Syberia II
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| Syberia II | |
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| Developer(s) | MC2-Microïds |
| Publisher(s) | XS Games, LLC (USA) |
| Designer(s) | Benoît Sokal |
| Engine | Virtools Engine |
| Platform(s) | Windows, PlayStation 2, Xbox |
| Release date | 2004 |
| Genre(s) | Adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: T (Teen) ELSPA: 3+ PEGI: 12+ |
| Media | 2 CD-ROMs (WIN) 1 DVD (PS2), (Xbox) |
| System requirements | 350 MHz CPU, 64 MB RAM, 16 MB video card RAM, 16X CD-ROM drive, DirectX 8.1, 400 MB available hard disk space, Windows 98 (WIN) |
| Input methods | Keyboard, mouse, or gamepad |
Syberia II is a 2004 adventure game conceived by Benoît Sokal and developed by MC2-Microïds, and a continuation to Syberia. It is a third-person puzzle-solving game. Stylistically identical to the first Syberia, Syberia II improves upon the first game by introducing more realistic character animation. The game includes a recap of the first chapter, so therefore does not require the player to have experienced the first game.
Sokal's later adventure games, such as Sinking Island and Paradise have no connections to Syberia but do use the same high quality artwork and a similar interface.
Contents |
[edit] Plot summary
Syberia II continues the adventures of American lawyer Kate Walker from the first game as she abandons her increasingly stressful life in New York in order to accompany an eccentric inventor to a remote land in Russia known as Syberia where surviving remnants of prehistoric mammoths still live. But unknown to Kate, her controlling employer isn't about to let her just disappear on a wild adventure.
[edit] Romansburg
Kate begins at a small frontier town called Romansburg. Just like its prequel, there are several puzzles that Kate has to solve before being able to go on.
With helpful instructions (but no real physical help) from Hans' automaton Oscar, Kate is able to wind and load the train with coal. But just as she does, she finds Hans missing, which leads to more puzzles.
One major puzzle is the mechanical horses that are owned by Cirkos, an old friend of Hans. He asks Kate to ask Hans to come and fix them. Later Kate finds Hans at Cirkos's pub staring at the horses. He faints and therefore Kate must find someone to heal Hans.
From a little girl named Malka, Kate learns that the monks at the monastery can heal Hans. When she arrives at the mountain-top monastery, the monk shakes his head silently and refuses to let her in. Kate steals some robes and sneaks in. The monks take care of Hans, but they are reluctant to let Kate talk to him. Kate learns from Hans that he had a friend at the monastery that went away to live with the Youkols. She finds the friend's notebook and finds out about a herb mixture that would help Hans.
Hans recovers but is too weak to walk back to the village, and the patriarch of the monks has become hostile to their leaving. Finally, Kate takes Hans out to the small cemetery, where there is a crack in the wall and a neglected coffin. Hans gets in and just as they are about to go, the patriarch and his henchmen attempt to thwart their escape, but Kate pushes off and jumps in. After a wild ride down the mountain, they reach the bottom.
Hans still needs to rest in the train carriage, so the duty of fixing the mechanical horses falls to Kate. When Kate does fix it, she hears a rumbling above. She soon realizes that the train has left without her and that two evil men, Igor and Ivan, have taken Hans and Oscar hostage and stolen the train so they could go to Syberia and take the mammoth ivory there.
She finds a gangcar, but finds out that she will need an animal to power it. Kate remembers that Ivan and Igor had a youki, a cross between a seal and a bear, which would be just right for the job. Kate 'borrows' the youki and sets off to catch the train.
[edit] Wilderness
Kate finally catches up with the train when it barely makes it across a bridge that collapsed under the weight of the train. Unfortunately, Kate is on the other side of the bridge and so she must find a way to cross the river. The youki, which Kate names Youki, is caught up barking at a beaver knawing a tree, causing it to abandon its work and flee into its den in the river. Kate finds out a way to lure Youki away, and while scouting the area she spots a house across the falls. She lures the youki so that the beaver can continue his work, causing a tree to fall conveniently across the river. Kate and the youki cross the river over the tree and enter the house, which turns out to be a fisherman's house. After a brief exploration of the house Kate and Youki become trapped as a hungry bear prowls the outside of the cabin.
Fortunately there is fishing gear out back, a book on how, where and what lure to use to catch the bear's favorite food "orange salmon", and after a little trial and error Kate is able to catch one.
Once the bear leaves, Kate and Youki continue through the wilderness and come to a cliff where Ivan and Igor drop rocks from above. Boris, from the first game, in search of Kate, pilots his plane into the cliffside, scaring them off but destroying his plane. Kate rock climbs to the top and is nearly run over by the men, towing an unconscious Hans on a snowmobile. Knowing she'll never catch them on foot Kate explores the area and finds a radar tower and the crashed plane, plus Boris, safely ejected from his plane and suspended in a tree by his parachute and unconscious. After Kate finds a way to wake him, Boris helps Kate rig the co-pilot ejection seat to launch Kate back to the train before the evil men can escape.
Unfortunately they do escape by using the snowmobile and leave the train behind. Oscar has been tossed in the snow and is too frozen to function. After Kate oils him, Oscar tries to run the train but it remains stuck (the passenger car, nearly pulled into the ravine when the trestle broke, is too heavy for the engine to pull free). Kate disconnects the rear car and joins Oscar in the engine. They (and Youki) continue their journey until they reach what seems to be the end of the tracks.
Kate explores and finds Igor who is frightened by the wailing of spirits. He confesses he just wants to go home. With some ingenuity Kate convinces him that she silenced the spirits and Igor takes the snowmobile abandoning his brother. Kate then confronts Ivan who holds her at bay until she manages to convince Oscar to offer some type of assistance allowing her to defeat him (in a manner of speaking) by creating a momentary diversion. However, it doesn't completely succeed and Ivan is just about to do Kate in when the ice on which they are standing cracks. Kate falls into darkness.
[edit] Youkol Village
Kate wakes in bed in an icy, underground village of the Youkol people. Fortunately enough of them speak English to enable Kate to continue solving the puzzles so she and Hans can reach Syberia. She meets the Chief who informs her that Hans is with 'the Spirit Woman' and, after finding a way to her, learns he is not well.
She tells Kate that Hans has "decided" to give up and the only way to rescue him is to enter his dreams and convince him to change his mind. Unfortunately the only way to enter his dreams involves fumes from a now-extinct berry. But in a frozen cave, many extinct things have been preserved and with the help of two small animals, Kate manages to get some berries and enters Hans' dream.
[edit] Dream
Kate awakens in the cave where Hans' accident occurred (in the first game) and finds the Mammoth doll. Returning to town she meets the child-version of Anna, Hans' older sister. Armed with her new information, Kate returns to the family home and meets Hans' father who says that Hans is locked in the attic as punishment.
Kate discovers the door is in fact locked and there are no other ways into the room. Tinkering with the grandfather clock, Kate convinces the father it is time to go to work and he leaves but not before setting the key to the attic on a table. Entering the attic Kate convinces Hans, alternating between his child self and old Hans, not to give up and he tells "automatons are here to help us" and implores her to help Oscar "open up his heart." Then he disappears, she touches and object on the table and in a burst of light she leaves the dream.
[edit] Youkol Village part 2
Kate awakes, finds her way to Oscar and explains what has happened. Clearly distraught, Oscar says they should focus on getting the train into the now open cave. The natives brought a towing cable but were frightened by Oscar won't approach the train to hook it to the cable. As the cable/hook is too heavy for Kate and Oscar refuses to walk in the snow, Kate convinces the natives that Oscar is friendly and they complete the connection. After learning how to operate the machine, Kate tows the train inside the cave. Oscar bids an emotional farewell to Kate and departs, saying that automatons are here to help people and its time he did just that. By the time Kate finds him he is with the Spirit Woman lying on the bed and seemingly falling apart. Hans is lowered into the remains which becomes an exo-skeleton/life-support system and Hans awakens.
With the train tracks at an end, the voyage must continue on sea. Unfortunately the only boat available, an ark constructed by the Youkals of wood and mammoth tusks (as is virtually everything in Youkal village), is virtually encased in ice, but, as always, Kate finds a way. Kate, Hans and Youki board the boat and set sail for the island of Syberia.
[edit] Ice Floe
During the journey the ship is grounded and becomes stuck on an ice floe populated by an army of large Emperor penguins. Kate leaves the ship to discover that the anchor has been released and stuck in the ice. She frees it and returns only to have her access to the ship blocked- by Ivan who has stowed away, hidden, on the ship, and he takes advantage of her absence to strand her.
Fortunately he is unable to get the ship sailing again and Kate finds a way of sneaking back on board and knocking Ivan off the ark. Ivan grabs the nearest thing to throw in anger which turns out to be a penguin egg. The penguins aren't happy about that and exact their revenge. That's the last we see of Ivan.
[edit] Syberia
The ship reaches Syberia at last and Kate and Hans explore; Youki has been hibernating since boarding the ship. After picking up some clues and objects that she will surely need to finish the quest, Kate discovers their access blocked by large gates that require some animal assistance in opening.
Kate finds a way to wake Youki who happily performs the task. Hans finds the viewing tower before the "field of blue grass" he has mentioned so many times before, but no mammoths are present. Using the relics and clues she's collected, Kate finds a way to activate a large horn/flute device which summons the mighty beasts. Hans has a personal encounter, ending with him riding one of the mammoths as they head off to the distance, leaving Kate to wave tearfully knowing she helped Hans fulfill his dream.
Roll credits.
[edit] Conclusion?
While the ending of the first Syberia left an appropriate "cliffhanger" of sorts, a complaint among reviewers is that the ending of Syberia II is too abrupt, as it did not explain anything about what becomes of Kate after she reaches Syberia with Hans. Benoît Sokal has stated in interviews that there will not be a Syberia 3. Benoît Sokal left Microids shortly after the release of Syberia II and founded his own company White Birds Productions to release Paradise, a game that uses a similar style of gameplay as Syberia but is not related.
[edit] Development
The game was produced in 13 months using Virtools Dev 3.0 development tools[1].
