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!
This game is well worth the hype. Those who loved the classic arcade style shooters, like Galaxian, Tyrian, and maybe even Warning Forever will definitely love this game. Someone compared this to Raptor: Call of the Shadows but I have to disagree. This game is less friendly towards micromanagement compared to Raptor or Tyrian, but its Tron-esque art style and synchronization with your music collection more than makes up for it. Now the game does come with tunes of its own, and GOG has happily provided them for us. It is compatible with a variety of formats, but not with languages. This user has music from various countries, and it looks like the game is incompatible with East Asian languages or Arabic. A pity too, if one happens to have a lot of Chinese or Japanese songs like yours truly. But the songs play even if their titles can't be read properly. And they play well! Each level is indeed unique, and difficulty varies based on the type of song you use. It can be strange when one jazzy, somber piece can have ridiculously aggressive enemies while a rock piece has intermittent, relatively tame foes. But if you feel that the enemy is too soft on you, the game provides many difficulty levels that you can gradually unlock. There's tons of unlockable content and surprisingly enough not all of them are weapons or difficuly levels. There are plenty of achievements, plenty of goodies, and plenty of ways to spend your time with this game. Well worth the price! 5/5.
