The central focus of the franchise, beginning with the eponymous 2002 video game, follows the experiences of Kate Walker, an American adventurer who originally worked as a lawyer in a prominent New York City law firm.

In each installment, Walker travels to various fictional locations in continental Europe and former Soviet states during the 2000s, where she encounters fantastical creatures as well as highly advanced automatons powered by intricate clockwork mechanisms.

The first Syberia centers on Walker's efforts to locate and deal with the eccentric inventor Hans Voralberg on behalf of her firm to secure the purchase of his family's factory.

The franchise features a cast of secondary characters, including Oscar, one of Voralberg's sentient automatons, and Dana Roze, an aspiring pianist introduced in the 2022 video game Syberia: The World Before.

Members of a nomadic tribal people indigenous to the geographical area of Siberia known as the Youkols also play an important role in the lore and setting of the series, which combines realistic and surrealistic elements for its tone.

According to Michel Bams of Sokal's White Birds Productions, it reached "nearly 500,000 copies" in global sales that February,[32] a number it surpassed by late 2005, according to Ubisoft.

[39] The first two Syberia titles received praise from critics following their initial launches, although reviews of console ports for the original Xbox and Nintendo Switch were less enthusiastic.