"Syberia Remastered" Review: Caught Between Eras
A beautiful graphic adventure is being renovated. But "Syberia Remastered" also has weaknesses. Kate Walker struggles with mice and a doppelgänger.
(Image: Jan Bojaryn)
The fictional Alpine village of Valadilène sleeps in beauty. Mist hangs in the cobbled main street. People stand and sit around sporadically, but above all the scenery appears empty. The melancholic setting evokes an impossible era – the early 20th century, when people built incredibly intricate mechanical automatons and designed everything in a bulbous pseudo-Art Nouveau style.
With “Syberia Remastered,” the over-20-year-old graphic adventure classic is brought back to life. The adventure appears on screen in true 3D, at least as beautiful as in memory. But then the heroine Kate Walker solves a puzzle and a cutscene begins. The image switches from 16:9 to 4:3, the textures turn into coarse, uniform mush, and Kate Walker transforms: her clothes fit tighter, her hair is pulled back more severely, and she has put on new makeup.
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This is a typical experience when playing “Syberia Remastered.” The adventure boasts picturesque visuals. But then it rumbles over technical and creative bumps. The remaster has strange gaps; it doesn't feel quite finished.
Invitation to Linger
The original was never truly perfect either. Precisely because it allowed itself its quirks, “Syberia” has always been a special adventure. In two parts, it told a cohesive story in 2002 and 2004, largely conceived and illustrated by comic artist and game designer Benoît Sokal. The author's signature was recognizable at all times. The artist, who has sadly passed away, liked to let ancient knowledge and primeval worlds meet an inhuman, hectic present.
Sokal's adventures take their time and seem almost disinterested in interaction. In “Syberia”, the focus was primarily on exploring beautiful locations. Against all genre conventions, there were hardly any hotspots in the panoramic wallpaper. Clicking around or filling an inventory was never the point here. The few puzzles were rather simple. In addition, there were heavily exaggerated characters on the verge of caricature and minor technical weaknesses.
For this reason too, “Syberia” is considered a masterpiece by some, while others were bored even back then. Whether one liked the games had a lot to do with personal preferences. Those who can lose themselves in the pages of a comic album could love the game's de-escalation story.
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Therapeutic Pace
Driven by work and chatty mobile calls, New York lawyer Kate Walker lands in an idyll to wind down the Voralberg automaton factory. But on site, the owner has just died, and a suddenly discovered heir has been missing for decades. Thus begins a fantastic journey where Kate not only discovers the heir's traces but also herself.
"Syberia Remastered" im Test (11 Bilder)
(Bild:
Jan Bojaryn
)Carried by heavy strings, Kate walks through empty places, all of which are beautiful enough to frame. At a realistic pace, she explores abandoned factory complexes, train stations, cemeteries, and hotels. This takes time. Mostly, the world seems to exist on its own, and Kate marvels silently. This worked very well with “Syberia” 1 and 2, but significantly worse in subsequent installments. Because the style of the original, between 2D and 3D, has aged poorly, “Syberia Remastered” is now being released.
New Shine, New Problems
Apart from a few revised puzzles, which have neither become much better nor worse, “Syberia Remastered” is content-wise identical to the first part. For long stretches, the new version looks beautiful again. The camera slowly pans through a three-dimensionally rendered and dynamically lit world. New, enchantingly playful buildings constantly come into view.
However, right at the beginning of the adventure, “Syberia Remastered” surprises with new weaknesses. The biggest faux pas: many cutscenes have not been modernized. In important story moments, the game switches to a pre-rendered video that looks significantly uglier than the rest of the game. Even more tragic: the new character model of Kate Walker only vaguely resembles the original. Switching back and forth between different Kates ruins some of the most touching moments.
Apparently, money was saved in the wrong place. More difficult to explain are fundamental errors in the translation. The voice acting is obviously still the old, good original, with a few minor roles. However, at interaction points, symbols have now been supplemented with text. And this text seems automatically translated and never proofread. If a lock is missing its key, it says “Legen” (Place); if you can put something on a shelf, the verb is “Anrufen” (Call). This simply seems uninspired – did only one person test the German version before the game was released?
The controls also cause new problems. Syberia can be controlled quite well with a controller. Kate is moved directly via joystick, and interaction points light up early. Only occasionally can paths and turn-offs be missed because the camera does not show them clearly. The mouse control, on the other hand, is unfortunately terrible. For long stretches, point & click works passably, but instead of clicking on the objects themselves, you click on the interaction blobs floating above them. And where Kate will exactly walk when you click is unclear in many small edge cases. Towards the end of the game, there is even a small anteroom that Kate can apparently only leave if you connect a controller.
Conclusion: Another Hidden Masterpiece
In a curious way, it fits the series: once again, “Syberia Remastered” is a flawed title that combines clear weaknesses and unique strengths. Those who enjoy strolling through imaginative dream worlds and prefer to control with a controller can embark on the adventure. However, those who are impatient or have low tolerance for technical quirks are better off never going to Valadilène.
“Syberia Remastered” was released on November 6th for PC, Xbox Series X/S, and Playstation 5. USK rating: 0 years.
(mki)
