izigame.me

Syberia was not a game or series I was expecting to revisit. I played it when it originally came out, during the heyday of "the death of the adventure game" of the early 2000's and really enjoyed it. It was the first new adventure I'd found since The Longest Journey that really spoke to me and I truly feel in love with the world and the main character.
That was almost 20 years ago and after a sequel that I enjoyed but was left dissatisfied with in the end. I was excited when news of the third game came, though cautiously so due to the fact of the diminishing returns of Benoit Sokal's other games over the course of the 2000's. This proved justified when the third game came out and was determined to be a broken, unplayable fiasco with a meh story and very few redeeming qualities, and on top of that it ended on a major cliffhanger . Upon hearing this, I gave up completely on the series, assuming that such a broken, poorly received game would never get a follow up and if it did it would be equally disappointing. Imagine my surprise then when I start reading that they've made a fourth game and not only that it's getting great reviews. I decided it was time to revisit this series.
I suppose after all this rambling I should actually review the game...
The first thing that struck me was how many great improvements modern adventure games have made to the interface. If I remember correctly, Syberia was one of the early games to simply the interface to more of a "one click" experience and you can tell that this is an early iteration of that. It was also shocking the amount of empty space you had to traverse as you solved the puzzles. A lot of this game involves wandering around big, empty spaces. The backgrounds are nice, but due to the age of the game are kind of muddled. The character models are generally kind of blah but definitely about par for the course for this generation and style of game. The aging steampunk areas and machines are neat and the aesthetics are great.
The puzzles surprised me, and not in a great way. I guess I've been spoiled by games that try and make their puzzles fit into the game world and still make some logical sense. While Syberia doesn't feel like like it delves into the dreaded "adventure game moon logic", it definitely is the "well this is the only place I can go and this is the only things I have so that must be the answer" type puzzles. That said there are a lot of good puzzles in mixed in with the (mild) eye-rollers.
Where the game really sings though, is character and story. This is the main appeal of the genre to many of us, and it's why the series has endured so. Kate Walker is such an intersting and unique character. A high powered NY attorney, with all the trappings entailed by that, including the equally high powered hot shot attorney Fiance. Here for what should be a simple but important task, you get the feeling pretty quickly that this life isn't necessarily what she wanted, but what she believed was expected of her. As the "simple task" gets more and more complicated and she gets more determined to resolve, she becomes more and more estranged from her demanding jerk boss, her gossipy best friend, her selfish fiance and her flighty mother, and the world they represent. Her companion Oscar, who she literally has to finish building, is a perfect foil for her. Their interactions are always fun and he manages to distinguish himself from "officious, unyielding robot ala C-3PO" style through his personality.
The dual narrative of Kate searching for Hans Voralberg and bringing his magic back to the places she visits (intentionally or otherwise) while becoming enchanted with the man-child and his belief that Mammoths still exist, and her growing alienation from her loved ones and previous life happen naturally enough that when she finally finds Hans and puts him on the train, only to run after and jump on the train as it pulls away feels like exactly what she needs to do. This is not the sort of thing that the Kate Walker who walked into Valadilene at the beginning of the game would have done, and this change feels organic and true to the Kate Walker we've come to know.
Despite the aging mechanics, dated graphics and puzzles design, the story and characters shine through brilliantly and this is why, 20 years later, it's still considered a classic.