Syberia: The World Before

Syberia: The World Before is Benoit Sokal’s last Syberia. In 2004 Kate Walker is breaking rock in a Taiga salt mine; in 1937 Dana Roze, a young pianist in the Alpine city of Vaghen, watches the Brown Shadows close in. A portrait that looks exactly like Kate ties the two lives together. This walkthrough covers all thirty-two episodes as written for the unpatched release, with every puzzle solution and the codes.

How the game plays

Mouse only: left click moves, runs, acts and picks dialogue; right click turns the camera and rotates objects. Buttons (Read, Continue, Skip, Close) need a click and a moment until their edge turns orange. The journal holds tasks, notes, documents and the inventory; Use opens an item strip you step through with the side arrows. Filling arrows: hold the left button until the arrow fills. You switch between Kate, Dana, Oscar, Leni and Leon by their portraits. Saves are automatic at checkpoints in one file; you cannot replay an episode. Read the journal at the start of every episode.

Episodes 1 to 5: two women

1, Dana: right, the postcard at the kiosk, the street painter, the side street: the bookseller with the smashed window, choose any answer and any drawing; the sign at the end; the square: give Frau Beckmann your invitation; at the instrument, right button, turn left, drag the lever down, turn right, click the score, play: the automaton orchestra concert. 2, Kate: the code of conduct; the bed for introspection; talk to Katyusha; the basin three times; Oscar’s heart; Katyusha’s plectrum; Pushkin; your bag; mother’s musical locket; the expired New York ticket; Olivia’s letter of 28 August 2003: mother is dead. 3, Dana: the shop documents: the diploma, blank paper, Gustav Renner’s letter, the paintings; the left desk’s box (latch up): Herr Zimmer’s letter; pencil in the top drawer; the Vaghen anthem score; the easel; the window desk: the Voralberg automaton flyer, the fountain pen in the middle drawer; write to Herr Gustav; a stone through the window: try to lift it, read the threat on the table. 4, Kate: release the wagon’s brake, push it (fill the arrow), take the pick, swing until the wall gives. The train: the locked wagon, the officer’s skeleton; the motorcycle; Katyusha’s plan; the wounds, the uniform, the full tank; the shelter cave and the cab. The officer’s desk: the bullet hole, the pistol, the suicide note; slide his left hand, press the hidden button, the Brown Shadows disc from the drawer, onto the desk device, turn to the mark: keys, one bloodied. Give Katyusha the bike key; the other opens the wagon: fill the arrow, click fast; loot, the Roze paintings, the tube with the portrait that looks like you. Leaving, Katyusha dies and Simone is stunned; fill both arrows on the bike. 5: the escape.

Episodes 6 to 8: Vaghen

A year later, Frau Wagner’s guesthouse: the phone book, three Müller shops, E5, D3, C4; find them on the wall map; C4 is nearest; tear the page; the brochures upstairs (Hans Voralberg, sights); the corridor map; your room: the case lid, wallet, plectrum, the square painting, the portrait; introspection on the bed; the newspaper downstairs; the computer, every topic; Frau Wagner; knock three times on the phone booth to overhear; ask the way. Outside: the hotel sign, the house, your bike, the boulevard, the botanical garden gate, the tram stop: the timetable, the map, Travel. 7: the newspaper (finds in the illegal mine), two wrong antique shops, the young man, the vendors, the cafe menu, the watchmaker, the bazaar table; the gate at the end finds Müller’s, a Hans Voralberg piece in the window; ring three times as the note says. Show the portrait: Müller recognises the Silberspiegel valley, reachable by tram; then the metal sphere, a Voralberg automaton.

Oscar’s heart

Turn the sphere: a flower with even numbers; pull the latch down, press: scales shift. Other end, odd numbers, same. Right-button round, pull the scales to form a round button, press: a tiny part, click its handle: the Voralberg key. Hans’s logo number 293670: on the flowers set 2, switch sides for 9 and 3, then 6, 7, 0. A cross-shaped lock opens: the tiny part in, turn; Oscar’s heart in, open the glass, Use, the winding key, wind: a mechanical hedgehog with Oscar’s voice, who bolts. Chase: the man by the chest, the heart-shaped key on the right stall, unlock, he slips out; under the right stall, the brush, he runs; up the stairs, look round, the chest, the pile of pans, the alley, and he drops into a sewer. Tell Müller. Tram to Silberspiegel. 8: the turntable; posters and the interactive map; introspection; 7.5 km; the viewpoint by the dead tree, three points; the resistance plaque and the cigar butt; the info stand; the waterfall bridge; hold to climb the ladder. Camp Silberspiegel, autumn 2005: the generator, the terrace, the portrait’s three matching points, and Leni Renner in her automaton wheelchair. Her memories.

Episodes 9 to 12: 1937

9, Dana: lift the counter, the order list: mug at the left keg, turn the tap; the middle keg; the right bottle’s cork; left again; the middle keg is empty: the curtain under the counter, the full keg; serve. The two paintings on the table, any choice. The scientists take the beer; ask about the map. Terrace: the binoscope: Madonna’s Lace, the heart-shaped Silberspiegel rock, Devil’s Peak, Devil’s Gorge, Hell’s Gate; Leon and Junta’s photo session; young Leni. The stove: open the door, a log from beside it, another from the crate, unscrew the lower valve on the right pipes and screw it into the empty place on the left: both gauges green. Herr Gustav asks for the piano: lift the latch, play. Leni: the paintings (“I’d have chosen the other”), the piano defeats her, upstairs her photo wall, open the window. 10, Kate: Junta’s chest; firewood under the window; the barrier and the excavation notice; the panorama; the binoscope with the wallet: lower the stick, print Madonna’s Lace, Silberspiegel and Devil’s Pass with the camera button; ask Leni; the hall, the lone guest; Thomas Mann’s spine; the junk room: the same cigars, the open window, the locked chest of drawers; Leni’s room: picture, photo, photo wall; the loft lever, the ladder: the empty take-up reel, the Voralberg factory papers and Leni’s medal; ask her. The loft chest: left side: turn the rings on the right so the frames show one picture, the handle appears, turn; right side: slide fragments into the frames, handle; top: slide both covers, the code drums: the left disc is the Silberspiegel view, enter its coordinates from your print; the right, Devil’s Pass; the lid opens on a locked compartment needing another Voralberg key; the films Junta shot (directed by Leni), the developing lab envelope with Leni’s and Junta’s notes. 11, Dana: Junta’s errand: take the Voralberg key from the chest, decide not to inform on Leni, hide the key under the floorboard Gustav made, the Source photo’s hotspots. Kate: slide the box, click fast to lift the board, key, unlock the compartment: a picture lock. Dana: the curtain, the Olympian photos, the Brown Shadows cuttings, another take-up reel, the drying photos: the four pinned vertically are the code. Kate: set it, take the projector, raise the screen, film on the left spindle, empty reel right, rewind, lower, play. 12: after part one, screen up, rewind left, part two, rewind, screen down, play; the film becomes Leni’s interactive summer 1937: the lab curtain, through the hall, the ladder lever, the mirror, push the door. Ask Leni about the row; Dana and Leon quarrel over his training Brown Shadow climbers; pick any question and nickname. Leni: the Music Academy is on Music Square. The bridge cutscene; tram.

Episodes 13 to 18: the Academy and the Bridge of Mists

Note the manhole (Oscar); the computer news; the neighbour’s open door and the envelope (read the organisation, the sender, put it back); the locket and childhood. 14, little Kate: the bottles, father’s letter on the dresser, the kitchen, the book spine, grandparents’ letter, the piano order, the travel magazine, the window, the mantel photos, the music box on the dresser. 15: the letter’s number; introspection at the desk; call Olivia; tell Frau Wagner; tram to the Music Academy. 16: Oscar returns and joins the inventory; the memorial wall and bullet marks; Dana’s drawing on the bookshop step; introspection in the bandstand; the Academy: the Council’s letter, unopened letters, the anniversary cutting; the rector’s note by the phone, ignore it and dial Olivia, 212-359-1519, voicemail; the bell: Rector Maximilian Mahler trades Dana’s file for restarting the mechanical orchestra by playing the Vaghen anthem on the square piano; the archive box: the anthem score, a drawing, his report written with Dana. 17, Dana: Frau Beckmann’s task: hear the four technicians’ reports; she gives the service-room key; two technicians by the bandstand, introspection, the third at the building’s end, the fourth in the service room (the tower is fine; the lift grille will not open). Kate: ring, ask Mahler: only the right notes in order matter. The cafe owner refuses the back room; round the corner, push the bin to the door, climb through the window, slide a box then the shelf: the lift; up, and the stairs: lower two levers, press start; the opposite stairs: a spare part in the toolbox; the door lock: turn the wheel until the bar is fully up; up, across, down, lift, the front bolt. Automaton one: code 1973 (Dana saw it); arrange the letters as Dana saw them: left rod through two letters, down; withdraw to the first letter, up to the top; the long lower-right rod, one letter, down; upper right rod, two letters, down, withdraw to the right letter, up; turn each letter with its gear; green. Automaton two: no code, force the wheel below; the letters are right, the upper part lacks the spare part; green. A van blocks the third: its number, dial 512-388-8321 from the Academy phone. Automaton three: Dana saw 4253 inside the door; enter it, then advance every digit five steps: 9708; the drawing on the mechanism shows which holes are open and closed; left side: turn the cylinder sections with the gears and set the hole levers to match the drawing and Dana’s view; right side: the cupped levers, moving one part aside to place another; big lever right, small lever left, green. Bandstand: score on the stand, keys; the motor stalls: centre toggle vertical, side latches, remove the broken turning automaton, Oscar in its place, lever, play: the orchestra. Mahler gives the file: Dana lived at 20 Bridge of Mists. Tram.

18: house numbers, the war history book, protest posters, the street automaton: wallet, turn the chest latch, shake its hand, take the cheap souvenir (its anthem is dreadful); the memorial; the leaflet. Number 20 is Frau Heigel’s souvenir shop: pick up a souvenir, ask about the old owners (upper floors are storage, old photos turn up); she refuses the old part. When she serves a customer, put the cheap souvenir on the empty far shelf: the distraction works. Second floor: photo 1 (the bombed house), photo 2 (Rozes and Zimmers, reverse), her glasses; third floor through the bathroom: the hole in the floor shows a photo below; the parents’ bed; photo 3 on the little table; storage below: photo 4, Dana in an attic bedroom facing north; the top stair is bricked up: her room is behind it. Outside in the alley: Oscar climbs the drainpipe; push him (arrow); as Oscar hold to move, click fast to jump the ledge, the railing blocks, back up the pipe a floor, a pigeon: Kate throws a stone into the drain; Oscar down the steps, the ladder mechanism: push the lever, the Voralberg key emerges, turn it, the ladder drops. Kate: break the window with Oscar; half a hint sheet, Dana’s diploma with music notation on the back, click fast to move the bed for the other half; the chest: side button, the wheels are different heights, set the symbols from the diploma, turn, press the catch, open the three latches: Dana’s diary.

Episodes 19 to 24: Leon, the pogrom, the cemetery

19, Leon: wash, gear: flask, biscuits, machete, the case (camera, sketchbook, Dana’s letters), rucksack. Camp: the hide, the rifle, the gorun drawing, Bauer’s medallion with his daughter’s birthday, fill the flask at the barrel; the left tent: bottles, the locked box, code 0408: Bauer’s denunciation of you to Frank Hoess; your tent: Horst’s books, thesis, Faust. Find Horst: left along the river, round the hill, his gear (flask, book, axe), the handprint on the rock, meet him. The dry tree: machete, fill the circle several times, click fast to topple it, walk the log; biscuits for the small gorun, step back, its leg is broken: free the vines by shifting the log, two straight sticks by the cairn, the handprint on the peak; wash the wound, splint, cross together. The scream: right button, camera left. Captive: the grave, the forest, the fire; both arrows fail. 20, Dana: the sanatorium brochure, monogrammed handkerchief, cough drops on the dresser, the parents’ photo by the mirror, all three into the suitcase, close it; the diary and Leon’s letters into the chest. 21, Kate: Hoess’s threat on the wall, the sanatorium letter, the embroidered handkerchief, the brickwork; out the window, the monument: turn it, clean it with the handkerchief: Anton and Elena Roze died in the pogrom; the history book can now be read. Tram: meet Junta, Colonel Blake; all topics; tell her everything. 22: meet at O-8; the warning sign, the ruins, the arch, the old cemetery, Dana’s grave; the map needs Oscar; section B right, the pick by the stairs, the patrons’ plaque; O-8; explore for the shed and the gate mechanism (achievement Cartographer); Junta arrives. 23, Dana in London: place the unit icons from three intelligence reports; the pneumatic telegraph: left valve until green, right until grey (the upper needle fully right), slide the fuse, turn the wheel until the sensor runs, green lights; panel: Resistance, Networks, Osterthal, button, open the capsule: Vaghen, Edelweiss, the Highlander-Creator; click it. 24, Kate: the gates lock at nine; the mechanism in B lacks a handle; Oscar knocks the pick down (jump, push); pick on the shed lock, the handle, mechanism, gates open; tram with Junta: the frozen bodies were moved to Silberspiegel; go alone despite Oscar.

Episodes 25 to 29: the bodies, the letter

25: the fuel store under the stairs, the mountains, the binoscope, the climber: the generator matters. Common room: the key on the table, Leni’s wheelchair: lift the armrest for the mechanical key whose shape you can change. Generator: the empty tank, the jerrycan, unscrew the cap, fill; the lever needs the starter; the key opens the top: the crank; front, crank, turn until it runs. The tent: the left bag’s note, a woman, and Leon Kobatis, young under the snow; no Dana. Upstairs a figure: the far room, turn up the lamp, the drawings on the wall and desk: Ludwig Hardtack, the gorun from Baltayar; his room: the old cord reel, the desks, the drawings; then Leni’s room and her story of 1944. 26, Dana: Leon’s album, the painting Gustav hung, the note by the stairs, the loft’s Voralberg antenna, the gorun’s drawings, Harold Exner’s photo and the Alps map, the terrace handprint, introspection on the steps, Leni, Exner (he will not go without his wife Andrea). The radio: antenna in, extend each rod, click the top knob, fill the arrow, turn the disc until the petals open, press the centre; the left pocket: code sheets; the radio note 2111.12.121.21: 2 is dash, 1 is dot: BARN, whose frequency in the table is 6.9; power right, upper dial to 6.9, note the Morse (red marks word ends): PEAK, frequency 8.4; lower panel on, 8.4, turn the set for the handset. Leni’s confession. 27: the ambush and the avalanche. 28, Dana, 1945: the unofficial report on Junta, the Soviet newspaper (Hans Voralberg and the Komkolzgrad factory), Frank Hoess captive, Herr Gustav’s excuses, Herr Sauer, then Leni in the infirmary. 29, Kate: Dana wrote to Leni for forty years; the last letter is in her automaton. Bow tie: turn the ends 180 degrees to meet, the button, the keyhole: in the inventory (journal, bottom tab) turn the key and set its pins in a vertical line, Use, turn; latch up, both buckles left, remove the breastplate; the heart niche needs an angled key; turn, press the ring and release when the cut sector is in front, the small right lever until four pins sink, the pin in the open sector, slide the switch down, remove the heart, put Oscar in. Oscar: raise left and right arms, arrow down twice: a keyhole on the back. Kate: straighten the left corner of the track; key with three short and one long pin, turn; Oscar: arrow up, the box on the back; Kate: open it, lever down, front: run the ball up to the first block; Oscar lowers the left arm twice; Kate: fix the right corner, ball to the lock’s left half, slide it; ball to the right corner, the cylinder above: Oscar raises the left arm twice, arrow down for the keyhole; Kate: ball up to the broken track, turn the back key again, ball to the right half, slide, turn the handle: the head tips back; key with four short pins on the capsule, turn: the letter slides from the hat.

Episodes 30 to 32: Dana’s second life, and home

30, Dana: the mirror, two photos, posters, the gift box, the cassette, the record player, Raymond Pratt’s letter in the bottom drawer; the phone: Anna is alive. 31: Kate’s childhood drawings, the family photo of the people who took her daughter, the shelf, the party beyond the glass; the front door, then the music upstairs: a girl playing the Vaghen anthem. 32, Kate: the station, the journal to the end; the phone booth with the wallet, dial, Olivia; the validator: your ticket says 30.11.2005; set 30.11, button; ticket under the stamp, slide the stamp right, press it into the ink, back, stamp; the punch’s two buttons, punch; carriage three, the conductor automaton: lever down, green button; your seat, the tickets, the blind: the train opposite reads Vaghen to Baltayar, and Kate knows where her grandmother went.