Amerzone: The Explorer’s Legacy
Before creating the Syberia franchise, Benoît Sokal cut his teeth in the world of game development with Amerzone. Based on one of his older comics, L’Amerzone (which had a significantly darker ending), Amerzone is the first major popular release developed under Microïds, selling over a million copies on first release. Looking back at it, you can see the pros and cons of the later Syberia series taking form. They all stem from Sokal’s inexperience with game design, which does show up in this release – but not as much as you’d think. For a newcomer, Sokal proved he could do something impressive with the graphic adventure genre. It’s mechanically simple and plays to his strengths as a storyteller and comic artist, and he had a refreshing focus on making the game approachable to wider audiences.
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