Review of Syberia by Rennie

To begin, I totally disagree with Antrax’s review of the game, and although he/she agreed about the beauty of the game, to suggest there is no gameplay is to disregard everything that makes Syberia what it is, and why it is so immersive.

For a start, the “every object is just a key with one use” feeling about the games puzzles is actually just because the puzzles make mechanical sense. The challenge is working out how to use the many machines etc, and for me it was a joy to manipulate the controls of these beautiful Steampunk machines.

If the puzzling wasn’t like this, you’d have to be picking up hundreds of objects a la “Secret Files” or “Runaway”, and to be honest I find that frustrating. In this game, there are no ridiculous “Combine hairbrush with pole and jam to make hockey stick” or some rubbish like that, because to me, that is not the “Challenge” I am looking for.

The puzzle difficulty lets you continue the story at a reasonable pace, and i welcomed this. Sure, it might be too easy for some, and I must admit there were a couple of moments in the game when the pace slows down, and you just want to get back on the train again, but on the flipside, there are plenty of astoundingly beautiful and emotional parts of the game which would give any high budget animation or film a run for it’s money.

This game is so immersive, I can honestly say that when it was over, I genuinely felt as though I had been through an intriguing and emotional experience:

And to sum up that for me is why I love this game so much, I have never been emotionally pulled in to a game like this before, and I can only think of “The longest Journey” as a title which conjured up similar emotions.

The most beautifully surreal and emotional gaming world I have had the pleasure to explore

Read the review »

Time Played: 10-20 hours