Syberia: The World Before

In this wonderful adventure, the protagonist, Kate Walker, is following the traces of Dana Roze. It is very much the same kind of story line as the first part of the Syberia series, where she follows the traces of Hans Voralberg. Like the first game where she does not know if Hans still lives, she does not know if Dana is still alive. The ending is also very similar, almost identical. But the story in this adventure goes deeper and carries more emotions. The rendered 3D models of The World Before are incredibly beautiful. I also liked the slow pacing of the game, which is compatible with the emations it evokes. For instance, the optional "introspections": I went gratefully through all of them. The puzzles may be a bit scarce, but some of them are very well done. For instance, repairing the automatons on the museum square, culminating in Kate playing the Vaghen symphony is a really amazing puzzle in my opinion. So for me a full 5 stars without any doubt.

I don't quite understand the praise. The visuals are beautiful, sounds and music good enough or better and... that's more or less it. The game is a slightly interactive story - most "puzzles" aren't even puzzles. I could live with it, but the story itself is creepy and/or silly at times. There's a limit of characters in the review, so I'll try to make it short. I doubt it is the original or unmodified story from Benoit Sokal. I suspect he was more of a "marketing label" for the game, while the story must have been written or at least "improved" (twisted) by some kind of showrunners. The World Before is better than Syberia 3 in my book, but not nearly as good as Syberia 1/2 (except for the visuals). SPOILER ALERT! 1. The reason behind Kate following the story. Train, tube, picture with that particular girl on it. Absolutely unbelievable. For a contrast, Syberia 1 had a good, sober reason for Kate's wild pursuit after Hans. 2. Z. kidnapped A. and faked A's death, even set up a fake grave. Foul and cruel! Prior to that Z. had been depicted as friends of the family. 3. D. finds A. and stays cold as an ice cube, she goes away like "Oh, well, it's not my file anyways" and decides to go to a silly place from the past, ruining her well put together life in the USA. 4. Railway platform. K. first apologises, admits she now understands how she hurt her friends in the States, only to blow her nose at it a minute later and jump on the other train. How am I supposed to like her now? Who in their right mind would put that apology scene there? Kate is irresponsible and selfish to the bone. Now I know. 5. There are more, but - the character limit. Nazis are "Brown Shadow", Jews are V-people (forgot the word). Are you trying to protect somebody's feelings? Whose exactly? Ex-soviet work camp feels like a summer camp for scouts. Dyed hair, hair-dos, very good personal clothes, you can get to work later because... you got a letter, etc. Work camps not that bad, eh? Come on!

I did miss the distant , mysterious and spooky places. Despite this , it's a fantastic game

I have played many amazing games over the years, but no other game fits this particular description more than Syberia TWB. Benoît Sokal and Microids have really outdone themselves this time. The game runs buttery-smooth. The graphics and the art style are amazing. Ostherthal is a lovely location, whether we're exploring the beautiful city of Vaghen or its country side. I could not stop spamming my screenshot button. Inon Zur's music is unforgettable and I'm definitely adding some tracks to my playlist. The voice acting is phenomenal, which is very welcome after the somewhat-disappointing third instalment. The game takes place roughly a year after the events of the third game and is accessible to new player. The story is good and bittersweet, although somewhat predictable. It also has nothing to do with the island of Syberia anymore, so perhaps changing the name should be considered in future games. Afterall, Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy takes place in the same universe, so it wouldn't be the first time. On PC, Kate Walker can only be controlled with the mouse. Manual movement via WASD, introduced in Syberia 3, is gone, but thankfully pathfinding and camera work is much better this time. Having said that, there have still been a handful of locations where it was hard to make Kate go into a particular hallway, due to an awkward camera placement, so I still would have preferred to have WASD movement as an option. The game has 3 profile slots, without manual saving or chapter select. I personally will always prefer having the ability to save manually, especially since the first two games had that, but it’s not a very big deal. TWB is a worthy addition to the Syberia series and I recommend it to all fans of the franchise, as well as any newcomers looking for a story-rich game with a fantastic art style. It’s really sad that B Sokal did not get to see this game finished, but it will forever live on as his swan song. RIP and thank you for this wonderful journey.

I thoroughly enjoyed playing the game for the most part. I didn't find it particularly difficult, and I would describe this as an interactive movie with puzzle elements not an adventure game. As an interactive movie, it certainly impresses. The graphics are excellent being very beautfiful and detailed. The music is very effective*. The game is well animated, and the story itself is absorbing. But... One improvement would be to revisit the control/movement system. Movement is rather slow and the controls somewhat clumsy. You can't really control the camera, and navigating a large area can get very frustrating with the camera jumping around and sometimes you can't see where you want to go. These minor criticisms aside, the game was a thoroughly enjoyable experience, which I would definitely recommend to anyone who has played the previous games in the series. So saying, it certainly isn't essential to have played the earlier games in order to enjoy this one, but you might get a bit more from the game if you have at least played games 1 and 2. For those that prefer to jump right in, there is a 'catch up' feature which manages to give you a flavour of the previous games without major spoilers.