I can’t believe, after the disappointment that was Syberia 3, that B Sokal managed to go out on such a high note. Easily the best game in the series and one of the most emotional journeys I’ve been on in a long time. Also, despite some dodgy animations and the odd bizarrely low quality character, the game is absolutely stunning.

The environments are so lovingly crafted in a way that gives the game a real soul. I loved every minute I spent in this world Sokal and the team created and though I’m sad the journey is over, I’m glad I got to be a part of something so Amazing.

Eurojank at it’s absolute finest. Bless you Microids and Sokal.

It's hard to accurately judge a mystery thriller that's only half-complete. The undeniable strength of the story so far is its compelling cast of characters, each one with her own hidden depths and all collectively with histories and interactions between them that unfold before the player's eyes. This is a good sign: these relationships are the threads from which the fabric of a good mystery is woven.

But Misericorde cuts a lot of checks for drama in its first volume that as yet we can only hope get covered in the finale. A story like this lives and dies by its meticulous attention to plotting detail, and the indicators so far have been mixed. There are certainly some compelling twists, turns, and foreshadowings in this volume alone; but there's also a fair amount of awkward maneuvering just to get the right characters having conversations, as well as the occasional seeming plot hole and anachronism.

But I don't want to second guess this too much when much is left unknown. I'm foregoing a rating for this entirely because it's simply not finished, and unlike some genres it's impossible to truly judge this without knowing the full arc of the plot. I will certainly say this much: I'm plenty compelled to want to pick up the next one as soon as it drops.

I've never been good at picking up new languages. I struggle to memorize vocabulary, and conjugations fly right out of my head the moment it's time to form a sentence. Despite spending my entire schooling in various different language courses, I never picked up enough to be even conversant.

This is a source of great dismay to me. I love talking to people, I love reading, and I want to approach other cultures on their own terms rather than asking them to switch to mine. So four years ago I decided to start learning just a little bit of French every day with the help of one of those language apps. Even after COVID swooped in to severely limit my spare energy, I made sure to at least practice a bit every day to avoid losing what progress I'd made.

Dépanneur Nocturne is a bilingual game to a degree that I've never seen a game attempt before. It's not a "choose you language in the settings menu" thing—it's a "step into the dépanneur and the clerk starts speaking French to you" thing. You can respond in French or in English, and that's what she'll use to speak to you unless you ask her to switch. It's exactly like walking into a store in a Francophone region.

Despite four years of fucking around with a language-learning app, I've never had the courage to try actually engaging with Francophone media in its native language. I didn't think I could hack it. Even with frequent dictionary consults, I thought the process would be too slow and painful to actually be engaging.

I would never have gone into a menu and selected "French" for this game. But sure, I can say bonsoir when I walk in the door, just like I'd do in real life. And I found I could mostly make sense of the ensuing conversation. And so it was that I made it through the entire game without ever asking Eugénie to switch to English.

Of course, I had to consult the dictionary plenty of times. But not so much that it kept me from appreciating the cozy atmosphere, the mysterious worldbuilding, and even the charming writing of this game. And through all of that was woven the warmth of the implicit invitation the game provided to play it in its own tongue without judgment or expectation. And that means the world to me.