Syberia 3

Syberia 3 is an adventure game from the French developer and publisher Anuman Interactive , which was released in 2017 under the Microïds label . It represents the third part of the Syberia game series , which began in 2002 and was designed by the Belgian comic artist Benoît Sokal and in which the American lawyer Kate Walker experiences adventures in fictional regions in northern Russia.

action

The Youkol people live isolated and in harmony with nature in the arctic north of Russia. They live in symbiosis with the snow ostriches , huge ostriches adapted to the climate , on which they ride and live. Every few decades, the snow ostriches take their own initiative on a train to the Yakhastan province to mate there, and the Youkol accompany this journey. The Youkol, which cannot be controlled, are a thorn in the side of the Russian government and they are trying to prevent the snow ostriches from moving. At the beginning of the game, the Youkol find the unconscious Kate Walker on the side of the road during an ostrich train and save her from freezing to death. The nomads set up camp near the port town of Valsembor, which is located on a large lake, as the train takes them across the lake, which, unusually, is not frozen this year. They deliver Kate and their leader Kurk, who was seriously injured by a government bombing, to a clinic on the outskirts of the city, the founder of which is well-disposed towards them. At this point the game begins for the player.

After Kate recovers, she decides to help the Youkol on their trip to Yakhastan. To do this, she first has to flee with Kurk from the clinic, which is occupied by a military command; Then the task is to organize a crossing of the lake for the ostrich train and finally to find a way through the radiation-contaminated town of Baranour on the other side of the lake, fleeing from the government soldiers.

Game principle and technology

The two previous games were so-called 2.5D adventures, in which three-dimensional figures composed of polygons acted in front of pre-rendered , likewise three-dimensional backdrops. Syberia 3 is the opposite a pure 3D game where the game around the underlying Unity - Engine is calculated in real time. The game is controlled from a third person perspective . The player Kate Walker maneuvers through the game world using a keyboard or gamepad . If it passes interaction points, so-called hotspots, the player has the opportunity to interact with them. Kate Walker can examine objects, pick up and use them elsewhere or communicate with NPCs . Dialogues are based on a multiple choice procedure. By solving puzzles, the action progresses, and as the action progresses, more locations are unlocked.

Production notes

The first two parts of the series, Syberia and Syberia 2 , also creations by Benoît Sokal, were published in 2002 and 2004 by the French developer and publisher Microïds. As recently as 2006, Sokal had refused a sequel on the grounds that the story was over for him. In April 2009, Microïds announced for the first time a continuation of the series with the participation of Sokals. On January 1, 2010, Microïds was bought by Anuman Interactive, whereupon the project was initially put on hold. Work on Syberia 3 began in August 2013 , with publication scheduled for 2015. After several postponements, the game finally appeared in April 2017. At the same time as the release, a so-called "Collector's Edition" was released, which in addition to the game contained a character shaped after Kate Walker, a comic and an art book .

Hugo Sokal, Benoît's son, is co-authored. Composer Inon Zur had already contributed the soundtrack for Syberia 2. The German voice actors from parts 1 and 2 were not used again. The only two characters that appeared in the previous games are the protagonist Kate Walker and the late sidekick Oscar, a purely mechanical robot ("automaton").

role	German speaker	English speaker	French speaker
Kate Walker	Janina Dietz	Sharon Mann	Francoise Cadol
Oscar	Karim El Kammouchi	Kevin T. Collins	Hubert Drac
Ayawaska	Maria Boehme	Samia Mounts	Laurence Flahaut
Kurk	Felix Mayer	Toby Fielding	Emmanuel Rausenberger

In an interview with the specialist magazine Adventure-Treff , co-author and game designer Lucas Lagravette indicated that Anuman was planning a sequel to the game. Another part of the Syberia series, The World Before , was announced in August 2019.

reception

From 33 aggregated ratings, Syberia 3 achieved a score of 51 on Metacritic .

As part of its extensive analysis, the specialist magazine Adventure-Treff revealed that the political connotation in Syberia 3 goes well beyond earlier works such as Amerzone , Paradise or Sinking Island . In addition to the life in harmony with nature, which Sokal propagates in all of his works, in Syberia 3 also racism (towards the fictional Youkol people) and the risks of core technology are prominent themes of the game plot. The magazine praised the game world, story, characters and general gameplay, but criticized long walks in a “lifeless” game world and the controls as “screwed up”, along with various other technical inadequacies. The GameStar praised an easily understandable story and "fun and clever" puzzles. After clear criticism of long loading times, insufficient localization and poor camera work, the final verdict was that the game was unfinished, poorly optimized and in some places really ugly. In its condition at the time of its release, it would “at best be recommended to rock-hard, absolutely pain-free genre fans”.

The English game magazine PC Gamer already rated the start of the game without any introduction and explanation of the events from parts 1 and 2 as negative and commented on the further game that it looked “tough, out of date and surprisingly sloppy”. In comparison with the “splendid” pre-rendered scenes of the two predecessors, the 3D graphics of the third part are “plain” to “downright ugly”, the localization of the French original (into English) is sometimes “misleading”.

The versions for consoles also outweighed the criticism. The same editor, who had already rated the Windows version for GameStar , added to his criticism in the video game magazine GamePro with the note that he felt partly in because of "annoying camera jumps, terrible performance, miserable, often involuntarily funny voice output and ugly cutscenes" set back the era of the first PlayStation. There was nothing to complain about about the story, but not all tasks could be solved logically and even with the better, clever puzzles you would have to suffer from poor game controls.

Web links

Individual evidence

↑ Adventure-Island.nl: Interviews: Benoit Sokal ( Memento from August 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )

↑ ^a ^b ^c Adventure-Treff.de: Syberia April 3, 25, 2017, accessed on May 23, 2019 .

↑ Microids.com: Syberia: The World Before - Kate Walker returns for a new adventure! Retrieved August 19, 2019 .

↑ Metacritic.com: Syberia April 3, 20, 2017, accessed September 7, 2017 .

↑ GameStar.de: Syberia 3 in the test - a late sequel. April 25, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017 .

↑ PCGamer.com: Syberia 3 Review. April 25, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017 .

↑ GamePro.de: Syberia 3 in the test - belated continuation catastrophe . April 27, 2017. Retrieved September 7, 2017 .

[AI-1] Adventure-Island.nl: Interviews: Benoit Sokal ( Memento from August 21, 2007 in the Internet Archive )