Beyond a Steel Sky - Switch

ESRB Rating: T (Teen)
Release Date: 11-30-2021
Moby Score (1-10): 7.2
Genre(s): Adventure, Puzzle elements, Cyberpunk / dark sci-fi, 3rd-person (Other), Graphic adventure, Point and select, Direct control
Media Type(s): Physical

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'.

You are Robert Foster. A child has been abducted in a brutal attack. You have vowed to bring him home. 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.

Fortified and impenetrable, it is a utopia in which people live happily under the surveillance and control of a benign AI. But all is far from what it seems...

‘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.

• An adventure set within a dynamic world, populated by willful characters driven by motivations that the player can subvert. In combination with a unique hacking tool, multiple solutions to puzzles emerge from player choices. • Unravel dark conspiracies, defeat a terrifying antagonist in this dramatic, humorous, cyberpunk thriller, which explores contemporary themes: social control, AI, and total surveillance. • Intelligent puzzles are interwoven with an intriguing dramatic narrative to deliver a compelling gameplay experience. • A beautifully detailed, comic-book styled world, from the mind of legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons.

Beyond a Steel Sky is a 3D point-and-click cyberpunk science fiction adventure and the sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky. Set ten years after the events of the first game, protagonist Robert Foster returns to Union City as he tracks down a vehicle with men who have kidnapped the boy Milo from his village. As he has lived in the wasteland called The Gap, it takes some time for him to familiarize himself with the technology and the workings of the city to get inside.

Along the way he meets a large cast of characters and investigates the AI that runs MINOS, the software that organizes every part of society inside the city walls. He also attempts to track down Joey, his companion from the first game. Joey disappeared from the public eye five years earlier when a democratically elected council was installed to manage the city instead of him. Joey is celebrated as the city's saviour and built it up while Foster way away, after the defeat of LINC. The city council consists of five ministries that cover aspiration, comfort, plenty, safety and wellbeing. In addition to the dark cyberpunk themes such as a tiered society based on social credit (QDOS) and permanent surveillance, the game has many humorous elements.

Foster can move freely inside the 3D environment using direct controls. Whenever characters or objects that he can interact with are close enough, they are highlighted with a reticule. When the player centres the reticule to focus on it, various options appear in a small menu to start a conversation, examine or use an object from the inventory. While talking to characters there are always multiple dialogue options. New topics appear on the right hand side while explored ones stay on the left. Foster can also run and early on acquires a scanner that allows him to hack certain devices. Hacking itself is a logic puzzle where different blocks can be swapped to alter the function of machines or devices. For instance, access authorisation can be reversed by swapping two blocks to make a door open when the user does not have access. These logic puzzles gradually become more difficult through policy, data, media and goal blocks, each with different functions.

All characters are voiced. There is a separate screen to keep track of objective and to view the inventory in more detail. There is an in-game hint system tied to the objectives. When stuck the player can unlock a general hint about the objective. This is then repeated with more detailed instructions revealing exactly what to do next, but there is a cooldown of 30 seconds between hints so the player is discouraged from having everything revealed straight away. It is not possible to die in the game.

*** Data by MobyGames.com ***

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