Is Syberia Remastered worth the adventure or should it be left out in the cold?
Syberia Remastered is a well, a remaster of Syberia, the 2002 adventure game from Benoît Sokal of Inspector Canardo comic fame. The game and the entire franchise is developed and published by French creatives Microids. Many many moons ago, back in my youth I can recall seeing the game upon it’s original release and for a reason now lost to time I was unable to play it. So, when the chance to review Syberia Remastered came up I simply couldn’t turn it down.
In the alternative world to our own players take on the role of Kate Walker, a New York based lawyer. Kate is sent across the pond to the fictional (although given it’s an alternative universe it’s all fictional) town of Valadilene. Valadilene is famed for it’s automatons and the factory that produces them, the Voralberg factory named after the family that have ran it for generations.
Speaking of exploring, lets discuss the games controls. Guiding Kate Walker around the beautiful clockpunk Art Nouveau world is in a word, frustrating. Kate moves so slowly even when holding down sprint, it almost felt torturous. Being a big fancy pants New York lawyer Kate has a deadline but you’d never no this from the manner in which she crawls around. Not only is Kate slow, you’re also required to be exceptionally precise with her movements to interact with objects in the environment. Many a time would I have Kate pirouette on the spot trying to manoeuvre her into place to start a conversation or collect an object I needed to complete a puzzle.
Immediately Syberia Remastered felt different, our protagonist Kate, she’s a rather ordinary person, which makes me extraordinary for gaming protagonists. Kate is in Valadilene to finalise the sale of the Voralberg factory. Upon arriving in Valadilene I was immediately struck by how stunning the town looked, not only it’s art design but the visuals in general. I’ve played many remasters over recent years and while most have technically improved upon the visuals none have done so to the degree achieved by Syberia Remastered. Every single environment you traverse looks incredible, character models do clash a little with the rendered backgrounds but are still a marked improvement from 2002. One of two issues I had with the visuals of the game were that Kate Walker looks strangely unrecognisable, which is an odd to thing say given I never played the original, but the nevertheless Kate doesn’t look like Kate. Overall it’s a small issue and is only noticeable when we come to the second visual issue, the cutscenes. The visual overhaul of Syberia is impressive but this isn’t the case when it comes to games cutscenes, they immediately date the game and remind you that it’s 2002, not to mention that Kate looks different to the woman you’ve been exploring this world as.
While we’re on the topic of frustration, Syberia Remastered places many things in Kates path on her quest to find the Voralberg heir, namely a plethora of puzzles. Were they frustrating? No, every single puzzle in Syberia Remastered is perfect, they become steadily more difficult as the game progresses but at no point are they obtuse. The most challenging for me personally was crafting a cocktail for a former opera star, and when I discovered the reason I was stuck I felt like a clockwork idiot (it helps to switch machines on).
The former opera star for whom Kate and I were required to mix a cocktail before is just one of many memorable characters you’ll meet during your time with Syberia Remastered. One of the first is Oscar, a clockwork automaton who’s is so wonderfully written he possess more humanity than the majority of gaming characters you’ll ever encounter. In fact, almost everyone feels incredibly real, clockwork or flesh and blood I can’t recall the last time I played a game which inhabitants felt quite so real.
As always I avoid spoilers in my reviews and Syberia Remastered will be no different in except one way. Originally Syberia was meant to be one massive game, but it was too big so it was split into two titles (hopefully we’ll get a remaster of part 2) and while you certainly get a full narrative and a resolution to all the plot threads the games main through line certainly has a rather abrupt conclusion. Syberia Remastered has essentially two narrative threads, Kates quest to find Hans Voralberg and that of the personal life she left behind in New York. You’ll experience the latter through Kates mobile phone. People will call to check in with Kate and see how things are going, or just for a little chinwag. These folk range from Kates belligerent boss, her eccentric mother and Dan.
Dan and Kate are engaged and to be frank and risk breaking my no spoilers rule, he’s a complete and utter tosser. Every single time Kates phone rang I was pleading for it not to be Dan, or her boss, in fact almost every time the phone rang it was annoying, maybe this is just my millennial distaste for phone calls or as I think is more likely it’s a testament to the writing in Syberia Remastered. The main narrative is so compelling that anything distracting from uncovering the mystery at the heart of the Voralberg case was unwelcome. In addition to this, it wasn’t the distraction that was the cause of the distraction that I found tiresome, it was the characters in Kates personal life that I had so little time for, you’ll only meet them through short calls but they were so well realised that they felt like full parts of the adventure, something that will make the games ending all that more satisfying.
