Syberia

Back in the day this game was glorious. A P&C adventure with top graphics and design. Almost 20 years later I think it's worth playing it mainly because of the story and setting. The graphics are still very good and still get you to marvel at Sokal's imagination. What I didn't remember was that the puzzles were fairly easy. There is no combination of items. The puzzles are straightforward because of that and because we never have many items in the inventory. This could also be seen as the puzzles being extremely logical without insane solutions that sometimes the genre has. The other downside I detected was the dialog system. The options are pretty generic and sometimes you don't know what Kate will say different, for example, between "Mission" and "Help". The other thing is that sometimes the dialog would ignore what was already said or viceversa (mention someone as if already talked about). Despite this I think it's a must play, specially for someone that wants to start in this genre.

Let's start with my biggest issue with Syberia: while its puzzle-solving is not the most esoteric ever seen in a point-and-click game, it occasionally relies on finding “blink and you'll miss them” details and clues. Some problems are more easily solved through lucky guesses rather than logical thinking, and it's not uncommon to lose track of your objectives and wander aimlessly because you failed to notice a pathway or an item lying around. In short, Syberia probably isn't a very good pick if you're unfamiliar with the PnC genre. You also tend to move slowly around the world, which contributes to the contemplative mood of the game but can be annoying (even if you can run by double-clicking). Despite its frustrations, Syberia has many redeeming features. It does a really great job when it comes to atmosphere, worldbuilding and storytelling. On a technical and artistic level, all backgrounds are beautifully rendered (even if the resolution is low even by 2002 standards), and the music is great. The world and tone feel pretty different from what you would expect from, say, an American or Japanese game: it has a unique steampunk aesthetic which really make it stand apart. It has a surprisingly compelling mood, as it is very melancholic in its visuals, in its music, but also in its plot. The story takes place in once-prominent cities that are slowly decaying, and involves a lot of old characters who have powerlessly witnessed the end of their golden days: it deals heavily with themes such as nostalgia, the death of the “good old times”, and the toll technological progress can take on society. It's not something you'd play to cheer you up, but it is still light-hearted and has a lot of humor. My issue is that the ending is kind of sudden and pretty much forces you to play the sequel. So, while Syberia won't resonate with everyone, has its flaws and is a bit overpriced for such an old game, it's memorable in many regards and will likely satisfy fans of the genre.

I was surprised by the amount of criticism in the top rated reviews here, and while I do acknowledge that there are design flaws with Syberia, I see them more as background noise. I first played this game in 2008, and after playing Syberia 2, so even then I approached it as a slightly aged game. Yes, the movement is clunky, the inventory is largely pointless and the puzzles are lightweight, but I didn't notice any of that because the game is just beautiful to look at, listen to and breathe in. Almost every screen is gorgeous, and I found that I enjoyed walking into a location for the first time and just taking it all in. I see that a lot of people point this out as a con: there are a lot of locations that are just "in-betweens", and I can understand that being bad design in an action game where the pace is important, but here, I just don't mind it at all. As far as I'm concerned, it's as if they built extra locations to show off Benoit Sokal's art, and I am on board with that. The soundtrack is a classic, albeit a short one, and I've enjoyed it both in game, and listening to it in general What I think has aged poorly are the graphics; the early 00s were rough in that sense, and it really shows here. The art direction is good, I think, but the graphical quality brings it down. The length of the game is the other thing I found disappointing, and you really need to consider this a "part 1", with Syberia 2 being part 2; both should be played together, to have a realistic impression of what the game is doing. As far as characters go, I never had a problem with any of the characters in the first two games. It's only from the third one that I feel the quality of writing and voice acting goes downhill. I would recommend this to people who can stomach early 00s graphic adventure design, and who are willing to view the game in the context of the time when it was released.

This game might be 12 years old (as of writing this comment), but the story and the concepts of the game world are timeless. I first played it as a demo back in 2002-2004 era, but the game is still great. A New York lawyer, Kate Walker, is sent to out by her firm to finalise the sale of an automaton factory currently owned by the Voralberg family, located in a town called Valadilene in French Alps, . Unfortunately, upon arriving she finds out that the last member of the Voralberg family passed away just before she arrived. The mission appeared to be a failure... Until Kate found out that there is one more, previously unknown member of the Voralberg family. He can finalise the sale, but first he requests that Kate fulfils his wish - his dream of finding the last surviving mammoths, something that he spent his entire life on. Of the game's concepts, the most intriguing one is the idea of automatons. Automatons are devices whose function is not based on electronics or electricity, but on sophisticated clockwork mechanics. This makes them distinct from the mainstream technology, but no less advanced. In fact, sometimes much more advanced than what has been achieved with mainstream technology, as you will find out. At the promo price currently, I definitely recommend buying this game. If you enjoy adventure games, get this one as well, plus the sequel Syberia 2.

I've heard for a long time that Syberia is one of the best adventure games ever made, and when it was recently made available for free due to the passing of its creator Mr. Sokal, I figured I may as well give it a try. In general, I'd sum it up as being overrated, but without the negative connotation that word usually possesses. The atmosphere is what salvages it. From the start the player is dipped headfirst into environments rich with Art Deco style but covered in a growing layer of decay. Each place is nearly abandoned: a dying town, a university with what seems like five students total, an abandoned Soviet mine and factory complex, a hotel on the edge of the world where the rich and famous once came to take the air. Rust eats away metal. Grass and plants are a sickly green. Bombed buildings lurk in the distance. Characters speak of past glories and the exhaustion of old age. To me it's clearly a metaphor for post-WWII Europe (and post-Soviet Eastern Europe/Russia). The rest of the game is unremarkable. Subtitles frequently depart from spoken dialogue. Many characters have oddly American accents and it seems like maybe three or four people voiced the entire cast. Characters are often abandoned and never heard from again (although to be fair this can be a strength as well, with how well the game conveys abandonment). The music (as heard in cutscenes; I turn off in-game music) sounds carousel-like and doesn't suit the environments' heart-piercing loneliness. The ending is abrupt and the heroine's development is nonexistent, her inner monologue never conveyed to the player. Puzzles can be unintuitive. The obsession at the heart of the story isn't well-conveyed. It takes an age for the heroine to cross each screen even at a run. Backtracking through cavernous locations becomes unbearable. The heroine's animations are frustratingly slow. I would recommend playing Syberia for atmosphere alone, if you can bear how poorly it's aged. It can be unforgettable.