Without a doubt, my favorite type of video game is Adventure.  Hours of hunting for the exact correct pixel to click on so that I can solve the friggin puzzle at last and move on with the plot.  I’ve played them for years, and I think I’ve played most of them, from King’s Quest on.  Most of us are now into Xbox 360 Xbox One modern gaming console 1st person shooters like Gears of War (including me), and the often-overlooked Adventure type of game is slowly dying out.  But, if you’re ever going to play an Adventure game, Syberia is the one to play.  It came out in 2002 and is simply the best game of its type ever produced, even today in 2022.

What might interest you is the game’s environment.  Beautifully rendered artful backgrounds, a clockwork train (it winds up), mechanical automatons, gears, springs, airships, dystopias, all presented in a well-thought-out and compelling story.  The game is challenging, but not so much that you need to turn to a walk-through.

Available for the PC, Original Xbox, and recently the Nintendo DS.  Play it on GameTap (or similar service), or get it and load it into a virtual machine like Microsoft’s VirtualPC or VMware.  Official home page with screenshots and videos: http://www.syberia-series.com/en/ [defunct]  Also, stay away from the sequel Siberia II, it wasn’t all that good.

A beautifully done animation that is clearly SteamPunk. More than just gear-driven airships and rayguns, the overall thought process fits perfectly into the genre. It’s a must-see.

Set in a world of iron airships, this silhouette animation tells the story of Jasper Morello, a disgraced aerial navigator who flees his plague-ridden home hoping to redeem himself. His expedition leads him to an island which is home to a monster that may hold the cure for the Plague. The journey back is filled with dangers but, Jasper soon discovers that the greatest horror of all lies within man himself.

Let’s see if this is her:

Tattoo’s, check…
Guns, probably…
Shoots Whiskey, Oh yeah…

It’s a little atypical for SteamPunk fashion, but I really appreciate the imagination and creativity that went into this look. If I were a Sky Pirate, I’d check my guns.

H.G. – You’re about to have your ass handed to you…

It’s an R-rated, retro-history, [1914 steampunk epic], fourteen years after the first failed Martian invasion. Mankind has rebuilt her cities and [the military is] adapting a lot of the abandoned Martian technology… Think of “Band of Brothers” meets “Star Wars”… It will be cool, steam-powered battle tripods, doomed Cossack cavalry charges, Victorian deco, steampunk Manhattan, 1,500-foot-long armored battle zeppelins, Teddy Roosevelt, souped up tri-planes, blood on steaming metal, sex in the cockpit. The usual… It will have a budget of around $3 million, and be produced by Tripod Entertainment… and is being co-produced by Kevin Eastman (owner of Heavy Metal).

I really hope they get this one right.  The 1st Heavy Metal was cool, but old.  The 2nd was more modernized, but did little to hold my interest.  However THIS should be a big win; I just don’t see how it ties into the other two – maybe there’s a hottie in there somewhere with a steamwork sword…  Check it out: “War of the Worlds: Goliath”

Jeff Miller entered this into a design contest, and apparently did nothing else with it (what a waste of talent).  It’s an absolutely beautiful and well-thought-out rendering of our dear Princess Leia.  However, the magazine cover is fake.  I looked up the issue and that’s not it; but, Leia wasn’t really SteamPunk either, so I’ll forgive the fakery.  Are those “plans to the Death Star” a euphemism?

It’s not SteamPunk, but it should be.  What this guy did is very extremely cool, right down to the vintage “wait a minute to load” program.

Sinclair ZX Spectrum – Guitars (rhythm & lead)
Epson LX-81 Dot Matrix Printer – Drums
HP Scanjet 3c – Bass Guitar
Hard Drive array – Act as a collection of bad speakers – Vocals & FX

Details: James Houston’s Senior Project

The Magnanimous Dr. Warthan’s (that’s me) SteamPunk Formulae Omega7Red – Blog, is now Online.  Visit often, I plan to blog regularly (like everyday).  🙂