The Lost Corner

It’s been a few weeks since this blog got created, and I haven’t written a single ‘book’ or ‘film’ blog that’s decent enough to publish. Meanwhile, I retreated to playing video games, and encountered a wonderful adventure game, whose genre had long lost its former glory. So once again, I was perhaps born a decade too late to witness the birth of great things. But enough self-pity, I want to tell you all about this wonderful game.

PS: highly recommend playing the Hymn of Vaghen from the game’s OST in the background while reading, should work very well 🙂

The game tells the story of Kate Walker, a former-lawyer-now-adventurer, and her quest, to uncover the life of a Dana Roze, a young musician in the 1930s and how Dana’s fate intertwined with her own. Bingo, I’ve managed to sum up the story in one sentence. But WAIT, there’s more!

Syberia: The World Before talks about choice and consequences, in the old Syberia story, the iconic ending of Kate hopping on the leaving train to Syberia, continues to carry weight in this 20 years later sequel. Kate will learn that during her adventures, she had missed her mother’s funeral, and her ex-boyfriend had married her friend Olivia. The part of the game about Kate is what I like best, it balances well between fiction and reality, and the clockpunk world that Kate lives in somehow resonates with my own.

Have you ever been in one of those situations where you had some subtle, unique and wonderful experience, and you almost don’t believe you lived it because it’s so subtle beyond words and no one else in your life would understand it anyway? I travelled to Paris in the summer of 2023, after visiting the Wall of Communards in the Père Lachaise cemetery, my friend had gone back to take a shower, so I was left alone to reunite with the rest of the group near the Arc de triomphe. I took a long walk under the shades and roamed the streets of Paris on that hot summer afternoon, it was wonderfully serene and subtle. There wasn’t much attractions in that afternoon, at least none I’d previously known, but that walk is what comes up to my mind when I think about that trip to Europe, and that cool glass of diet coke outside a cafe on Champs-Élysées while waiting for the others. Above are the best I could do for a recollection of that afternoon, and I feel so cringed that I’m just a whim away from burying this entire post. So enough about me, let’s talk more about the game.

Syberia: TWB shows the ‘similar’ dilemma Kate finds herself in, her adventures with Hans and Oskar in the wilderness of Syberia, and her wild chase of a painting of Dana Roze that resembles herself, the motivations behind them could not be shared nor understood by anyone from her old circle, and it’s futile for her to even try to begin explaining. I felt suffocating as Kate did, finding herself tired and speechless, stuck between her two separate lives. But the plot developed in a way for her (and me) to reconcile with this feeling, Kate made a phone call to Olivia near the end, she said that she was sorry but have no regrets over her choices, it provided much solace to me, that the meaningfulness of one’s personal experiences is not dwarfed nor diminished, being understood by others or not.

Finally there are the less enjoyable bits. The plot of Dana’s story is a bit cliche and certain character’s actions could need more foreshadowing. The interface is also a problem. DO NOT USE MOUSE AND KEYBOARD, the movements and interactions do not function well with them, a controller will spare you the constant aiming exercises.

In all, Kate Walker, since the creation of the Syberia series in 2002, had been a symbol of the adventure games genre, through this latest sequel, not only did the game give a nod to the late creator of the series, Benoît Sokal, but also it consoled its players, reconciling with the venturous spirit in everyone’s heart.

See you in the next adventure, Kate Walker.