First things first: as a Siberian, I found the 2004 story insensitive. Not just it's a caricatural take on Russia-gulag-meme thing, but also, gulags were a 30s-40s thing, so about the same timeframe as in Vahgen story; yet the game sets up these parallels as if it's about to tell a history-repeating-itself kind of story, which is just completely off. I wouldn't have a problem with that if there weren't so many real-world historical details mixed in with... that. That's actually what I find great about the original story: it's based on some real places and concepts, but so loosely it's basically a fairytale. That said, I really enjoyed the atmosphere and visuals of Dana's story. I like the premise of an upcoming pianist with a future uncertain due to the shadows of war. I think I would be very interested in a stand-alone game just about Dana, with no relation to Syberia other than the steampunk aesthetics. I mean, the swan song scene? Chef's kiss. Although to actually see this scene, you have to climb the stairs to the square. I remember having issues with stairs in Syberia 3 and am sad to report they persisted in this game. At least the prequel had a keyboard navigation option for an accessible band-aid fix. Puzzles and riddles are not complicated, if existent. In terms of gameplay, the game takes after Quantic Dream with QTEs of pulling mouse to pull drawers and Telltale with the qqq-sequences. I suppose I just have to accept that's what the new Syberia is, but I can't help missing the old-fashioned point-and-click adventures. The story and lore are full of inconsistencies. Hans Vorarlberg is the founder now? Looking for mammoth tusks in a salt mine? Fascists hiding a train with their lives because it's full of stolen goods? They are not pirates, you know. And that's just my top-3. Overall, based on this demo, Syberia 4 shapes up to be a good guilty-pleasure/so-bad-it's-good material, but I know I won't be able to genuinely enjoy it.
I have had this game for a while now, and I find myself returning to it again and again. It's short, so I usually get through it in one sitting (maybe two, if I really feel like exploring on a specific weekend), but no matter how much content I have already seen, I still do it all over again every other month. It is nice to have your personal little island park to go to whenever you wish to get away for a while, and I am very thankful that I have one in my life.
