izigame.me

Syberia: The World Before is, to me, an almost improbable game. After the death of Benoit Sokal (RIP, you beautiful soul), the original writer and creator of the Syberia series, and the janky technical nightmare that Syberia 3 was, I did not expect to see another game in this series and feared we would be stuck on a cliffhanger forever. Enter Syberia: The World Before. I did not have high expectations after Syberia 3 (which I still liked, despite the technical problems, as it was still a Syberia game at heart), but was genuinely blown away. The game works great, runs well and almost every aspect of it - graphics, the soundtrack, the voice acting and story specifically - were done well. It's a true adventure game, with a gripping plot that continues the story of Kate Walker and her continuous adventures.
If I had to identify the issues with Syberia 4, however, they would be twofold: the gameplay and the ending. The gameplay is very limited and simple as the focus was clearly on the story. There are not many puzzles and most of the control you have aside from walking around consists of moving the mouse in certain directions, clicking some buttons and examining items. The few actual puzzles are mostly easy, which was a disappointment after the previous games. Still, the atmosphere and story are top-notch, so I am willing to forgive this.
What I find a bit harder to forgive, however, is the ending and everything leading up to it - I won't be able to avoid some minor spoilers for this one.
The story of Kate has been long overdue to end, and I think Syberia 4 would have been the perfect time to end it, especially given the death of it's original creator. However, it ends yet again in a cliffhanger, which almost feels insulting given that two minutes before the end of the game, it almost seemed like Kate would finally return to New York and end her adventure, only for the story to suddenly take a turn and say "Nope, sorry :-)". This would be fine if a Syberia 5 would be in the works, but as far as I know, nothing of the sort has been announced - only an animated series, though who knows if that will ever come out (and it will probably not serve as a sequel anyway). So we are, yet again, left with a cliffhanger in this long game series of cliffhangers, and who knows if it will ever be resolved. This was THE opportunity to finally end Kate's story for good, and it would have been perfect too, but it almost seems like the developers realized in the last second that they don't want to end it. Their choice, of course, but it feels...I don't know. I want Kate to finally have a break!
Regardless, I am happy that another Syberia game exists. I don't know what lies in the future of this series, but Syberia 4 is very good on almost all counts, aside from minor gameplay and story issues, and if you liked the first 3 games, then this is a must-play and a return to form. If you haven't played them, a story recap is available in the menu, but you should play them first anyway.