![]() Although useful, they sometimes clutter up the screen. In an odd design move, hotspots showing which objects are interactable are always on, with no option to shut them off. Background animation is sparse, making it obvious that characters are 3D models superimposed on static 2D images. The clockwork world is charming and the pre-rendered environments are detailed, but everything feels dead. Otherwise it’s just ambient sound, which is negligible at best. Kate’s American voice actress is obviously working from a British-English script as she’ll say things are “dodgy” or “really not on.” The music is pleasing, orchestral stuff, but there are only a few short tracks that pipe in at specific moments. A posh-voiced hotel clerk randomly uses working class slang. The voice acting is professional-sounding but the writing is suspect. The audio is one of the brighter spots… sort of. The most formidable foes in gaming history. Can’t Kate just − I don’t know − shout at them? One puzzle that expects way too much of the player is when you’re meant to recognize someone’s name in a sprawling document when it was previously only mentioned once in passing. Some don’t fit the realistic-ish vibe at all, like having to go through a circuitous sequence of events just to get some berries to feed to some birds blocking your access to a ladder. There are semi-weird puzzles like having to melt some hardened honey by dipping it in a hot tub. ![]() Syberia is hardly brain-rending, but it does throw the occasional curveball. Other puzzles are of the conversational variety: you have to talk to people until they give you necessary info, which means reading through pages of scrolling text as characters drone on and on. Then you’ll have to do an inset puzzle, flipping switches and pressing buttons to get everything running. The Voralberg empire runs on wind-up contraptions so you generally need to locate winding keys to activate them. Puzzles are designed to be pseudo-realistic, which means oftentimes you’ll know what you need it’s just a matter of finding it. Instead she comes skidding to a stop, after which there’s a pause for the next screen to load, which soon becomes arduous. And she doesn’t jog fluidly from place to place. Most of your time is spent watching Kate jog. Lift those legs!Ī big part of what makes Syberia so relentlessly dull is that there is nothing to do at most locations they’re just connections to other locations. ![]() You can also double-tap to make her jog, a function the game doesn’t have the decency to inform you of, but one that you’ll use a lot. Depending on the context, Kate automatically talks to, picks up, or manipulates whatever you’ve tapped on. It’s actually simpler than many adventure games as there isn’t even a dedicated button for examining things. You click, or rather tap, to move Kate or have her interact with stuff. The game controls like most third-person adventure games. The company now belongs to her brother, Hans, so Kate takes off on an alleged adventure to find him and close the deal. ![]() Unfortunately, the owner of Voralberg Toys, Anna Voralberg, up and dies. Syberia follows Kate Walker, a lawyer who’s been flown to the European boonies to sort out the acquisition of the Voralberg Toy Company for her clients, another toy company. Syberia is boring, simplistic, and – oh yeah – boring. But with adventure games now plentiful on phones, it doesn’t stand out. Originally released in early 2002, Syberia was a point-and-click adventure well-received by gamers and critics alike, probably because the genre had grown so stagnant that “basically competent” was misperceived as “wildly imaginative.” Now, it’s on the Android with its basic competency mostly intact.
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