Beyond a Steel Sky

it's less stressful than Cyberpunk 2077 so it's good. because i'm old and don't want to be overly stimulated.

This is impressive; I have a few hours already invested in it so I feel confident I can give it a quick review. Beyond really feels like it bridges a particular gap between the classic point-and-clicks and more modern games that I wasn't even aware existed: By using very pronounced cel shading in a 3D environment with 3rd-person POV controls, it looks & feels like the perfect mesh between old-school PaC adventure and modern sandbox. The puzzles so far are very smart, not crazy difficult but so far they seem to need a little bit of instinctual poking around and some trial and error (the errors are forgiving, you're meant to progress). I just hit my first stumper at the museum trying to Free Joey, so I'm taking a break while absolutely refusing to look up any walkthroughs. 😅 Rating: A+ so far, this is exactly the kind of adventure game I love, bonus points to Beyond for keeping that unique spin on cyberpunk that started with Beneath.

Finally we have a game with an original story, without 21st Century Nonsense added, pure futurism and intrigue, a bit clunky at time but beautiful regardless

I found most characters and parts of the story very smart, characters with coherent reasoning, details that take a bit of time to connect. Many things fall into place without seeming forced. I especially enjoyed the evolution of a, lets call it, ghost character. I caught myself being judgemental and proven wrong several times. I must say though, the story feels a bit hasted towards the end and becomes somewhat shallow. I also feel that certain aspects towards the end could have been thought through better, dare i say, less cliché. I see this game as a tribute to its legacy, made for fans of the first game, but respectful of changed taste and time people are willing to spend on moon logic or pixel hunting. (At least) On Linux, there where graphical glitches, reloading (more than once, sometimes) solved those. To me, this was a light and enjoyable experience and wold consider a second play-through if i need a good, relaxed time in a nicely immersive world. To me, a sequel is not the best way forward. Maybe a part two that gives reason to explore more of the industrial structures and other secrets the city may hold, after the main story ended. While at it, if the last part of the main story is padded out a bit, I would certainly play that one a second time.

I'm a huge fan of the original game, and while this has a few golden moments the pacing and some of the situations you are put in feel very odd and out of place for some reason. The controlls and some mechanics also feel incredibly clunky and tedious, especially during some of the scanner based puzzles. There's obviously allot of love put into this, but for me it simply fails to recapture the overal feel and charm of the original game.