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Syberia II comes to us during an irrefutable slump in the adventure game genre. Aside from Funcom's The Longest Journey, there just haven't been many adventure games to get excited about in the past few years. I've been playing adventure games for the better part of two decades. As other boys my age were out hunting for pre-teen girlfriends, I was indoors playing text adventures like Zork, The Wizard of Oz, and Farenheit 451 on my Commodore 64. Between then and now, there have been a bevy of titles keeping me up at night. Lately though, the torrent of adventure games from companies like Sierra and LucasArts have slowed to a trickle. Luckily, the original Syberia satisfied some of our adventure cravings for awhile. Having played through Syberia II, I can say the adventure genre has been given a nice shot of meds to keep it ticking for awhile longer.

When gamers last saw Kate Walker, she had found the elusive Hans Voralberg, an aging toymaker who built advanced machines and automatons. The old man seemed deliriously obsessed with finding Syberia, a sacred island where Mammoths still freely roam. Kate Walker meets and joins Oscar, a wimpy yet loyal automaton built by Hans, in a bid to realize the crazed dreams of the frail old man. The trio soon boards a whimsical wind-up train and shoot into the frozen unknown in search of Syberia. It's ok if you don't know what I'm talking about, Syberia II graciously provides a bite-sized prologue for the Syberia virgins of the world through an optional cinematic.

The opening movie in Syberia II reveals Kate Walker letting go of her roots. She disregards her boss's plea to have her return home to New York after she left for France on a business trip weeks earlier. She's now resolved to help Hans Voralberg reach the mythical island of Syberia. Kate Walker forsakes family and career to head off into the frozen north in search of the old man's dream, even if she's still not too sure about it herself.