The foundations of its operation run on a program called Minos, a system that tracks citizens’ activities, choices and happiness. The city was run by Foster’s best mate and android Joey until recently when he handed the keys over to a group known as The Council. Union City is somewhat of a cyberpunk utopia, with towering skyscrapers littered with electronic advertising signs promoting the city’s services, worker robots and a travel system that can take you anywhere, as long as you have the authorisation to do so. Of course, the kidnapping is part of a deeper and darker secret that Union City is hiding, and it’s up to Foster to uncover the truth and save Milo. Set in the distant future in Australia and 10 years after the events of Beneath a Steel Sky, Beyond a Steel Sky sees protagonist Robert Foster return to the metropolis of Union City searching for a child named Milo who was kidnapped from his village out in The Gap (the wasteland area outside of the city). But while there are a few callouts to the original, you don’t need to have played it to enjoy this entry, with writer and director Charles Cecil telling me in an interview recently that Beyond a Steel Sky is more of a spiritual successor than a direct sequel. But does Beyond a Steel Sky deliver an adventure worthy of a 27-year wait?įor full disclosure I have not played Beneath a Steel Sky, however before jumping into Beyond a Steel Sky I did watch a primer and the game does give you an overview before kicking things off, so I had an understanding of what went down. While the initial release of Beyond a Steel Sky was in June 2020 for Apple Arcade and July 2020 for PC, the game is now available for console owners. But that’s exactly the position Revolution Software found themselves in with Beyond a Steel Sky, the follow-up to 1994’s Beneath a Steel Sky, two games that are the brainchild of Broken Sword mastermind Charles Cecil and Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons. There are a lot of robotic animations for the non-robot models indeed.Developing a sequel to any video game is a challenge, let alone to a critically-acclaimed cult classic that was released more than 25 years ago. If you get in their way, their walk animation slows to a crawl as if they got hit with a slow-mo beam. Character models often have poor animations and the pedestrians walking around are simply goofy to watch. As I mentioned earlier, there aren’t that many environments, leaving the game to look dated. While the game’s visuals have a lot of personality, it’s fairly obvious that there wasn’t a giant budget to work with. Get clippedīeyond a Steel Sky runs in Unreal Engine 4 and has a 3D cel-shaded look. Most of the puzzles are on the logical side, though, and the hint system is mostly helpful for little bits that aren’t clear. Similarly, anyone who wants to experience the story above all else can just coast on this if they so choose. This is fantastic, as it means that all players will be able to get through the game regardless of their puzzle-solving aptitude. Afterward, another will become available in 30 seconds if the initial one wasn’t enough. ![]() Selecting the hint option in the menu will give you a little tip on how to progress if you’re stuck. After installing a chip in his hand and stealing a dead man’s ID, Foster gets into the city and is faced with some hard truths about the choices he’s made, witnessing the consequences firsthand.īut this is made far less problematic by Beyond a Steel Sky ‘s hint system. Not one to take that sort of thing lying down, Foster sets off on the trail and winds up facing down Union City once again. But his village gets attacked by androids and a child gets kidnapped. Robert Foster has been living in the gap ever since saving Union City. Cleanliness is next to Joeynessīeyond a Steel Sky takes place a decade after the previous game. But the setting is great, and the dialogue and characters are so well-written and funny that it’s hard to walk away from the game with anything but a smile. You can tell that the budget wasn’t too huge, as the game has its fair share of technical shortcomings and the repeated use of a smallish amount of areas. Beyond a Steel Sky, a sequel to the cult classic Beneath a Skeel Sky, nicely fills that void, however. ![]() With Telltale’s demise, there hasn’t been much of a focus on 3D follow-ups to ’90s point-and-click adventure games.
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