It makes the gameplay devolve into figuring out what all of the objects are, and then touching or talking to each one until you stumble onto the right thing. You’ll try to attract the owl to facilitate this, but that’s not possible until you talk to your short little friend for a second time. Evil) to his tribe, whereby their smiths will simply make the part she needs.
Now, anything resembling a stick, Kate’s finger, a pencil, or any number of objects would work, but instead you have to make your way back to the little Youkol amputee you are roomed with (who appears to be happily strapped to a contraption out of the Saw franchise) who will tell you that you can send a flyer (that you’ve discovered in the naturally-unlocked desk drawer of Dr. The squid-shaped key has several different ‘tentacles’ on it that have to be moved into position, but only then do you discover that you are missing a pin that holds it all together. Naturally, the evil doctor simply hands Kate the key. For instance, for anyone to leave the evil hospital, they’ll have to (I’m not kidding) solve the puzzle of getting a bizarre key to allow them to use the elevator. In Syberia 3, it’s a little difficult to connect the two as they are often diametrically opposed. The plot devices of any puzzle-based adventure game are often contrived to justify the existence of said puzzles. Unfortunately, I never saw it make any difference whatsoever. In a Telltale-like fashion, the other characters will like you more or less, believe you more often, or any number of other dispositions. When you do pick a response, Kate will rattle off something approximating what was in the written text. The characters in the conversation often have zero patience for you to read through them, berating you for not answering more quickly. Unfortunately, a bug has characters frequently talking over one another, so it’s occasionally hard to keep up.Ĭonversations in Syberia 3 involves pressing one of four face buttons on your controller. (When a demonstrably evil doctor holding a giant steel needle asks to take her blood pressure, you’d imagine Kate would be far less cooperative, for instance) It’s all very bizarre, and in all the wrong ways. Holding the right trigger during conversations can sometimes allow you to hear Kate’s thoughts, but they are often manic and swing the pendulum wildly from severe overreaction to head-scratching underreaction. Beyond that, the age of the voice actors show through their performances, giving young voices to old people and visa versa. Stiff and uninspired, it’s coupled with lip syncing so far off the mark that it seems to be connected to another language. If we are meant to dislike these characters, it shouldn’t be this unintentionally funny. From the neglectful doctor and overbearing nurse to the trope mastermind with the eyepatch, these have to be the worst Saturday Morning Cartoon-level villians I’ve seen in a very long time.
The characters in Syberia 3 are frankly bizarre. It’s hard to connect when you have little idea of what’s going on or why. Even a central plot object, a keepsake from a character in the second game named Oscar, is all but brushed off without explanation. The game just assumes you remember everything about Kate, her adventures, and the motivation for the entire series. Syberia 3 needs a recap video or some way to bring you up to speed as it’s been 13 years since Syberia II, and even longer since the first.