Syberia 3 (PC) Review

By Renan Fontes 20.06.2017

Review for Syberia 3 on PC

After making fans wait 13 years for a sequel, Syberia 3's release was a disappointment, to say the least. The launch was bug-riddled to the point of being near unplayable at times. What should have been an atmospheric and well-crafted point and click ended up crushed under glitches and control issues. Since then, updates have been have been dished out to iron out the technical issues and make the overall experience a bit more palatable. Updates aside, the technicalities might have only been one aspect of Syberia 3's many problems; it's much harder to patch in good writing and puzzle design, after all.

The first two entries in the Syberia series do a good job at proving Benoît Sokal's abilities as a writer and Microïds' talent for developing an enjoyable point and click adventure. With a strong precedent set, it's natural that there would be certain expectations in place for Syberia 3.

A well-crafted story, engaging puzzles, and a world worth exploring are what distinguish the good point and clicks from the bad, and, after making fans wait 13 years for a follow-up, whatever succeeded Syberia 2 would need to do everything in its power to live up to over a decade of hype. Unfortunately, Kate Walker's return fails to capture that Syberia magic.

Screenshot for Syberia 3 on PC

While the experience isn't nearly as buggy as it was at launch, Syberia 3 still feels far from complete. Kate controls awkwardly, characters come off painfully stiff during dialogue, and the script is in desperate need of a revision.

The plot itself has enough promise to generate initial interest, but the slow pacing and lacklustre storytelling kill the narrative before it can even begin. Slow pacing is far from a bad thing when used well. A slower style of storytelling can be used to create tension, paint an intimate portrait of a character, or pave the way for a worthy climax. Syberia 3's slow pacing feels more like padding than anything; filler between actual story beats and puzzles.

Screenshot for Syberia 3 on PC

Aside from Sharon Mann, who returns to voice Kate, the voice acting is shockingly poor. Minor characters tend to fare far worse, with voices that barely match their character, but the supporting cast suffers just as bad. Accompanied by an incredibly rough script, the subpar voice acting only emphasises just how weak the writing is.

It makes sense for a point and click adventure to try to give as much information as possible during dialogue, as said information could very well come in handy during a later puzzle, but Syberia 3 clearly does not respect its audience enough to remember important details. Characters regurgitate the same information repeatedly to hammer it in, leaving little room for nuanced, natural dialogue.

Screenshot for Syberia 3 on PC

The lacklustre script is a shame, especially since the setting has so much potential. Valsembor is an interesting town, clearly full of history, and the Youkol tribe's culture is fleshed out just enough where they feel like a real group of people. Had Sokal redrafted and Microïds found more competent voice actors, Syberia 3 could have easily been the fantastic point and click adventure fans were expecting through presentation.

On paper, Syberia 3 has a lot working in its favour, especially now that the technical issues have been mostly fixed; the world is interesting, Sokal has had years to work on the script, and Microïds has a good track record for good puzzles. Unfortunately, whether it's because too much time had passed in between releases or the team felt they needed to rush out a product that still wasn't ready after so many delays, Kate Walker's newest adventure is a huge disappointment that, funnily enough, clearly needed more time.

Screenshot for Syberia 3 on PC

Cubed3 Rating

4/10
Rated 4 out of 10

Subpar

Even without the bugs that plagued its initial release, Syberia 3 is a lacklustre follow-up that'll be sure to disappoint fans of the series and the genre alike. Laughably bad voice acting and mediocre puzzles overwhelm all the atmosphere present at any given moment. The story resigns itself to a painful crawl without strong enough writing to justify its slow pacing. Along with just having a boring storyline to begin with, all these mistakes ensure that Kate Walker's return will never be able to live up to the series' roots. While 13 years is certainly a long time to put a series on hold, perhaps another 13 could have been used to help Syberia 3 ready itself for release.

Developer

Microids

Publisher

Microids

C3 Score

Rated $score out of 10  4/10

Reader Score

Rated $score out of 10  0 (0 Votes)

European release date Out now   North America release date Out now   Japan release date Out now   Australian release date Out now   

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