Reader reviews for Syberia: The World Before

The World Before has really stepped up the production values. The graphics and environment designs are absolutely stunning and begging to be explored.

Unfortunately I found this new version of Kate even more bland than those before. Her first scenes depict her as a gay, emo stereotype, but that is short lived and was just a different kind of boring. Then moments later she’s back to her old self. Talking of old, she now has the voice of a pensioner. She is voiced by the same actress as the previous games, but from what I understand she tried to give her more of a gravelly voice to reflect the hardship she endured. This may have been more fitting had the character appeared more haggard, but it’s very odd hearing this voice from such a spritely and youthful Kate Walker.

As if Kate wasn’t already bland enough, we get to the plot. It turns out her entire reason for this epic adventure is to find a woman she saw in a painting who vaguely looks like her. It really seems like such a pointless whim and not worth the effort she goes to. I can’t help thinking Kate needs to get her priorities straight and get a hobby or a job.

From this point on I just found myself rolling my eyes, sighing and urging the dialogue along. There are extra side-quests you can do, but I didn’t want to drag it out any longer than I needed to.

I continued playing this game only to see the new environments. While they are spectacular and well worth exploring, I found the game an excruciatingly tedious and frustrating experience.