Publisher Microids has announced that Syberia creator Benoît Sokal has died at the age of 66. The artist passed away on May 28 after a battle with a long-term illness.
Sokal began his career in 1978 as an artist for À Suivre magazine, creating the Inspector Canardo series that featured a “depressed anthropomorphic duck detective with a penchant for cigarettes, alcohol and femmes fatales”. After 18 years, he then joined Microids and began creating his first game, Amerzone, which was published in 1999. Sokal was then promoted to Art Director before becoming best known as the creator of the Syberia franchise. He was even working on the upcoming game Syberia: The World Before up until his untimely death. Microids paid tribute to Sokal in an emotional blog post:
It’s with extreme sadness and heavy hearts that the Microids team must announce the death of Benoît Sokal, who passed on the 28th of May 2021 after battling a long-term illness.
Known first and foremost as a storyteller and talented comic book artist, Benoît contributed hugely to advancing the video game medium internationally, through a varied and prolific output over the past 25 years.
A true visionary and extremely talented artist, Benoît left an indelible mark on Microids’ history. He worked hard to share his vision with the world, starting in 1999 with his first title, Amerzone. His distinctive style made the various universes he built unforgettable for thousands of players worldwide, even earning him the position of Art Director at Microids for a time.
Benoît is also known and revered for creating the cult Syberia games. This was a series in which he brilliantly transposed his love for all things Eastern European, all encompassed in unique and singular adventures cherished and loved by a loyal army of fans.
The entire Microids team share the grief of his family and friends.
Our thoughts go out to Sokal’s colleagues, friends, and family.
[Source: Microids]
