Point and click games have improved over the years. One of the original games in this era is Syberia. The first game was released back in 2002. The game has been quite popular since then. And now, Microids has released the fourth title of the game: Syberia The World Before. A game with an engaging story, pretty visuals, and interesting characters. Today we will be reviewing Syberia The World Before. Before reading this review, we recommend you watch our playthrough.
Syberia The World Before is a point-click adventure game published by Microïds and developed by KoaLabs. Actually, calling it an adventure game would be an overestimate at some points. Yes, the game has its fast and maybe heroic moments. But most of the gameplay is like a novel. We don’t mean it’s not a good or underdelivering title. Quite the opposite, the game delivers its story and gameplay very well. You might be wondering what Syberia The World Before is about.
The stories of the games are connected in many ways. Protagonist (well, obviously), interactions with the characters, and the state of the world. If you are a first-timer to Syberia, we suggest playing the previous games. I hear you are saying, “I don’t have that much time to invest.” or “Play the old games? Have seen them, I don’t want my eyes to bleed. ” You have a point, and the third title wasn’t that good. Well, you have a second option. The game offers you a summary in the main menu. You can click “Previously” and have a preview of three games.
As for the story of this game, We have two protagonists in this game. Kate Walker, our main character in the previous titles, and Dana Roze. After the events of the third game, Kate is in salt mines. She manages to escape and finds a painting of a beautiful woman who looks just like her. And we are introduced to Dana Roze. A pianist girl who lives in the 1930s. Kate is now planning to learn more about Dana Roze. As we progress, we meet with some old and new characters. That is one of the reasons we highly recommend you to play or learn about previous games. Syberia The World Before goes on without letting you catch up with the old titles. We mentioned a summary option. But that won’t be fulfilling enough to understand the whole premise. Let’s move on to a point where we can talk more easily, gameplay:
We have mentioned the inability to build up the point-click games. You can add new mechanics, techs, or moves to nearly any other type of game. But in point-click, you just have a mouse (and a few buttons). Syberia The World Before knew this and improved nearly everything it could. The interactions are satisfying. Puzzles are usually entertaining and connected with the story. The game doesn’t make you do busy work just for the sake of gameplay. KoaLabs is not wasting your time with meaningless interactions. It wastes your time with interactions that are far away.
In a 3D world, a mouse can’t do many things in this type of game. So, clicking and waiting for your character to walk to that point gets a bit frustrating at some points. Besides the gameplay, the visuals are astonishing. The aesthetic of the game reminds us of the Dishonoured series, with retro-like futuristic technology. Also, the voice acting and the audio are well done. The soundtracks pull you into the world of Syberia.
Overall, Syberia The World Before is a narrative-driven point-click game with pretty visuals and decent gameplay. We recommend this game to all point-click genre gamers. Because of its nature and slow-paced storytelling, not many players can enjoy this game. We would like to hear from the fans of Syberia. What are your thoughts and feelings? Do you think the story of Kate was well-written? The game is available on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Microsoft Windows. You can play it on Steam for $39.99. Don’t forget to check out the recommended system requirements. Beautiful visuals come with a cost:
- OS: Windows 10
- Processor: i7 8700 or higher
- Memory: 16 GB RAM
- Graphics: Nvidia RTX 2070 or AMD Radeon RX 6600 XT
- DirectX: Version 12
- Storage: 22 GB of available space
- Additional Notes: SSD recommended
