Syberia II

Syberia 2 is a direct sequel to Syberia, it continues the story exactly where it left, and bring some closure on a few events that were left open in the first game. I won't discuss much of the story because of this (there is a video to recap the events of the first one included in the game, but I'd recommend playing that one first, if you are interested). The game is also a point and click adventure, just like its prequel. Technically speaking, the game seems a more polished version of the first. The pre-rendered backgrounds look even better, the 3D characters are more detailed, the animations and moving around in general seems faster and a bit more responsive. The gameplay is largely identical, inheriting the same strengths and weaknesses. The game is streamlined, offering only one mouse button to interact with everything, with right-clicking reserved to opening the inventory, and it lacks a bit in interactivity. You move faster, but you still can't double click exits to immediately reach another area. The game has a great atmosphere, like the first one (and the same mix of melancholy and fantastical), some nice, colorful characters, and a good score that fits the mood. The plot itself isn't too grandiose, just like the first game, but it's a nice vehicle for the atmosphere and the characters. Sadly, one area presents all the flaws that were in the first game, rolled into one. At one point, you'll reach a certain village, which is huge, mostly empty, slow to navigate, with a lot puzzles that are a mix of busywork, pixel hunting, and contrived situations. It drags the experience down quite a bit, in my opinion, since while the area is challenging (unlike most of the game that is easy to breeze through), it achieves this with the worst possible methods. The game is overall an enjoyable adventure (I'd give it a 7, if I could), despite this, so I'd recommend it to fans of the genre that don't mind a bit of frustration, if they like the description.

The Syberia recap is a nice thing to have, but I’d say it was the better game, with a better setting and atmosphere. Alexei’s book is a pretty nice touch though. In general, the graphics, being in the same style, still hold up well, characters seem to look and move better, though I’d say Kate would need much warmer clothes in that climate, and the music remains nice enough. The writing can be an issue, however, dialogues often not quite fitting together and simply not having enough quality overall. And the fact that you can’t repeat any piece of conversation and they’re not logged either can be quite a problem at times. It can also be annoying when some conversations end after a certain option is selected, before exhausting all, and that often you do exhaust all available topics, but if you immediately talk to the character again, new options appear. But an adventure game’s gameplay is defined by puzzles, and those again usually made sense, and I’d still consider the lack of inventory ones a plus. It can be tricky to spot some objects or even exits, and the areas that pan can still be confusing at first, but I didn’t even really get frustrated by the few puzzles requiring trial and error, taking them for what they were and solving them quickly. I consider it either a bug or the game‘s one instance of Moon logic that the dream clock puzzle can’t be solved correctly, accurately, but there was just one other place where I checked the walkthrough, the drums in the Youkol Cave, and that was my fault, the area seeming rather confusing and making me think I missed something elsewhere when I just couldn’t find the target for the otherwise obvious solution. They get rather too straightforward after leaving the Cave, however, as if the developers got bored, locations and cutscenes otherwise seeming to indicate that they weren’t really rushing. Was left at a loss regarding Kate’s fate though, and also wondering what the point of everything about her work and being tracked was.

Syberia II is almost identical to its predecessor, but it simply isn't as fun. There's more backtracking and hangups on this journey that it would be unlikely for any player not to get frustrated. The train ride is literally stop-and-go the whole way through, and Oscar will become a pain, as endearing as he is. Where the game really fails is in its ending. Yes, we help an old man reach his dream, but Kate Walker gets no literally nothing for helping him. As she sees him happy in his utopia, the sudden realization of actually having to face the things Kate has deferred for the entire story probably hits her. The conclusion simply does not match the rest of the game.

Syberia 2 is definitely a better game as a whole compared to the first game. The first game sets the (most amazing ever) lore, the characters, the style of playing, the (amazing "autumn") atmosphere, but it lacks better adventure moments. It´s good, nice, but could have been better. From the gameplay perspective, Syberia is more streamlined that I would like. There are especially two moments Syberia´s gameplay that are confusing and somehow misleading. But this is is fixed in Syberia 2. Gameplay-wise, this game is smarter and more mature. There are more real puzzles, there are really difficult puzzles, there are less difficult puzzles - the most important thing is that the gameplay of the game is much more interesting (more better gameplay). There are three downsides tho: 1. The first is that the game lacks of the "wow" effect of Syberia. Tho you cannot blame Syberia II for that as it is not the game´s fault that it was released as the second game. The next two are more serious. 2. The characters are not developing anymore. Remember how the relationship between Kate, Dan, Olivia and also her boss was developing? It was beautiful. You cannot find anything like this in Syberia II. The characters are now static, no further development happening, even Kate was a bit controversial at the beginning as some her lines did not correspond with the ending of Syberia. 3. The third one are the cutscenes from New York that totally break the atmosphere of being somewhere only god-knows-where far far away from civilization. The first game did it beautifuly - no cutscenes, just some phone calls. Those cutscenes are too disrupting. They also bring a subplot with a detective sent after Kate which is just awful. Totally pointless and unneccesary for the story. The ending of this subplot is just as ridiculos as its whole meaning. The ending is beautiful as was the one in Syberia. Inon Zur´s fantastic soundtrack is just out of this world. 84%

Syberia I and II should've been one game. That's more clear once you finish the second part. Yes, it would've been too long if combined in this form, but both games are full of unnecessary parts that could've been trimmed. I prefer the first part, as the second one can drag on in certain places. Also, puzzles are not logical and sometimes it's hard to find items needed to progress. Art style is gorgeous, but I have a feeling that Benoit Sokal was too in love in his work that he refused to trim certain areas just to show off his vision. Unfortunately, it can be tedious running around through all those screens just to get from one point to another. However, I still recommend it as it has an emotional story (a few holes regarding her New York employer, but what to do). Ending is moving.