![]() The QDOS system (pronounced like kudos with a Q), which dictates a citizen's worth, seems like the basis for a clever mechanic of social climbing when it's first introduced. Unfortunately, many of the game's ideas and themes aren't examined in much depth. The city is run by the Council, a mysterious body that dictates what people drink, how they act, and which areas they're allowed to travel between, and it becomes clear as you play how much control they're exerting over the population. You get a good visual sense of the sort of place Union City is-one with the outward veneer of a glowing metropolis, but with a dark side of corporate maleficence beneath it. The city, which is rendered in glorious 3D is lovely, too-the skyline stretches far into the background, and the cel-shaded aesthetic suits it. Joey, Robert's robotic sidekick, also returns, and seeing these two characters reunited is one of the game's highlights. The nods to the first game start flowing in from the first moments-like the original game, the opening is made up of comic panels drawn by Watchmen artist Dave Gibbons, whose most famous work receives a few fun nods and Easter eggs throughout the game. The game is set in a post-apocalyptic Australia, but references to the country are unfortunately fleeting, despite the game's aesthetic invocation of the British colonization of the country-the gaplanders are largely people of colour, and Union City is predominantly white.Īt first, it's great to be back in the world of Steel Sky. However, he's soon forced to return to Union City after a young friend, Milo, is kidnapped by a huge robot and taken somewhere in the sprawling metropolis. Robert has returned to the "gaplands" surrounding the city, where he lives a happy, earnest life within a small society. Beyond A Steel Sky, the long-awaited sequel to the 1994 original, is an attempt to bridge the gap between those two styles-but unfortunately, it ends up feeling like some of the messier 3D adventure games from 20 years ago rather than another classic like its predecessor.īeyond A Steel Sky brings back Robert Foster, the protagonist of the first game, and picks up 10 years after his escape from Union City and LINC, the half-mechanical, half-organic being that runs it. After the genre struggled to adapt into 3D and was briefly declared dead by pundits, the genre's resurgence occurred on two main fronts-the simplified, story-driven 3D games of Telltale, which focused on choice and consequence over puzzles, and retro-styled 2D games released like Unavowed, Kathy Rain, and Broken Age, which included a lot of the esoteric puzzle-solving the genre used to be known for. A beautifully detailed, comic-book styled world, from the mind of legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons.In the 26 years since Revolution Software released Beneath A Steel Sky, the adventure game has come full circle.Intelligent puzzles are interwoven with an intriguing dramatic narrative to deliver a compelling gameplay experience.Unravel dark conspiracies, defeat a terrifying antagonist in this dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller, which explores contemporary themes: social control, AI, and total surveillance.In combination with a unique hacking tool, multiple solutions to puzzles emerge from player choices. An adventure set within a dynamic world, populated by willful characters driven by motivations that the player can subvert.‘Beyond a Steel Sky’ is a dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller in which engaging puzzles drive a fast-paced narrative set in a dynamic gameworld that responds to – and is subverted by – the player’s actions. But the trail has led you from your community of desert wasteland dwellers, to Union City, one of the last remaining mega-cities in a world ravaged by shattering wars, and political meltdown.įortified and impenetrable, it is a utopia in which people live happily under the surveillance and control of a benign AI. ![]() A child has been abducted in a brutal attack. From Charles Cecil, creator of the Broken Sword series, with art direction by Dave Gibbons, legendary comic book artist behind ‘Watchmen’, comes ‘Beyond a Steel Sky’, the long awaited sequel to the cult classic ‘Beneath a Steel Sky’.
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