Syberia
Encyclopedia
Syberia is a 2002 computer adventure game
conceived by Benoît Sokal
, developed by Microïds
and published through The Adventure Company
. It follows the protagonist Kate Walker as she attempts to wrap up a sale on the behalf of her law firm. In addition to the main plot, the game contains a dramatic subplot, conducted via calls received on Kate's cell phone, involving Kate's deteriorating relationship with her fiancé.
The game uses elements of art nouveau
and steampunk
fiction in its story. Most devices and tools, and even a train, are powered by springs and wind-up gears. Syberia was acclaimed by critics for its graphic design and intelligent script, and a sequel
, Syberia II
, was released in 2004, picking up where the first game leaves off. In 2009 Microïds announced that Syberia III
would be released on PC, and possibly PlayStation 3
, in 2010 or 2011.
Sokal's earlier game Amerzone
is located in the same fictional universe
, and Syberia contains some references to it. Another of Sokal's adventure games Paradise has no connections to Syberia but does use similar art direction and interface.
, mouse-driven, semi-realistic/semi-surrealistic adventure game
in which the player must solve various puzzles and follow certain procedures in order for the linear storyline to proceed. As a pure graphical adventure game, Syberia follows the guidelines first introduced by LucasArts
: it is impossible to die or to get stuck at any moment in the game, which allows the user to fully immerse him/herself in Syberias universe without the fear of making a mistake or the constant need of saving the game.
s are said to live.
toy factory whose takeover by a big American business Kate was supposed to finalize. When visiting the village notary
to hopefully finalize the deal, the notary tells Kate that just before her death, the old lady revealed that her brother, officially declared dead and buried in the town cemetery, is in fact alive somewhere in the North-East. Naturally, now that his sister is dead, Hans Voralberg becomes the new owner of the factory, which cannot be sold without his approbation
. Kate has no choice: if she wants the takeover to succeed, she will have to find Hans. Kate's research reveals that Hans was injured in his attempt to retrieve a prehistoric doll of a mammoth
ridden by a man. It stunted his development, both physically and emotionally, and Hans' one and only goal became to find mammoths to ride them as the doll depicts.
In order to find Hans, Kate must take his train, a clockwork
locomotive built by his sister at his request. It is manned by Oscar, a man-like automaton fond of protocol, which Kate must satisfy to depart. Thus, she is forced to delve into Hans' past to retrieve two items of value to him: the mammoth doll, and a clockwork music box.
. They insist to be paid $100 for their assistance, so Kate has to fix the university's broken bandstand
to get the university's stubborn board of directors to help. Along the way, she gets a lesson on the legend of Syberia and the customs of the mysterious prehistoric Youkol people who lived with mammoths and were able to domesticate them. Before she can leave Barrockstadt entirely she must pass the large wall keeping her train from exiting.
work. He intends to construct the biggest stage possible for Helena Romanski, a washed up opera singer with whom he is obsessed. Kate has little choice but to fetch her from a nearby spa
in Aralbad on his behalf. Serguei directs Kate to the adjacent cosmodrome for transportation.
At the cosmodrome, Kate meets former test pilot
Boris, a drunk who dreams of flying into space on a "flying wing
" invented by Hans. After some sobering up, he teaches Kate how to operate an old airship
in exchange for her help in making the flying wing functional. He also warns Kate not to trust Serguei. Once Boris is launched, she uses his advice to launch the airship and leaves for Aralbad.
mixed at the bar and a wine glass, Helena is convinced that she can still sing and agrees to go with Kate.
), it doesn't stop Serguei from imprisoning her, as he wants to keep Helena at his side as his personal opera singer. Kate is able to free Helena and take back Oscar's hands, but Serguei isn't quite willing to give up without a fight, using the worker-automata to block the train. Some spare dynamite dispatches that problem, and Kate brings Helena back to Aralbad. Surprisingly, none other than Hans Voralberg is waiting there at the spa, delighted that Kate brought him his train and Oscar. Hans shows little concern for his sister's death and signs the factory release papers without even reading them. He offers to take Kate along, but she initially refuses. However, as she is about to board a plane to fly back to New York, she changes her mind and hops on board the train at the last second, abandoning her job and her unfaithful fiancé back home to help an old man realize his dream.
The game was produced entirely in Montreal, Canada by 35 people under the direction of Sokal on a budget of €
2 million using Virtools
Development Environment 2.1. Benoît Sokal indicated in an interview that at one time the development team were considering to create one single game for the Syberia story, but decided not to as it was so large.
's "Adventure Game of the Year" (2002) and IGN
's "Reader's Choice Award for Adventure Games" (2002). Based on 27 reviews, Metacritic
gave the game an aggregate score of 82% ("generally favorable reviews").
USA Today
called the game "A solid pick...", and CNN
noted that "Syberia brings back adventure genre impressive graphics...". Just Adventure called it the "Best Adventure Game at E3".
On 1 April
2009 Microïds announced that Syberia III
would be released on PC and PlayStation 3
. A further press release on 2 April noted that Syberia would be one of the series of games to be released in the "Ultimate Adventures" tri-packs. On 17 April another press release was issued, explaining that the PC version will be released, but the PS3 version may not, due to problems with Sony. Benoît Sokal mentioned in the press a number of times that he would only participate in a Syberia sequel if there was sufficient financial means to design and develop it properly. In 2009 Microïds decided to invest in the Syberia franchise. Microïds have also asked that fans of Syberia send them emails of support for the game. The company has stated that the game will miss its original June 2010 release date, and is likely that it will be released after 2010.
s using Symbian
and Windows Mobile
.
On 15 April 2008 Microïds announced that with Mindscape
they would be releasing the mobile version of Syberia for the Nintendo DS
in October 2008. On 30 October 2008 Microïds announced that DreamCatcher Games
would be publishing the Nintendo DS version of Syberia in North America, for its release in December 2008.
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
conceived by Benoît Sokal
Benoît Sokal
Benoît Sokal is a Belgian comic artist and video game developer, best known for his comics series Inspector Canardo.-Biography:...
, developed by Microïds
Microïds
Microïds is a French software brand belonging to Anuman Interactive that publishes and develops video games. In recent years the company's collection of brands and game licenses has grown since being a part of MC2 France...
and published through The Adventure Company
The Adventure Company
The Adventure Company, is a publishing label of Nordic Games. It is formally a division of DreamCatcher Interactive but was sold to Nordic Games in 2011 following DreamCatcher's parent JoWooD Entertainment being sold after entering administration.-History:...
. It follows the protagonist Kate Walker as she attempts to wrap up a sale on the behalf of her law firm. In addition to the main plot, the game contains a dramatic subplot, conducted via calls received on Kate's cell phone, involving Kate's deteriorating relationship with her fiancé.
The game uses elements of art nouveau
Art Nouveau
Art Nouveau is an international philosophy and style of art, architecture and applied art—especially the decorative arts—that were most popular during 1890–1910. The name "Art Nouveau" is French for "new art"...
and steampunk
Steampunk
Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s. Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or "Wild West"-era United...
fiction in its story. Most devices and tools, and even a train, are powered by springs and wind-up gears. Syberia was acclaimed by critics for its graphic design and intelligent script, and a sequel
Sequel
A sequel is a narrative, documental, or other work of literature, film, theatre, or music that continues the story of or expands upon issues presented in some previous work...
, Syberia II
Syberia II
Syberia II is a 2004 adventure game conceived by Benoît Sokal and developed by MC2-Microïds, and a continuation to Syberia. It is a third-person puzzle-solving game. Stylistically identical to the first Syberia, Syberia II improves upon the first game by introducing more realistic character animation...
, was released in 2004, picking up where the first game leaves off. In 2009 Microïds announced that Syberia III
Syberia III
Syberia III is a planned computer adventure game sequel in the Syberia series. The story of the first two games was conceived by Benoît Sokal, and developed by French games company Microïds. While it was expected to be released in 2011 for PC, and possibly PlayStation 3, the release date is unknown...
would be released on PC, and possibly PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
, in 2010 or 2011.
Sokal's earlier game Amerzone
Amerzone
Amerzone is a first-person adventure game produced by French company Microïds, and designed by Benoît Sokal...
is located in the same fictional universe
Fictional universe
A fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements that differ from the real world. It may also be called an imagined, constructed or fictional realm ....
, and Syberia contains some references to it. Another of Sokal's adventure games Paradise has no connections to Syberia but does use similar art direction and interface.
Gameplay
Syberia is a third-personThird-person shooter
Third-person shooter is a genre of 3D action games in which the player character is visible on-screen, and the gameplay consists primarily of shooting.-Definition:...
, mouse-driven, semi-realistic/semi-surrealistic adventure game
Adventure game
An adventure game is a video game in which the player assumes the role of protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and puzzle-solving instead of physical challenge. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media such as literature and film,...
in which the player must solve various puzzles and follow certain procedures in order for the linear storyline to proceed. As a pure graphical adventure game, Syberia follows the guidelines first introduced by LucasArts
LucasArts
LucasArts Entertainment Company, LLC is an American video game developer and publisher. The company was once famous for its innovative line of graphic adventure games, the critical and commercial success of which peaked in the mid 1990s...
: it is impossible to die or to get stuck at any moment in the game, which allows the user to fully immerse him/herself in Syberias universe without the fear of making a mistake or the constant need of saving the game.
Plot
In the game, the player controls the actions of American lawyer Kate Walker, who is sent to a remote French village in order to finalize the take-over of a toy factory there. Once at the village, Kate learns that the woman who owned the factory has just died, and that she has a brother who must be contacted in order for the takeover to proceed. Her mission takes her across Central and Eastern Europe, gradually leading her to question her own lifestyle. The titular Syberia is a mythical island on which mammothMammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
s are said to live.
Valadilène
The game starts with Kate arriving in the fictional French village of Valadilène and witnessing the funeral of Anna Voralberg, the owner of a family-owned spring-automatonAutomaton
An automaton is a self-operating machine. The word is sometimes used to describe a robot, more specifically an autonomous robot. An alternative spelling, now obsolete, is automation.-Etymology:...
toy factory whose takeover by a big American business Kate was supposed to finalize. When visiting the village notary
Notary
A notary is a lawyer or person with legal training who is licensed by the state to perform acts in legal affairs, in particular witnessing signatures on documents...
to hopefully finalize the deal, the notary tells Kate that just before her death, the old lady revealed that her brother, officially declared dead and buried in the town cemetery, is in fact alive somewhere in the North-East. Naturally, now that his sister is dead, Hans Voralberg becomes the new owner of the factory, which cannot be sold without his approbation
Approbation
Approbation is, in Roman Catholic canon law, an act by which a bishop or other legitimate superior grants to an ecclesiastic the actual exercise of his ministry....
. Kate has no choice: if she wants the takeover to succeed, she will have to find Hans. Kate's research reveals that Hans was injured in his attempt to retrieve a prehistoric doll of a mammoth
Mammoth
A mammoth is any species of the extinct genus Mammuthus. These proboscideans are members of Elephantidae, the family of elephants and mammoths, and close relatives of modern elephants. They were often equipped with long curved tusks and, in northern species, a covering of long hair...
ridden by a man. It stunted his development, both physically and emotionally, and Hans' one and only goal became to find mammoths to ride them as the doll depicts.
In order to find Hans, Kate must take his train, a clockwork
Clockwork
A clockwork is the inner workings of either a mechanical clock or a device that operates in a similar fashion. Specifically, the term refers to a mechanical device utilizing a complex series of gears....
locomotive built by his sister at his request. It is manned by Oscar, a man-like automaton fond of protocol, which Kate must satisfy to depart. Thus, she is forced to delve into Hans' past to retrieve two items of value to him: the mammoth doll, and a clockwork music box.
Barrockstadt
The first stop is Barrockstadt, a failing university which Hans once visited whose train station also acts as a botanical garden. The train stops short of the winding mechanism, so Kate must barter with a nearby couple with a bargeBarge
A barge is a flat-bottomed boat, built mainly for river and canal transport of heavy goods. Some barges are not self-propelled and need to be towed by tugboats or pushed by towboats...
. They insist to be paid $100 for their assistance, so Kate has to fix the university's broken bandstand
Bandstand
A bandstand is a circular or semicircular structure set in a park, garden, pier, or indoor space, designed to accommodate musical bands performing concerts...
to get the university's stubborn board of directors to help. Along the way, she gets a lesson on the legend of Syberia and the customs of the mysterious prehistoric Youkol people who lived with mammoths and were able to domesticate them. Before she can leave Barrockstadt entirely she must pass the large wall keeping her train from exiting.
Komkolzgrad
The next stop is Komkolzgrad, a dusty Communist-era industrial mining complex with two giant metallic worker-automata overlooking the tracks. The place is run by the eccentric and somewhat crazy Serguei Borodine, who steals Oscar's hands to make his automaton organistOrganist
An organist is a musician who plays any type of organ. An organist may play solo organ works, play with an ensemble or orchestra, or accompany one or more singers or instrumental soloists...
work. He intends to construct the biggest stage possible for Helena Romanski, a washed up opera singer with whom he is obsessed. Kate has little choice but to fetch her from a nearby spa
Spa
The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
in Aralbad on his behalf. Serguei directs Kate to the adjacent cosmodrome for transportation.
At the cosmodrome, Kate meets former test pilot
Test pilot
A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....
Boris, a drunk who dreams of flying into space on a "flying wing
Flying wing
A flying wing is a tailless fixed-wing aircraft which has no definite fuselage, with most of the crew, payload and equipment being housed inside the main wing structure....
" invented by Hans. After some sobering up, he teaches Kate how to operate an old airship
Airship
An airship or dirigible is a type of aerostat or "lighter-than-air aircraft" that can be steered and propelled through the air using rudders and propellers or other thrust mechanisms...
in exchange for her help in making the flying wing functional. He also warns Kate not to trust Serguei. Once Boris is launched, she uses his advice to launch the airship and leaves for Aralbad.
Aralbad
At the Aralbad spa, Kate meets Helena after some trouble getting past the manager. The elderly lady believes she is too old to sing, having lost her legendary voice which could break glass. With a special cocktailCocktail
A cocktail is an alcoholic mixed drink that contains two or more ingredients—at least one of the ingredients must be a spirit.Cocktails were originally a mixture of spirits, sugar, water, and bitters. The word has come to mean almost any mixed drink that contains alcohol...
mixed at the bar and a wine glass, Helena is convinced that she can still sing and agrees to go with Kate.
Epilogue
The performance in Komkolzgrad does not go quite as planned: beautiful though Helena's voice may be (she sings "Dark Eyes"Dark Eyes (song)
Dark Eyes is a Russian song.The lyrics of the song were written by a Ukrainian poet and writer Yevhen Hrebinka. The first publication of the poem was in Literaturnaya gazeta on 17 January 1843....
), it doesn't stop Serguei from imprisoning her, as he wants to keep Helena at his side as his personal opera singer. Kate is able to free Helena and take back Oscar's hands, but Serguei isn't quite willing to give up without a fight, using the worker-automata to block the train. Some spare dynamite dispatches that problem, and Kate brings Helena back to Aralbad. Surprisingly, none other than Hans Voralberg is waiting there at the spa, delighted that Kate brought him his train and Oscar. Hans shows little concern for his sister's death and signs the factory release papers without even reading them. He offers to take Kate along, but she initially refuses. However, as she is about to board a plane to fly back to New York, she changes her mind and hops on board the train at the last second, abandoning her job and her unfaithful fiancé back home to help an old man realize his dream.
Development
Euro
The euro is the official currency of the eurozone: 17 of the 27 member states of the European Union. It is also the currency used by the Institutions of the European Union. The eurozone consists of Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg,...
2 million using Virtools
Virtools
Virtools is a software developer and vendor, created in 1993 and owned by Dassault Systèmes since July 2005.-History:Virtools was a company founded 1993. They offered a development environment to create 3D real-time applications and related services, targeted at system integrators, game studios and...
Development Environment 2.1. Benoît Sokal indicated in an interview that at one time the development team were considering to create one single game for the Syberia story, but decided not to as it was so large.
Reception
Syberia was generally well received and won awards including GameSpyGameSpy
GameSpy Industries, Inc., known simply as GameSpy, is a division of IGN Entertainment, which operates a network of game websites and provides online video game-related services and software. GameSpy dates back to the 1996 release of an internet Quake server search program named QSpy. The current...
's "Adventure Game of the Year" (2002) and IGN
IGN
IGN is an entertainment website that focuses on video games, films, music and other media. IGN's main website comprises several specialty sites or "channels", each occupying a subdomain and covering a specific area of entertainment...
's "Reader's Choice Award for Adventure Games" (2002). Based on 27 reviews, Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
gave the game an aggregate score of 82% ("generally favorable reviews").
USA Today
USA Today
USA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
called the game "A solid pick...", and CNN
CNN
Cable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
noted that "Syberia brings back adventure genre impressive graphics...". Just Adventure called it the "Best Adventure Game at E3".
Sequels
Syberia was followed by a sequel, Syberia II, which continued Kate Walker's voyage to Syberia. In 2008 the Syberia series website was relaunched.On 1 April
April Fools' Day
April Fools' Day is celebrated in different countries around the world on April 1 every year. Sometimes referred to as All Fools' Day, April 1 is not a national holiday, but is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when many people play all kinds of jokes and foolishness...
2009 Microïds announced that Syberia III
Syberia III
Syberia III is a planned computer adventure game sequel in the Syberia series. The story of the first two games was conceived by Benoît Sokal, and developed by French games company Microïds. While it was expected to be released in 2011 for PC, and possibly PlayStation 3, the release date is unknown...
would be released on PC and PlayStation 3
PlayStation 3
The is the third home video game console produced by Sony Computer Entertainment and the successor to the PlayStation 2 as part of the PlayStation series. The PlayStation 3 competes with Microsoft's Xbox 360 and Nintendo's Wii as part of the seventh generation of video game consoles...
. A further press release on 2 April noted that Syberia would be one of the series of games to be released in the "Ultimate Adventures" tri-packs. On 17 April another press release was issued, explaining that the PC version will be released, but the PS3 version may not, due to problems with Sony. Benoît Sokal mentioned in the press a number of times that he would only participate in a Syberia sequel if there was sufficient financial means to design and develop it properly. In 2009 Microïds decided to invest in the Syberia franchise. Microïds have also asked that fans of Syberia send them emails of support for the game. The company has stated that the game will miss its original June 2010 release date, and is likely that it will be released after 2010.
Smartphone/Nintendo DS version
On 11 September 2006 MC2 France announced that a version of Syberia adapted by Tetraedge Games was released for smartphoneSmartphone
A smartphone is a high-end mobile phone built on a mobile computing platform, with more advanced computing ability and connectivity than a contemporary feature phone. The first smartphones were devices that mainly combined the functions of a personal digital assistant and a mobile phone or camera...
s using Symbian
Symbian
Symbian is a mobile operating system and computing platform designed for smartphones and currently maintained by Accenture. The Symbian platform is the successor to Symbian OS and Nokia Series 60; unlike Symbian OS, which needed an additional user interface system, Symbian includes a user...
and Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile
Windows Mobile is a mobile operating system developed by Microsoft that was used in smartphones and Pocket PCs, but by 2011 was rarely supplied on new phones. The last version is "Windows Mobile 6.5.5"; it is superseded by Windows Phone, which does not run Windows Mobile software.Windows Mobile is...
.
On 15 April 2008 Microïds announced that with Mindscape
Mindscape
Mindscape is an international software publishing company, previously part of The Learning Company. They are now affiliated with EA . As of 2004, the group has offices in Europe, Asia, Australia and South America. It has an annual turnover of €38 million and employs 150 people. Mindscape...
they would be releasing the mobile version of Syberia for the Nintendo DS
Nintendo DS
The is a portable game console produced by Nintendo, first released on November 21, 2004. A distinctive feature of the system is the presence of two separate LCD screens, the lower of which is a touchscreen, encompassed within a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP...
in October 2008. On 30 October 2008 Microïds announced that DreamCatcher Games
DreamCatcher Games
DreamCatcher Interactive Inc. is a Toronto, Ontario, Canada-based publisher of video games founded in 1996 by Richard Wah Kan.-Beginnings:...
would be publishing the Nintendo DS version of Syberia in North America, for its release in December 2008.
See also
- Syberia IISyberia IISyberia II is a 2004 adventure game conceived by Benoît Sokal and developed by MC2-Microïds, and a continuation to Syberia. It is a third-person puzzle-solving game. Stylistically identical to the first Syberia, Syberia II improves upon the first game by introducing more realistic character animation...
- Syberia IIISyberia IIISyberia III is a planned computer adventure game sequel in the Syberia series. The story of the first two games was conceived by Benoît Sokal, and developed by French games company Microïds. While it was expected to be released in 2011 for PC, and possibly PlayStation 3, the release date is unknown...
- AmerzoneAmerzoneAmerzone is a first-person adventure game produced by French company Microïds, and designed by Benoît Sokal...
- Paradise
- Sinking IslandSinking IslandSinking Island is an third-person perspective adventure game that uses point and click game mechanics. Released in France on October 4, 2007, it was developed by White Birds Productions, a company founded and led by Benoît Sokal, the creator of the adventure games Amerzone and Syberia.- Story :The...