Syberia was developed entirely in Montreal under the direction of Benoit Sokal and Olivier Fontenay, Vice President, Development, of Microïds, and is the most ambitious venture that the Paris-based company has undertaken in the city.
"When we set up in Montreal, three years ago, we committed ourselves to developing high-quality titles using local creativity," Fontenay said. With Syberia, we are now making good on that promise, thanks largely to the talent of quebecois artists, organizers, programmers and coders.”
In total, Syberia took over two years to design and, at the most critical points of its development, required the involvement of 35 people. An idea of the amount of work entailed can be had by calculating that it would have taken one person working alone over twenty-eight years to create this game.
Syberia required an investment of over than $2 million, the largest sum Microïds has ever devoted to one title.
“What we are aiming at with Syberia is to thrust the player into a fantastic, yet at the same time, realistic universe that will guarantee him a unique entertainment experience,” author Benoît Sokal explained. In order to achieve this, the members of the development team chose to integrate concepts and techniques taken a varied range of artistic forms, including comic strips, cinema and - obviously - video games.
“The exceptional visual artistry of the pre-rendered backgrounds, the depth and richness of the plot and the variety of characters encountered throughout the quest make this game truly one of a kind," Sokal added.
Syberia features Kate Walker, a young lawyer from New York who, through a series of remarkable events, finds that her destiny is inextricably linked with that of Hans Voralberg, a scientific genius who designs and manufactures automatons.
To succeed in her quest, which is conducted through a particularly rich story-line and cast of characters, the solitary heroine depends on the decisions and reasoning power of the player, whose task is to guide her through the maze of events - on what turns out to be a voyage of no return.
