Syberia 3, the third entry in Microïds' acclaimed surreal steampunk adventure game series, is in development with Benoît Sokal (above right), the writer of the first two Syberia games, French publisher Anuman Interactive announced today.

Sokal will serve as artistic director on the project and write the game, while development will be overseen by Elliot Grassiano (above left), the founder of Microïds. Anuman Interactive will publish Syberia 3 under the Microïds label; the company acquired the brand and its intellectual property more than three years ago.

Anuman originally announced Syberia 3 in the spring of 2010, shortly after the Microïds acquisition. "After two long years of waiting for the fans, with Benoit writing the script and Elliot joining our team, [Syberia 3] has truly entered its production phase," said Anuman general manager Stéphane Longeard in a press release announcing the deal with Sokal and Grassiano. Sokal added, "I'm very pleased to be creating another Kate Walker adventure and working with Anuman Interactive's teams on the project."

The Syberia series began with the launch of the original Syberia on PC in 2002 and continued with a sequel, Syberia 2, in 2004. Both titles were later released on PlayStation 2 and Xbox. The games concern the adventures of American lawyer Kate Walker. She travels to a village in a mountainous region of France to oversee the buyout of a toy factory, but her quest to find the rightful owner takes her across central and eastern Europe — and eventually to the land of Syberia in Russia, which is said to contain surviving remnants of the woolly mammoth species.

Syberia 3 is set for multiplatform release in 2014 or 2015.