Beyond a Steel Sky

I often times don’t enjoy point and click games because they fall into certain stereotypes that I dislike. In some ways BASS does do better but in others it falls into the same traps. The ways it fails are that, just like in point and click games, many of the puzzles revolve around trying to combine items regardless of whether they appear to go together. I prefer if they make logical sense. The game at least tries to justify it with their hacking game. Basically you can search for devices in the immediate area and swap parts of one with another in order to get a device to do what you want it to. It is at least unique in the genre although they got it to be annoying by making many hacks time based. Often times I understood what the game wanted from me but I felt annoyed at having to keep waiting on NPC navigation to line up in order to do what I knew needed to be done. Other times I didn’t know what the game wanted at first. For instance why would I have thought to use a toaster to interface with a satellite dish ? One thing I will give the game credit for is their hint system. It has possibly the best hint system I have ever seen. It doesn’t outright tell you at first but gives enough detail for you to figure things out. It also has a cool down so you have to try to work things out before asking for more hints. The only downside is some of the puzzles not following logic which makes it needed more often then I would like. I must sound like I disliked the game but overall I didn’t. Some puzzles I will give it praise for are the Linc Space puzzles which I enjoyed. The story was also great. I thought I had guessed where it would go, then thought I must be wrong and was confirmed right all along. There are a good set of characters and good progression although the beginning has a pretty slow pace. The voice acting was superb all around. The graphics were a nice art style with a good use of colour although the hair detail could have been better.

+ it is somewhat funny at times + nice graphics + thank you for the hint system - the final segment/chapter is disappointing - the puzzles felt a bit uninspired and overly reliant on the hacking mechanic - for the love of god why am i still moving at a snail's pace in 2024 NOTE: i played beneath a steel sky a week ago for the first time, so nostalgia holds no sway over me

A worthy successor to the first game (Beneath a Steel Sky). Do not listen to the drowning in nostalgia veterans that deem garbage everything that has been released after 1999. I was born in 1981, so I did play tons of the pre-PC, as well as PC MS DOS games, including the first game of the installment. And, in my opinion, Beyond a Steel Sky is one of the best adaptations in its genre (point and click quest) that were released in the past decade. Yes, it has its shortcomings, but so did the first one. It's too bad that there are almost no games such as this one nowadays, and with so many negative reviews I doubt there would be more. Pros: A well made modern approach for an old-style point and click quest genre. Great visual designs. Good although very short story. Hilarious and goofy dialogs. Quite decent graphics. Cons: Lacks polishing (numerous visual and animation bugs). The city looks completely deserted and definitely could use more movement in the background. Too few hidden/for-laughs outcomes related to device hacking (IMHO, lost potential there). The story is too short (though this game still takes more time to finish than the first one, so it's kinda subjective). Overall: Should you buy it? If you love a detective-like stories with goofy dialogs and weird jokes, then the answer yes. If you liked the first Beneath a Steel Sky game, then definitely yes, as it's the direct continuation to the original story that delivers a very similar experience. However do not expect miracles. I would recommend treating this game as a good interactive evening time movie.

I love the original Beneath a Steel Sky, and I was pretty excited to play a new game in this setting. How would they cleverly pitch a new story with old characters and the same city? And that's what kills this game really: they didn't. The story pretense is absolutely nonsensical and lacking any agenda from Foster. I will avoid the spoilers, but the story just happens and the main character just enjoys the ride of subsequent set pieces the developers prepared for him. The reimagined city is hard to accept, given the massive shift it suffered from the hands of Joey. Old characters' are exploited for cheap nostalgia factor, and treated as extremely important figures for some reason, while in the original game they were all just accidental obstacles and/or helping hands of Foster. The Museum of Joey is abhorrent. New characters are way too comical and don't really fit with the others. The story climax is rushed and inconsequential, really. There's no weight to anything. Important issues are brought up by the game - once, and they are repeated in the most basic fashion at the end. An attempt to give some commentary, or presenting both sides of the argument, falls short and dishonest. Yes, it does comment on social media and intertwining it with real life, but nobody needed the Beyond a Steel Sky game to reiterate the same old things again to undefined audience and from undefined standpoint. The game even ironically remarks that it's plain worse than the original and there's no real point of it existing - yep, it does say that - but it doesn't change the fact that's the case, actually. The switch to 3D is suprisingly successful. The city transition (especially the upper levels) is nice, and it's enjoyable to walk around familiar environments. The gameplay is severely lacking. You're on a ride, and barely need to solve some simple puzzles. There's a neat hacking mechanic, but it's criminally underused and relies too much on stumbling on things by chance.

What a great experience here. While I am a big fan of the original, this game didn't need a bit of nostalgia to stand on its own two legs. Wildly charming, truly funny dialogue. Great cinematics, with almost Dreamcast esque aesthetics with its beautiful cell art. It can be a bit clunky at times with the controls, but nothing that hampered my enjoyment. It is interesting as it has a point and click type approach to game flow, but with controls rooted in console gaming. Highly recommended for any lovers of adventure games, old or new.