Syberia was released on iOS

While Benoît Sokal writes the script for the third part of Syberia, Big Fish has released the original 2002 game on iOS. However, currently, it's only available for Canadian iPhone and iPad users.

From our own experience, we know that for authors of "hidden object" games or modern quest games, there is no greater compliment than saying, "cool, it reminds me of Syberia." Creating their own Syberia is like an unattainable dream, akin to a Fallout with caravans. Launching the game now, eleven years after the original release, seems like a strange desire.

Syberia these days is an archaic, somewhat creepy quest game. To appreciate it today, one must first overcome themselves (as is often the case with most games older than eight or nine years). That's why Syberia seems to us a game worthy of a full remake (similar to what was done for The Monkey Island).

A simple adventure about a young lawyer trying to complete a toy factory sale was a poignant story about the meaning of life. The game's heroine, Kate Walker, in her search for the factory's owner, the brilliant inventor Hans, encountered lost, lonely people nurturing a dream and tried to help them. The problem was that solving their issues and fulfilling their desires only exposed the emptiness of their existence. Along with that, the main character lost the meaning in her former life. Essentially, Syberia is a kind of requiem for a life lived in vain.

Despite this, and the atmosphere of decay, old age, and loneliness, the game evoked not depression, but a strange warm feeling of melancholy, and a hope that everything in life was still ahead. This is why it was loved.

Unfortunately, Big Fish did not undertake to redraw the game. Judging by the first screenshots of the mobile version, we will get the same Syberia of 2002. The main and probably the only difference from the original is that all interactive zones are immediately displayed on the screen. No pixel hunting.

Syberia is distributed through a freemium model. That means the user downloads the app for free, plays a few stages, and then has the option to purchase the full version for $4.99. Yes, it seems that to maximize profit from the game, Big Fish has split the original project into three parts. And most likely, each will cost five bucks.

The initial results in the Canadian market are not encouraging. The game shows a weak retention rate.