Syberia Remastered

28 May 2021 was a sad day for those of us who love point-and-click adventure games. On that day, we lost one of the genre's greatest creators, Benoît Sokal, most famous for the four Syberia games. Personally, I love the Syberia series very much. I still remember coming to the French town of Valadilene in the Alps and looking for Hans Voralberg as the snobby Kate Walker. I played both Syberia 1 and 2 in one go when I discovered the series, while both games were already released. At the time, I particularly enjoyed the Monkey Island games and the Norwegian-produced The Longest Journey. Compared to those two, Syberia is definitely more like The Longest Journey - it's more about people than humour like Monkey Island is. Now the time has come, as has become a modern trend, for a remastered version of Syberia. And I've once again travelled to the French Alps to interact with a bunch of clockwork creations in Syberia Remastered.

Since the game is a remaster of the old classic, you might expect new content. But there isn't. Like the first game in the series, an intro sequence is shown as the rain pours down and a funeral procession moves through a very atmospheric and old-fashioned street. We see a hearse, the engine of which is clearly based on clockwork technology, followed by a series of mechanical clockwork creations walking in their stiffest clothes. With each step, they take their hats on and off to signal that someone important has died. Kate Walker watches this from the sidelines, suitcase in hand, as she runs an errand in the city. After this sequence, she is seen walking into the local hotel to get a room as she will be there for a while. Kate Walker's job is to buy up the local clockwork factory that makes these exciting creations out of gears and mechanics. She thinks she'll only be there for a day, after which she can fly back to New York and continue her upper-class life with her utterly awful boyfriend. But she's wrong.

She has to go to the local lawyer to sign a contract so that her company can take over the factory, which is really the heart and identity of the town. However, it soon transpires that Anna Voralberg, the old lady who owned the factory, is the person Kate had witnessed in the procession just before. The person Kate was supposed to negotiate with is dead, which immediately complicates things a bit. Not only that, but Anna's younger brother Hans, contrary to all previous information, is still alive. This means that Kate Walker needs Hans' signature to take over the factory for her wealthy company in New York.

The whole game is therefore basically about finding Hans Voralberg. The problem is that he is no longer in the French Alps, but has travelled to Siberia. So Kate Walker embarks on a journey where she has to get a mechanical train to take her along the same route Hans travelled many years ago to finally get his signature and go home. Since there are four games in the series, it probably won't happen on the first try. The game offers puzzles and many conversations with different people. If you played Syberia back in the early 2000s, there is absolutely nothing new under the sun in the story. No content has been added, the voice actors are the same, and the story is 1:1 the same as back then. It's debatable how much you can expect here, but just small narrative additions, curlicues here and there or just a little flair would have been enough. But it's not there as such.

There are some new things in Syberia Remastered though. The intro film is made in 4K and widescreen. Unfortunately, this doesn't continue throughout the game, which disappointed me. Some sequences obviously show old video clips in 4:3, which old computer monitors had back then. They've been restored so they're less pixelated than before, but the switch between 16:9 and 4:3 feels confusing. It also shows that the game may not have had the biggest budget. A solution could have been to crop the top of the image or stretch the video, but it hasn't been done, which is a bit jarring.

The graphics, on the other hand, are significantly improved. The environments, which date back to the early 2000s, look great in high resolution and show Benoît Sokal's distinctive artistic style. It's a pleasure to explore the city and see the old buildings in high resolution. Unlike the video sequences, the entire game is in 16:9 and the music is the same as in the original game. Overall, not much has changed.

Gameplay-wise, everything is also the same. You can control Kate Walker with mouse and controller - directly or by clicking on the destination - just like in the original. I played with mouse and keyboard as I think it's the best way to experience point-and-click adventures.

All in all, Syberia Remastered is almost a 1:1 copy of the original game. If you've already played Syberia, the remaster is primarily a nostalgic reunion. If you're new to the series, however, it's a fine and beautiful adventure game that focuses on the artistic rather than the entertaining.