Syberia: The World Before, a Review by flotsam

Thanks flotsam and Draclvr.

I loved all three of the prior Syberia games. I am, however, increasingly reluctant to play this one. I will of course, but I am not in a hurry. I played the prologue but was not all that impressed with it and I am so tired of hearing people put down the third game that I'm afraid I'm letting it affect how I will feel about this last game, if that makes any sense. Everybody seems to like this one; I'm afraid I will not, at least not as much as the others.

A review that this masterpiece so much deserves. Syberia: The World Before was a wonderful experience and a pleasure to play. For the wife and I it was one of those that we could not wait to get back to playing the next day. I doubt we will see one like this for some time to come. It truely was a GREAT adventure. Thank you!

The game is actually on sale right now for $25 on Steam until 8/22

Thanks for the great review flotsam! I haven't played yet, but I will one of these days!

Thanks so much Drac!

Ana

It really sounds like a winner, flotsam! Thank you so much for your review.

And thank you too, Drac.

I skipped the third one - just appeared to be too fiddly and an effort to get it to work right. I think oldbroad might be one of the very, very few who liked it. But based on flotsam's review here, I just purchased and am downloading right now! Can't wait!

I truly LOVED this game, a worthy successor to the franchise, setting aside the disastrous SYberia 3. The graphics, environments, music, cutscenes...the STORY...were film-worthy and everything was top-notch.
---However, the only aspect of this game that I did NOT appreciate was the lack of save slots. Yes, the game autosaves pretty much regularly, BUT it's not as easy as configuring chapter saves or having different game-slots. You canNOT replay areas of the game at ALL unless you look up the "fix" online that is quite time-consuming. I think many users will not be able to "create" save slots for themselves; it's way too time consuming to do so. THe DEVs should have simply added at least 10 manual save slots so players (such as myself) can go back and enjoy prior areas of the game. I don't think having more than one game profile, and playing the game over again (it's a beautiful but a LOOOOONG game, taking many hours to complete) in another profile just to "get to" a nice auto-save point.
Anyway, the game (even the price) are well-worth it for Syberia franchise lovers such as myself and many others. You just can't "re-visit" areas of the game after you progress without going through the extra process, which ulotimately is ,IMHO, overly complicated.

Thank you for that very comprehensive review, flotsam

I haven't purchased the game as yet but probably will at some time.

[Thanks, Draclvr.]

Well, I downloaded and am playing it. So far, it is living up to every expectation noted by flotsam!

Thanks flotsam and Drac. Bought it, downloading now.

Thank you for the review, Flotsam!

Thanks for the review, Flotsam. Having recently finished the game your take seems very accurate.

Draclvr, please let us know what you think of the third game. It received a lot of bad press early on, and I'd have to agree that the controls were quite finicky in the first release. After point and click control was added it made a world of difference. I have to wonder whether those that played the later version and liked the game are in a very small minority. At least if they were to judge the game on its own merits and not compare it to the first two games. I really enjoyed the first two games, but comparing them to the third and fourth games is like comparing apples to armadillos. In all four games though, Sokal's graphics, the story telling, the voice acting and puzzles make for a great immersive experience.

ergggo, I won't be playing the third game. I skipped it back then and have no desire to pay money for something that, while greatly improved with the point and click control, continued to be problematic for so many people.

My apologies, Draclvr. I misread your post and thought you had just purchased the third game, when of course the topic is the fourth game.

No problem, ergggo! I sure am enjoying the 4th game though! Haven't stayed up late playing because I couldn't quit for a VERY long time!

I just looked at the price of this game - plus the cost of the patch update - and it is horrendous !!

[Unless the standard addition at GOG includes the update patch. Does anyone know ??]

So much as I fancy playing it I can see a long wait ahead !!

Mad I am confused here. Where are you looking at some price where you would have to pay more for a patch? Updates are always included in the game pre-purchase Steam or GOG. On steam and GOG if you have already purchased a game and then a patch/update is released for that game the next time you launch the game the update/patch will install before the game starts free of charge. For this to work through GOG you must be using the GOG GALAXY Client

What Orion asked. Where are you seeing a cost for a patch update? I'm pretty sure the game will go on sale Mad. Just wait for a better price. I had gotten it for $22 at the Steam Summer Sale which was still a couple bucks more than I wanted to pay considering that didn't include tax, but I was trying to clean up my wishlist. I know you don't use Steam but GOG has sales all the time too as you know.

Mad, GOG appears to have the patched version.

I believe it has already been on sale at least once on GOG for twenty-something (maybe twenty-four or thereabouts?)dollars. I would wait for another sale. And you certainly don't have to pay for a patch.

Mad, I am also confused. Where are you looking that wants you to pay for a patch? Unless you're looking at the Deluxe Edition Upgrade? All that is, is bonus content over and above the game. It is not a patch.

* The Digital Soundtrack
* A short version of the Syberia: The World Before Prologue script by Benoît Sokal and Lucas Lagravette
* The Game Fan Kit: 3 wallpapers, 3 avatars and 3 original storyboards by Benoît Sokal

When a patch/update is released for any game it is delivered to all digital distribution services, Steam GOG Epic etc, so that it can be applied to whatever game it is intended for and installed in one of the two ways I mentioned earlier. Here are the latest updates

EDIT: Marian's got it as well

Right now GOG has the Standard Edtion for $40 . It will go on sale again for $25 when it does, the going discount for now when it is on sale. Have you tried the DEMO Mad, it's free

I think perhaps she was looking at that "upgrade" which is bonus content for an additional $15.

Yes. Draclvr has it !!
I was searching quickly (in a spare moment) at GOG and obviously didn't word my search sensibly Because what came up was a de-luxe version and a de-luxe upgrade. So I assumed the upgrade was an optional patch.
But very pleased to hear, Marian, that GOG are offering a standard fully patched version at a better price
Even so, I will wait for a sale. (And hope I don't miss it !!)
Thank you all .... as always

I purchased the game from GOG a couple months ago. I now assume that the purchase included whatever patch was required, since I did pay for the game; did not pay for a separate patch; and the game performed flawlessly. Also; let me add to the plaudits arriving for Flotsam's review. The game was all she said it was. I enjoyed a lot.

Just an FYI, flotsam is a he.

LOL! You beat me to it, Ana! I was just going to post the same thing!

DRAT! I'm sure there are lots of good excuses for that error. I wish I had one. Sorry about that mistake.

I can think of plenty Haze (we are all upside down and back to front down here for a start) so no need to apologise

I finally finished this game and as when I played the Prologue - I was NOT impressed AT ALL! The only likable person was Dana and the only part of the game even remotely resembling a Syberia game was at the end. I didn't like anything else about it. I found the story very predictable.

I found the controls hard to use, clicking one place and ending up way off somewhere else, and having to hold down the left mouse button while moving the mouse is not my idea of fun in a puzzle. Solving some of the puzzles was a nightmare because of this and the way the inventory worked, having to open and close it multiple times while fiddling with something. Some of the puzzle had to be solved before you could back out of them which is a major annoyance to me.

I never warmed up to the new, unattractive look of Kate or Oscar, or his voice. I found Oscar and some other characters to be ridiculous. The scenery was all seen through a haze of some kind and I never once felt like I was IN it like I did in the other three games, therefore, no atmosphere or immersiveness for me while playing.

I didn't care for all the long, drawn out cut scenes where all I could do was sit and wait, with no control of the mouse or ability to leave the game. Saves were hit or miss in my opinion, saving multiple times in a row after just one movement, and then not saving for long times such as with the cut scenes of course, or even after some puzzles.

The third game had this game beat by a million miles!