It seems that Syberia 3 killed the sales for Syberia 4 - turnaround possible?

[Turbo Nozomix]

Syberia 3 has 2,233 Steam reviews with a 51% positive rating.
Syberia: The World Before has 805 Steam reviews with a 92% positive rating.

Syberia: The World Before is praised as a return to form and a masterpiece, like Syberia 1 and 2. But the number of reviews for it on Steam suggest not nearly as many people bought it.

The number of reviews for Syberia 3, despite how low-rating the reviews are, and then the low number of reviews for Syberia 4, despite how high-rating the reviews are, suggest that people had been extremely eager for a new Syberia game, but were disappointed by Syberia 3 and that it killed the hype the series had.

If Syberia 4 had released instead of Syberia 3, the opposite effect for the next game would likely have been created, and then whatever game released as Syberia 4 would have had huge sales (even if it was bad, just as Syberia 3 seemingly had lots of sales, not because of what it was, but based on the expectations people had from S1 and S2).

I mentioned this in another thread before, but maybe it'd be a good idea for Microids to overhaul Syberia 3, fix the issues people had with it (controls, performance, improve some of the voice-acting, improve the puzzles / exploration, maybe get rid of / replace the round people, if possible), bring it up to a style and level of Syberia 4, and re-release it, sort of like a No Man's Sky turnaround. Maybe doing that would lift up people's impressions of the series.

[eq12345]

Originally posted by Turbo Nozomix:

I mentioned this in another thread before, but maybe it'd be a good idea for Microids to overhaul Syberia 3, fix the issues people had with it (controls, performance, improve some of the voice-acting, improve the puzzles / exploration), bring it up to a style and level of Syberia 4, and re-release it, sort of like a No Man's Sky turnaround. Maybe doing that would lift up people's impressions of the series.

I don't think so. Not only was Syberia 3 technical rubbish. It's real problem was, in my opinion: It was boring. So, even if you put lipstick on a pig, it still is a pig. And overhauling the old game won't remove the negative reviews from before - they will still be there.

And I don't think new buyers will read the Syberia 3 reviews. They will read the praising Syberia 4 reviews. I wrote a 5 star review and do only hope all other satisfied players will do this, too.

[Yorgal]

It's up to us to tell online , our friends and relatives how good the game is

[METAL]

Yeah, 3 left a bad taste behind. Technically and story wise was bad. I'm glad 4 is a huge improvement.

[WoM]

Comparing the number of reviews of a 5 year-old game that has been bundled and discounted over and over, to those of a game released two months ago, is a bit pointless.

Actually, if you check Steam review graphics, it seems that two months after release, Syberia 3 had less than 450 reviews, so this one is doing much better so far.

[RodroG]

Originally posted by WoM:

Comparing the number of reviews of a 5 year-old game that has been bundled and discounted over and over, to those of a game released two months ago, is a bit pointless.

Actually, if you check Steam review graphics, it seems that two months after release, Syberia 3 had less than 450 reviews, so this one is doing much better so far.

This^^

[Turbo Nozomix]

Originally posted by WoM:

Comparing the number of reviews of a 5 year-old game that has been bundled and discounted over and over, to those of a game released two months ago, is a bit pointless.

Actually, if you check Steam review graphics, it seems that two months after release, Syberia 3 had less than 450 reviews, so this one is doing much better so far.

That's a good point. I guess that Syberia: A World Beyond is actually doing really well in sales, compared to Syberia 3.

[Zaris]

Imho only Syberia 1 was good because it had old school puzzles which needed at least a bit of brain. Syberia 2s setting was already boring, 3 added these funny round people and Syberia 4s story was so disconnected and random without any hard puzzles that it was a movie.

This developer should really think about what they really want. If they want to make GAMES then they should have GAMEPLAY which means in this kind of games puzzles which needs at least some thinking. If they just want to tell a story, then write a book, visual novel or make a freaking film.

For example there was a "puzzle" later on where you had to adjust the settings on 3-4 bots and you just had to copy the settings. Zero difficulty which could have been a great puzzle otherwise.

This genre is sadly dead. Can't remember a single game since Monkey Island 1-4 and the Sherlock Holmes games which tried to test the players brain functionality.

[jlawleraz]

Originally posted by Zaris:

This genre is sadly dead. Can't remember a single game since Monkey Island 1-4 and the Sherlock Holmes games which tried to test the players brain functionality.

I don't think it is dead - I think it split into two different genres that focus on different things. There are the games like this one and the Life is Strange series that focus more on characters and story. And then there are the games that focus more on puzzles, like some of the ones featured in the upcoming Cerebral Puzzle Showcase here on Steam. I enjoyed the games you mentioned, too, but I also enjoy the more focused experiences.