people hope in this day and age: to find a great adventure and abandon the daily grind forever. The fetch quests are certainly a negative point for the game. I remember so many times when I had to make Kate run back and forth across a region (beautifully done regions, mind) just to complete some silly objective, and then have her run all the way across the region back to her train, but thankfully those moments get broken up by cute and interesting scenes. Ever see a violin concerto played by robots? Or how about an old maritime Slavic couple? Or have you had a lengthy conversation with some Proctors at a prestigious University? Those are scenes in video games that almost never get introduced to players. Syberia is a game that really shouldn't be missed. But do keep in mind that it's short and that there are some frustrating bits. Still, the old saying holds true: No Pain No Gain. There's certainly much to gain from a playthrough of Syberia!