This isn't the start of The Longest Journey? ( not sure about future)

ooops, sorry... hadn't read the messages... ;p

Any chance it's Emerald City Confidential? More fantasy-tech than sci-fi, but memory can be a funny thing ;) Do you remember it being very green? :P

Now that you mention it, I remember the game being more blue themed. Also it wasn't a plateau but a round platform that you start on (in the demo at least which is what I played back then).

I've gone through tons of lists and so far no luck. Why o why did I throw out my old demo cds? Bleh :(

What was the demo CD from? A gaming mag? Sometimes the mags will have an archive of their demo cd. Although, it sounds like you'll be looking back a fair way but you might get lucky.

The Moment of Silence starts in a city, but afaik the main protagonist is a male.