![]() ![]() That’s not to say that this isn’t a good looking game though – its visuals being a blend of the first game, Telltale’s visuals in their Walking Dead games and the cell-shaded science fiction environments in Borderlands. Of course we’re 26 years on, and it was always going to be hard for Beyond a Steel Sky to make an impression in the technical sense like the first game did. It stands as a classic in the adventure game genre, and the announcement that Revolution was working on a sequel was one of the most exciting bits of news for genre fans in recent years. I believe Beneath a Steel Sky also endures because it was made available for free (!) by Revolution years later, and the ScummVM emulator allows you to play through the game on pretty much any modern device that supports emulators – even a smartphone. Beneath a Steel Sky used CD-ROM technology to introduce speech and high quality music, convincingly portraying a futuristic world in a way that hadn’t been done before in the genre to that extent. Their breakout title Lure of the Temptress was an enormous hit during the twilight years of the Atari ST and Amiga, and the follow-up was perhaps even more iconic. But while studios like Pendulo and Telltale didn’t emerge until later, there was another name that was synonymous with excellence within the genre – Revolution. ![]() When I think of the grand era of adventure games, my thoughts go back to the many classics produced by Sierra and Lucasarts. Previously released as a temporary exclusive to the Apple Arcade platform, it’s now available on PCs through Steam as well. What I very much like are the little details spread around the world – the holo adverts and posters are brilliant – whilst some museum exhibits are fantastic.Over 25 years since the first game, Beyond a Steel Sky is a direct sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky, a classic adventure game by Revolution. ![]() It’s a very clean system in regards the UI and menu allocation as well. It has a great colour palette in play, one that reminds a little of the Borderlands universe, especially in terms of character animations and faces. Visually though and Beyond a Steel Sky does a great job of updating the original world and turning it into a modern-day game. It’s not helped by the camera and movement systems which occasionally verge on the annoying – I’d much prefer them to be more accurate. That said, I do think the puzzles in Beyond a Steel Sky become a bit complicated at times, and you’ll certainly end up walking around a lot, trying this and that in order to solve things. There are numerous uses for this gameplay device and it’s certainly one of the highlights of the new additions. Swapping these two around will see the treadmill shooting out boxes at a high rate – whilst I won’t reveal the exact effect, it’s safe to say you may be able to use this for the solving of a puzzle. By hacking into both machines you will discover that they have “gentle” in the command line for the treadmill and “aggressive” in that of the smasher. ![]() For example, you may see a conveyor belt delivering boxes – next to it is a smasher, destroying waste. Here you are presented with the workings of the machines via code, enabling you the chance to swap things up, changing how they work. You see, very early on in the game you get access to a scanner that is capable of hacking and with a touch of the RB button this device comes into play, letting you delve into the diagnostics of every machine or robot in the area. The dialogue itself has a comical tone, mixed with some heavy subject matter, as serious themes of class structure, slavery, and AI manipulation all become heavily involved.īeyond a Steel Sky comes with a nice new feature that works very well one that is intriguing to use. But I don’t think this matters as the story can be played by newcomers with ease, and it works neatly as an extra bonus for those who remember the first. It’s strange going back to a world more than quarter of a century later, mostly as memories of those times are hazy at best. The world-building and writing of Beyond a Steel Sky are both top-notch and brilliantly realised. It’s then left for Foster to once again head off to Union City, all in order to track down the kids and revisit his past… He lives with a local tribe yet one day a machine arrives and kidnaps a host of children. He has now been exiled from Union City and has found a good life in the Gaplands (a sort of desert wasteland). Beyond A Steel Sky is set ten years after the first game and once again you play the part of Robert Foster. Revolutions Software has developed Beyond a Steel Sky and it is they who have had a decent track record with narrative adventures in years gone by, with the Broken Sword series of games a highlight. ![]()
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