Syberia: The World Before

Syberia: The World Before, is one of those rare masterpieces where the story is just so freaking well written, the soundtrack is perfect, the graphics are stunning and the puzzles inspired.

Syberia: The World Before gave me back the sense of wonder I felt, twenty years ago, with the first two episodes and, for this alone, for me it is a big "yes". There are some rather glaring flaws such as the fluctuating quality of 3D models, in particular the characters and some mechanisms when they are shot in the foreground, but nothing that detracts from the impressive narrative work and the extraordinary emotional impact of this adventure, which brings a dramatic story to the stage with great delicacy. There is also a lot of art, both figurative and musical, with a pinch of humor that never hurts. Someone will find it too easy, too guided, but I certainly liked it.

Syberia - The World Before is a captivating story of turmoil in the face of fashism. With compelling characters and fascinating logic puzzles, newcomers and returning players alike will have a blast with this adventure.

Truly a return to form for the masterpiece that was, and still is, the Syberia series, with some interesting modifications to the interaction with the environment. The game could use a manual save, but all in all, Syberia: The World Before is a textbook game in the genre.

The World Before is about peaceful and slow self-search, revealing life stories and fighting adversity. The great atmosphere of the first two parts was managed by the developers to replay brilliantly.

Visually wondrous and full of logical, fair puzzles and likable characters, this is a worthy entry in the series, despite a jarring conclusion and some rather poor performance.

After the misstep of the third instalment, Syberia: The World Before offers us that warm sense of melancholy and magical realism that the series is known for. If it had a few more challenging puzzles, it could have been the best in the series so far. Thanks for everything Mr. Sokal.

In short, it was worth it to take on the role of Kate Walker again and greet Benoît Sokal with her.

Syberia: The World Before is a very good adventure game that also serves as a touching capstone to Sokal's career. Most of the puzzles follow a sensible, logical path that is fun to figure out without making you question the solutions. The story is very well told, but the ending is frustrating for those seeking closure. The title also features a gorgeous presentation, so adventure fans who don't mind open-ended narratives will be pleased.

Syberia: The World Before is an incredibly well cared for audiovisual work, with an overwhelming cinematographic work.

I strongly felt the presence of late Benoît Sokal in Syberia: The World Before. I saw the Belgian master’s touch in the game’s distinct architecture, enchanting environments, non-obvious characters, and the story that once again takes on the subject of evanescence and longing for something irreversibly lost. The World Before is not the best entry in the series, but it is definitely a huge improvement over Syberia 3.

Unless you want something that revolutionises the genre, The World Before is a fantastic adventure that offers a great story and even better puzzles.

Fans of the Syberia series and adventure games in general will find a lot to like about Syberia: The World Before. Its heartfelt narrative allows for a much rawer Kate Walker and Dana Roze, the puzzle design is simple and clever and the city of Vaghen is full of intrigue and charm. The team at Microids should be proud of the send-off they’ve helped create for Bênoit Sokal.

Syberia: The World Before is a comfy game that aims for the hearts of long-time fans of the whole franchise, and tells a great story of self-discovery in a unique setting.

A touching homage to Benoît Sokal, Syberia: The World Before leaves the problems of the previous game behind and manages to bring us once again in the wonderful world designed by the Belgian author. It's not perfect in every part, but the whole experience is emotional and surprising: a worthy chapter in Kate Walker's saga.

Syberia: The World Before takes its time to craft an intertwining pair of personal stories with strong protagonists at their core, while its relatively simple, tactile puzzles are a blessing for the genre. Its visibly low production values can get in the way at times, but not enough to spoil the experience.

Syberia: The World Before is a perfectly refreshing point & click adventure that, except for a couple negligible control problems, manages to give you a significant experience.

After a third episode which made us fear the worst for the future of Syberia, The World Before manages to prove that the license still has things to tell and an uchronic and dreamlike universe to exploit.

Syberia The World Before revives the fortunes of the series after the not-so-brilliant previous chapter. The song of the swan by Benoit Sokal manages to touch the heart of gamers for the duration of the game.

Despite some uncertainty in the writing of the scenes and a few too many smudges in the technical sector, in our opinion Syberia The World Before is a title that is enjoyable both for veterans and for newbies about to approach the series for the first time, and therefore we can only advise you to give Microids' latest effort a chance.

There are still a few flaws, but the new Syberia game will reconcile old fans of the saga after a problematic Syberia 3, and charm newcomers, with better controls and its perfect storytelling.

Syberia: The World Before doesn’t make the same mistakes as its awful predecessor. Good old mouse controls are back, as is the beautiful architecture and weird automatons the series became known for. The story takes a while to get going but once it does, it’s gripping.

With The World Before, the Syberia saga returns to its best and makes us forget the disappointing Syberia 3. This time, the few technical shortcomings are no longer disabling and no longer spoil the pleasure of the game. We can therefore serenely enjoy the universe created by Benoît Sokal, the uchronic scenario, the superb artistic direction, voices fully dubbed in French, automatons, trams, European architecture and a whole host of other positive points of the game.

At times, The World Before failed to impress some of its important plots upon me. The narrative is so rife with small inconsistencies that you can't help but notice them, and character models look so poor against those luscious backgrounds. But the more you get engaged with this seemingly simple story, the more you want to find out how it ends.

Well attached to its inspirations and classic patterns in terms of narration and game design, Syberia The World Before is a very good point and click adventure, and a great tribute to Benoit Sokal.

Syberia: The World Before is a rather solid adventure game that leans into its overall history and the standard adventure game tropes. While that may not be for everyone, it most certainly weaves a narrative that’s relevant to understand our collective past… and then recognize why it is repeating itself today, approximately 80 years later. I wish more video games could be that relevant.

Syberia - The World Before is a return to form for the series, and an all-around solid adventure game featuring an engaging story that nicely blends together two different timelines, charming characters and good puzzle design. The experience, however, leaves something to be desired when it comes to innovation, making the game a must-buy only for fans of the series.

Syberia: The World Before is a very mixed bag. With wonderful characters, terrific sights, and a beautiful story, there’s a lot to recommend about it. Unfortunately, that story relies far too much on happenstance, and the more you think about it, the less it makes sense, but if you can suspend your disbelief and just go with it, you’ll find a game that will please long term fans of the series and create some new fans as well.

Syberia: The World Before continues the adventures of Kate Walker with a very delicate storytelling technique. It has a lot of clockpunk-styled mechanical puzzles, with a wide variety of patterns in puzzle solving with great fun. However, its storyline and characterization are hardly satisfactory, and the dialogues and CGs are not set up with any "Skip" options, making the gaming tempo seem very draggy. The fixed camera that does not allow the player to rotate freely causes many problems that affect the experience. The poor localization is even more deadly for this text-dependent storyline-based game.