Syberia
| Syberia | |
|---|---|
| developer | Microids , Anuman Interactive |
| Designer | Benoît Sokal |
| First title | Syberia (2002) |
| Last title | Syberia 3 (2017) |
| Platform (s) | Android , iOS , Nintendo DS , Nintendo Switch , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , OS X , PPC , Windows , Windows Mobile , Xbox , Xbox 360 , Xbox One , Nintendo Switch |
| Genre (s) | Adventure |
Syberia is a graphic adventure series by the Belgian author and comic artist Benoît Sokal in collaboration with the French game developer Microïds . The plot about a young lawyer seems to take place in our present, but the game world is heavily influenced by steampunk elements and an ultimately purely fictional main story.
The first two parts of the series were published in 2002 and 2004. After Anuman Interactive took over the development studio at the beginning of 2010, the game, which was originally published for Microsoft Windows and on the video game consoles widely used at the time, was ported to other platforms, especially for mobile devices. A third part of the series was released in April 2017, a fourth part was announced in August 2019.
Syberia
The first part of the series was developed entirely in the development studio of the French company Microïds in Montreal by Benoît Sokal and 35 team members until 2002 with a budget of two million US dollars . The technical basis was the Virtools Development Environment in version 2.1. In an interview, Benoît Sokal indicated that originally only one game title was planned for the whole Syberia theme. The division was made because the story turned out to be too big for a single adventure game.
In 2014, Syberia was released for Android . For this version, the developers implemented an autosave function for the first time, which automatically saves the game at certain key points.
Syberia II
| Syberia II | |||
|---|---|---|---|
 | |||
| Studio | Microids | ||
| Publisher | Atari SA | ||
| Senior Developer | Benoît Sokal | ||
| composer | Inon Zur | ||
| Erstveröffent- lichung |
2004 | ||
| platform | Android , iOS , Nintendo DS , PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , OS X , PPC , Windows , Xbox , Xbox 360 | ||
| Game engine | Virtools | ||
| genre | Adventure | ||
| Game mode | Single player | ||
| control | Mouse , keyboard | ||
| medium | CD-ROMs , download | ||
| language | German English French | ||
| Age rating |
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Syberia II is the successor to Syberia and was published by Microïds in 2004 . Benoît Sokal was again the main developer. The music comes from the composer Inon Zur .
action
After Kate has decided to accompany Hans Voralberg on his search for Syberia, the train pulls into Romansburg station, a small, sleepy village on the tundra at the very edge of civilization. The vending machine Oscar warns that a mechanical train does not generate heat and that you should take a supply of coal with you for heating before continuing north. By the time Kate had organized the coal, Hans fell seriously ill. Because there is no doctor in the village, she turns to the abbot of a nearby monastery who is reputed to have special healing powers. In a roundabout way, Kate learns more details about the ancient Youkol people and their legendary connection to the mammoths she heard about in Baroque City .
In the meantime, her boss, who has been waiting for her in New York for weeks and who is also being urged to act by her family, uses an agent to look for her. Before he arrives in Romansburg, however, the train with the recovered Hans on board is kidnapped. Kate manages to catch up with the train when the kidnappers interfere in the control of the train and the train breaks down. The train finally succeeds in reaching a Youkol settlement and getting rid of both the agent and the kidnappers. At the end of their journey, Hans and Kate find the legendary Syberia and actually discover a herd of living mammoths there. Hans calls with the mammoths and the game ends with a happy ending.
development
The game was developed again in 13 months based on the Virtools Development Environment . However, the development environment had meanwhile reached version number 3.0.
reception
Like the first part, Syberia II also received criticism for the fact that there are too few options for action and that the puzzles can be solved by simply trying it out. A sometimes very poor visibility of the manipulable objects makes life unnecessarily difficult for the player.
Sites specializing in adventure games such as Just Adventure or Adventure Gamers praised the game for its beautiful, artistic graphics and the background music that went very well with the melancholy mood of the story. At Metacritic , the game is rated at 80% only slightly worse than the first part.
Syberia 3
Although the author Benoît Sokal had declared in 2005 that the story would be over with the publication of the second part and therefore no sequel was planned, Microïds announced in April 2009 that the development of a third part would begin immediately. After Anuman Interactive took over the development studio in 2010 , the plans were initially discontinued. The surprising announcement in November 2012 that the Belgian authors would be working towards the publication of a third part of the series in 2013 had no visible consequences over the years. At the end of 2014, however, the project got going again and at the Gamescom 2015 trade fair in Cologne, Sokal announced the renewed collaboration with the composer Inon Zur for the soundtrack for a third part of the series, which should appear in autumn 2016. About six months later than announced, the game finally appeared in April 2017.
The third part builds on the previous parts. However, Syberia 3 offers a self-contained story - in contrast to its predecessors, which form a close unit, so that the storyline of the first part is only completed with the completion of the second part. By using the current Unity game engine, the new game also stands out technically from the first two parts with their pre-rendered backgrounds. The developers made use of the extended options of the engine to upgrade the graphics and to give the player the impression of a freely accessible 3D world. The character of the game as a traditional point-and-click adventure should not be changed.
various
In March 2009 the Adventure Collection 1: Best of Benoit Sokal was released for the PC, which included the games Syberia and Syberia II as well as Paradise in one box.
Web links
- Official website of the game series (English)
- Reviews at TheLegacy
Individual evidence
- ↑ Syberia II. In: GameSpot . March 20, 2004, accessed June 17, 2013 .
- ↑ Syberia 2 - PC. X-ray vision required . In: GameStar . May 25, 2004, accessed July 5, 2015 .
- ↑ Peter Steinlechner: Syberia 3: Adventure wakes up with an appointment . In: Golem.de , February 9, 2017, accessed April 22, 2017
- ↑ Sasha Lohmüller: Microids five pack: Syberia 3 and Co. in the Gamescom preview , in: PC Games , August 7, 2015, accessed on October 29, 2016