As it turns out, her crimes from the first two games have finally caught up with her, although her arrest warrant charges her with embezzlement and the murder of her traveling companion Hans. At first, this feels like a subplot or side quest, but this is actually the main plot of Syberia 3. Along the way, she is pursued by the evil doctors, a military faction, and a private detective who inexplicably disappears from the plot altogether after the first two hours. In this maelstrom of poor decision making, the player is left powerless.Īfter this pointless introduction, Kate reaches the tribal Youkol village and decides to once again take on the mantle of "American tourist savior" by guiding the warty Oompa Loompas on their Great Ostrich Pilgrimage. It's this infuriating tug-of-war between a protagonist who obstructs herself and antagonists who leave every opportunity for her to get the upper hand. Ultimately it doesn't matter, though, because after returning Kate to her room, they don't bother restraining her. Surprise! The doctor jabs her with the needle. The doctor, who is again very obviously scheming, conniving, and holding a giant needle, asks Kate if she can "check her pulse" before she leaves and KATE ACTUALLY LETS HER. Later, after Kate has finally put the pieces together and realized how evil the clinic is, she confronts the head doctor against all rational thinking. All she has to do is use their messenger owl for the village's craftsman to fix the key. Okay, so they sabotaged the puzzle key so she can't escape, but they also put her up in the same room as a tribesman from a village she previously helped who has outside communication with that tribe. It also doesn't help that the villains running the clinic are as incompetent at being evil as Kate is at detecting their evilness. The ostriches and seal-dogs are easily the best part of the game. SYBERIA 3 YOUKOL VILLAGE SERIESSure, adventure games by design tend to have contrived excuses for puzzles, but Syberia isn't a self-aware comedy series like Monkey Island or Sam & Max. In Syberia 3, when a character tells you almost verbatim that you cannot progress until you solve their puzzle, it shatters the willing suspension of disbelief. So we're already not off to a good start. Yes, this hospital's actual written protocol is that all patients must solve an adventure game logic puzzle before they can be released. SYBERIA 3 YOUKOL VILLAGE HOW TOAfter proving she is well, the doctor hands her a key with a puzzle mechanism and tells her she has to figure out how to use it to prove she is well enough to leave. By now it should be obvious that this is an evil clinic, but Kate is a bit slow on the uptake. She demands to be released by the on-call doctor, so he straps her into what looks like an electric chair to force her to take a lie detector test to prove her sanity. Her room is locked from the outside and the call button has been sabotaged, so she has to fix it with a knife to get out. SYBERIA 3 YOUKOL VILLAGE SKINHere is how Syberia 3 starts: Kate wakes up in a clinic that treats mental disabilities, amputation recovery, geriatrics, and what seems to be skin cancer all in the same ward. Unfortunately, not only has the writing grown even staler, but the gameplay and interfaces have taken a vicious beating as well. I went into Syberia 3 with similar expectations, even hoping that after more than a decade the writing may have matured and improved. Despite this, the first two games are still charming for all their clockpunk imagery and dreamlike scenery. Kate Walker herself is an atrocious human being, responsible for acts that may seem innocuous at first glance, but upon further thought reveal themselves to be almost crimes against humanity. The tone-building and environmental design always stood out as the work of a master auteur, but the first two games fell apart due to their pacing and the strange decision to make all of the characters pretty detestable. I've always had mixed feelings about the Syberia series.
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