Originally released in 2002, Syberia remains one of Benoît Sokal’s most enduring works: a melancholic, gearpunk fairytale that blended classic point-and-click gameplay with a quietly surreal road-trip experience. Its success spawned three sequels and cemented Kate Walker as a bit of an icon of the genre. With Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy Microids began revisiting its back catalogue, and Syberia was the next title to receive a modern upgrade, with the aptly named Syberia Remastered. After looking at the Xbox version, Cubed3 returns to it one more time, and asks whether this modernisation elevates the original or muddies its legacy.
From the moment Syberia Remastered boots it sends mixed signals. The main menu showcases the protagonist Kate Walker riding a train, with her model aligning more closely with her redesigned appearance in Syberia: The World Before. Those who fell in love with her original design (like yours truly) will probably be disappointed by this choice, but the main problem is that Kate’s remastered version is actually worse than in The World Before – like a lifeless budget version of it. Her new look also clashes with what follows. The original opening cutscene has been upscaled rather than remade, and the disparity is striking. Kate’s older design looks like a completely different character, creating an odd visual disconnect between cutscenes and gameplay.
The heroine’s in-game model has eyes that stare right into nothingness and many of her small animations are entirely missing, making her look far more robotic than Oscar the automaton. It might seem silly to keep on mentioning flaws like that…but she is the main character. Thankfully, the way the old prerendered backgrounds have been reimagined is a definite plus. Trees sway, puddles reflect light, and small environmental animations breathe life into locations that once felt static. As the design of the world and the architecture of the structures that decorated Syberia were always fantastic, the leap into the three dimensions shows it as it was always meant to be shown.
The transition into full 3D has managed to keep the strong atmosphere of the original intact, which isn’t always the case with remasters. Sadly, this is a Unity-powered product with a typical lack of decent optimisation, with it needing way too much horsepower for what’s on offer. Also expect the odd visual glitch, low quality or even missing or badly rendered texture. One final note, which, admittedly, is a personal gripe, is that the choice to have the camera follow Kate like a drone (on rails) kind of ruins immersion, hovering in a way that draws attention to the camera itself rather than the world. It feels a bit too…artificial, if that makes any sense – again, probably this critic’s nitpicking side, but still.
For those who feel that this review has wasted time on describing the graphics without mentioning the adventure itself, well that’s because Syberia Remastered is mainly a visual upgrade. The story, which follows the transformation of a woman from detached New York lawyer to reluctant adventurer chasing a fantastical dream, is as compelling as ever. The world of automatons, eccentric inventors, and lost mammoths still carries a unique, wistful magic. The characters and Kate’s interactions with them remain as they were before, so newcomers will experience the whole…err, experience, as those who played the 2002 original.
In terms of pure gameplay some adjustments have been made. The traditional inventory has been removed, replaced with contextual item selection similar to The World Before. While functional, it provides far less agency, with this deciding when and where items can be used. Puzzle design remains largely faithful, still focused on machinery, levers, and intricate devices, but a handful of puzzles have been reworked. Nothing groundbreaking, so it’s hard to tell why that was done exactly. If there’s a big flaw here, it is the notes. Letters, journal pages and so on, rather than filling the screen like before, exist as textured 3D objects that are many times difficult to read and impossible to zoom in on. While on-screen text helps compensate, it strips away the charm of the beautiful handwritten details.
The biggest issue most people had with Syberia was the fact that Kate had to complete a couple of small marathons before reaching the finish line. The journey had lots of walking between empty locales. Atmosphere building? Sure, but would it kill Microids to include the typical double-click insta-travel? Well, guess what? That issue is back with a vengeance, as the now fully three-dimensional world has actually increased the distances Ms. Walker must walk, with no way to teleport between key areas or any similar QoL modernisations. No, Syberia still hasn’t got the remaster it deserves, and it will take quite some time before the next attempt, if that ever happens.
