

Beyond being a must-play in a genre that includes heavyweights like The Secret of Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky was a big deal in 1994 for uniting the talents of Charles Cecil and Dave Gibbons. It also appears the sequel maintains its predecessor's sometimes silly and zany tone. The system allows for "interesting" and "emergent" solutions to gameplay puzzles, according to Revolution. This time around, Revolution has developed AI the studio claims makes NPCs willful and motivated.

By 2020 standards, that's a feature you see in almost every game, but in 1994 it was groundbreaking. While the city has changed, he still manages to find some of the characters that made his first visit so colorful, including Joey, the sentient robot that helped solve puzzles in the original.īeneath a Steel Sky was one of the first video games to give non-playable characters (NPCs) a schedule. After what seems like a lengthy absence, Foster has returned to Union City, the dystopian metropolis where the original game took place.
Beyond a steel sky game software#
It hasn't aged well, feels quite short (around 5 hours) and doesn't do too well in telling its story.Beyond a Steel Sky, the sequel to classic 1994 point-and-click adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky, hits Apple Arcade on Friday, with a Steam release slated for July. Developer Revolution Software shared a launch trailer that shows what new and returning players can expect from the sequel.īeyond a Steel Sky once again sees players assume the role of series protagonist Robert Foster.

Given that it's my first play-through of a 19 year old game, I'm not biassed by nostalgia and will judge the game from what it is. The music is very retro and cheerful, but the sound effects can be very repetitive and grating when there are mechanical machines making hissing and slamming noises. Some voice samples don't even play, and some don't quite match the subtitles which means it is a good idea to have the subtitles on to make sure you experience all the script which is quite sarcastically funny much like the Broken Sword series. The voice acting is generally good but there are a few lines delivered in the wrong tone. The graphics were probably great for the time, but the small resolution really holds the game back. Most areas only have a few objects to interact with, and sometimes the objects are so small you need to pixel hunt to find them. The lack of scale hinders the sense of adventure and the city is basically one multi storey complex so their isn't much variety in locales.
Beyond a steel sky game trial#
Near the end of the game, it suddenly throws in the ability to die, and it isn't obvious one of these moments are going to come up so it becomes a process of saving often, then a bit of trial and error. Some NPCs can walk about as if they are doing their daily routines, but this can be annoying when you need to find them to progress.įrom start to finish, the game suffers from being vague with your objectives and even when you read a walk-through, it just isn't obvious why you are doing these tasks. Although taking place in the city, there aren't many NPCs and the game feels a bit small. Robert is accompanied by his robot Joey who can help with some tasks or give advice about items. After surviving yet another helicopter crash, Robert escapes and begins to uncover the truth. One day his foster father sees a vision of Robert being forcibly taken to the city which comes true. After Robert Foster is orphaned after a helicopter accident, he is raised by a tribe of Aboriginals in The Gap, the Australian Outback. Set in a dystopian future, Beneath a Steel Sky is a point-and-click adventure made by Revolution, the creators of the Broken Sword series.
