Beyond a Steel Sky

I love graphic adventure games, and this one is simply disappointing. - The controls are very clunky: the PC version seems to have been just an afterthought. - Along with the controls, every object and character in the game always gets in the way of whatever you're trying to do, making the overall experience extremely frustrating. - The graphics look nice, but I think that the engine used was not the right one for this kind of games, at least in its current state. - The puzzles are not challenging at all and mostly based on the same logic and hacking interface. It's like playing at a "very easy" difficulty level. They could have actually implemented different difficulty levels if they wanted to make the game more accessible. - The characters are forgettable. - The dialogues are forgettable. - The story is forgettable. - The finale is forgettable. - It tries to be funny. It is not. - There's a "subtle" political subtext which is simply ridiculous and somewhat obnoxious. Avoid this one, it was painful to play till the end. There are so many beautiful graphic adventures out there.

well-made and modern sequel to an adventure game classic. some nice locations to explore in an interesting world with lots of potential. would have been nice to dive deeper into the world and its characters, some things felt a bit rushed, like just scratching the surface of a more complex world in the about 11 hours of playing time. the hacking was a nice addition to the gameplay. i just wish there would have been more visible effects to all of the non story relevant hacks you can do, or at least achievements for it. locking up the poet in the VIP lounge was fun, though... the game's obviously optimized for consoles, so best controlled via gamepad. and it works well with one, aside from a very few occasions where it feels a bit clunky. technically it's okay. the graphics are solid but nothing extraordinary. and it's relatively bug and glitch free (latest version). i only had to reload a savegame once, early at the city gates, because i was stuck thanks to a glitch that didn't let me enter a door i had to enter to continue.

This was one of the more enjoyable new games that I've played in a while. I was able to use a gamepad rather than the usual point and click interface. The graphics were really nice, the face animations were very well done. The story was nothing special, your usual cyber punk story line but the gameplay and really nice looking environments made the experience very enjoyable in my opinion. I got in on sale, I don't know that it is worth buying for $35.

Nostalgia aside, this game does have a few things to offer. The visuals are good, the voice acting fun (though I did not like Foster having an American accent) and the story moves along nicely. But it is an overall weak affair, since the puzzles are too few and repetitive (and some downright stupid). Worth a try, if it is on sale, but do not pay full price for this.

In theory a good game with interesting setting and story, but a lot of the puzzles rely on the "hacking" mechanic in which you swap "stuff" around until it reaches a certain spot. While "reprogramming" things to do what you need is kind of fun, daisy-chaining those nodes until you get A to B over 3 or 4 interactions gets old fast. This is also not helped by it being finicky to find the sweet-spot between interaction notes.