In all senses an upgrade from the first title.

A better story that feels more important and has a satisfying conclusion.

The game is a lot smoother and quicker which makes the exploration and the eventual trial and error not as boring.

There is still some unnecessary backtracking and some puzzles can have quite a few leaps of logic to figure out, you also need to have gone through the first title to understand the story for this one.

All in all a very worthy successor.

Well they definitely improved many flawed aspects of the first game, specially regarding the writing and the puzzle design. As some might have noted, this time the storyline focuses mostly on the actual adventure rather than Kate's character study. And overall, since the narrative is less ambitious, it can achieve it's goal more effectively than it's predecesor. Some of that beautiful melancholy from the first game might be missing, but in my opinion that whole character study-type story about Kate wasn't carried on very well. It is also way more effective in portraying the whole setting as some kind of fantasy/fairy tale world. The puzzles are in general way better than those from the first game, especially the Myst-like ones. They also managed to improve some programming mistakes (the first game has many glitches and bugs). And for sure, music, visuals, and the location design are still the best aspect of the game, just like in Syberia 1. A great conclusion for the game.

Syberia II dives into the mystical aspects hinted at in the original game, and the stranger settings and cast make for an even more creative story. It's still a very linear and occasionally glitchy adventure, but the dialogue and atmosphere is just as entrancing as before. However, the puzzles aren't quite as refined and feel more trial-and-error based. There were a few that I legitimately solved on accident and I'm still not sure how the game wanted me to discover the pattern or code. Regardless, it's an essential and satisfactory entry if you have the slightest investment in the characters Kate Walker, Oscar, and Hans Voralberg.

Unlike for my review of Syberia part 1, I did not play the PC version before switching to Switch. On Nintendo's hybrid console though, Syberia 2 feels very consistent. It looks a tad more polished, but still within that Playstation 2 era look including characters still moving like marionettes. And sure, you'll get stuck at the occasional scenery corner just like before. The English dub is still very good and as a plus, now dialogue options are deleted when used. On the other hand some scenes are more complex, increasing loading time and sometimes can get confusing, especially when you miss a passage due to the lack of hotspots, as some paths are well hidden in the design or orientation is obstructed by perspectives.

Syberia Part 1 managed to end the personal development of our protagonist but left the physical adventure open. What's with the Youkols and their mammoths? We still didn't find out for sure, if they exist. Understanding the decision of focus for the first volume, that in theory could have ended that way, there was expectation built up to investigate clues and legends found on the journey so far.

Kate Walker rather is at service this time, to help out a whole bunch of characters while heading towards Syberia. It's a good mix between revisiting elements from the first game and exploring new territories, whilst directly continuing the story. Actually, with Kate's life decisions basically being out of the way, there's more space to expand puzzles and dive a lot deeper into adventurous situations.

That could work out with less flaws for sure, but who did expect that after playing the first one? There's some nice storytelling and graphical design plus the puzzles are more interesting. That's what counts here. If you got into the first, there's no way to skip Syberia 2.

You're welcome to read more of my backloggd adventure reviews for games like:
Syberia 3
Kathy Rain
Thimbleweed Park
Stilstand
Sam & Max Hit The Road

In my review of Syberia, I pointed out some tenuous similarities between Kate Walker and Lara Croft, and a major reason why is because I had already started playing the sequel. While the first game was a very personal adventure for Kate, this one focuses on the literal journey rather than the personal one. Instead of spending time soaking in the details of a rusting automaton factory at the heart of a town fallen silent, Kate is dealing with ivory poachers as she makes her way to a mythical island in the frozen north. This Tomb Raider-esque plot works well as an adventure game, so the progression is a lot clearer than it ever was before. Even from the first few minutes, it’s also clear that the developers took note of how slowly Kate moved around in the first game, so the locations are more compact and the animations less stilted. If all the narrative context was vacuumed out, this would be the unambiguously better game, but that’s a pretty big “if”. Syberia may be a pain to navigate through, but all the little stories it builds together elevate it into something great, Syberia 2 just extends the main plot while losing sight of the nuanced presentation. While that could be considered a letdown, it heavily depends on the audience’s reaction to the ending of the first game. Some people love to follow a character’s entire journey and relentlessly speculate on narrative gaps, and this is the type of person the sequel caters to. Others enjoy seeing just the critical moments of a character’s personal arc, and in this regard, the first game can stand alone. I suppose this makes Syberia 2 a win for everyone; people who feel like the first game’s ending was perfect can skip it without missing anything, but the people who felt unfulfilled can get the conclusion they were hoping for.