And it does all this whilst only clocking in at around 8-10 hours. The whole cell-shaded presentation mimics the idea that you’re flicking through a comic book nicely, even if the resolution and frame rate are a significant step down compared to other consoles.įrom a pure story perspective, Beyond a Steel Sky sets you on a journey just as interesting and worthwhile as its mystery-driven destination. Beyond a Steel Sky owes a great debt to the likes of Blade Runner and William Gibson’s Neuromancer in that it’s a built-up cyberpunk metropolis full of AI-influenced people and structures, yet the writing and art style (headed up by Watchmen’s Dave Gibbons) are both charming enough that you forgive a lot of this familiarity. Luckily, Union City itself manages to keep you engaged as it continually opens up to you. So it’s so far, so standard in terms of the gameplay. Union City might seem like an ideal metropolis on the surface, but that’s far from the case. Works like a charm! The hacker tool is perhaps relied upon a bit too much as a problem-solving crutch, if I’m being honest, but it doesn’t negate the need for you to work out the puzzle yourself first. There’s no other way to do it discreetly than to switch its function with a nearby vacuum bot. One scenario, for instance, requires you to change the posture of a bionic arm in order to call someone over. It essentially acts as your way to swap chips between different robot types, changing their function in the process. If you’ve exhausted all dialogue options and every interactable object and still aren’t getting anywhere, nine times out of ten the hacker tool will hold the solution. Such a mechanic prevents your progress from ever coming to a complete standstill, and was a touch I came to use and appreciate more than once. If it gets too much just access a hint, of which many are available. Picture the scene: you’re trying to get from one area of a museum to the other (as the plot demands) but you can’t work out how to do so. Beyond a Steel Sky never suffers that problem, however, mainly due to a built-in hint system that can be accessed from the menu at any time. After all, it’s extremely hard to have fun or feel as smart as the game needs you to be when you’ve seemingly tried every avenue using the tools around you. Many adventure games fall down by making their puzzles and conundrums too obscure. Solving certain puzzles requires you to negotiate key items from the characters you meet. This means a lot of your time is spent engaging in conversations with characters, using the correct item from your inventory to solve puzzles, and employing your hacking device to make the technology around you suit the current situation. As Foster, you must visit the various pre-determined areas that make up Union City in the hopes of finding Milo, all while unravelling a potentially more sinister plot. That said, no pre-existing knowledge of 1994’s game is required to enjoy Beyond a Steel Sky to its fullest. At almost every turn you’re reminded that Foster has been to this place before that legacy of the original Beneath a Steel Sky serving as a constant reminder of how Union City used to look and feel prior to an AI takeover. In many ways, it shouldn’t be surprising at all. It says a lot, though, that Revolution Software has made Union City (and its surrounding areas) feel like a real place, one that you’re guided through linearly but still given several opportunities to dig deeper into. Does it present you with a vast open world to explore, brimming with sectioned-off hubs and several side stories? Not really. One of the most striking things about Beyond a Steel Sky is just how fully formed its location is. When we first meet Robert, he’s roaming a desert landscape known in-universe as “The Gap”. True, the perspective may have changed and visuals updated, but this is still very much a classic, puzzle-solving adventure with a good story, now available to enjoy on Nintendo Switch. That word, “mystery”, is important for old-school adventure games of this ilk, and it’s one of the main ways Beyond a Steel Sky pays respect to the point-and-click stylings of its predecessor, while modernising most other aspects. Little did Robert Foster know, however, that by venturing out of The Gap and returning to the commanding heights of Union City-now an outwardly extravagant Utopia full of opportunity-that he’d soon get swept up in a much deeper mystery. It was supposed to be a simple job: get the kid, get out of the city, then return him home.
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