Beneath a Steel Sky
1994
- point-and-click
- puzzle
- adventure
- indie
- science fiction
- single player
The story
Beneath a Steel Sky is a cyberpunk, point and click, adventure game. You assume the role of Robert Foster and embark on a quest to make the world a better place, along with your robot companion Joey.
What it’s like
Hand-painted, slightly grainy 2D backdrops in muted teal, rust and sodium-orange, with a dense, layered city of smokestacks, flickering signage and chain-link gloom that reads as dystopian without ever feeling glossy. The art has the crisp, deliberate look of early-nineties adventure work: wide establishing scenes, small animated figures, and interiors lit by hard overhead fluorescents or the warm glow of a single monitor. Sound leans on a tinkling, slightly eerie synth score, interrupted by mechanical clatter, distant sirens and the chatter of a robot companion. Its vibe is wry, grimy melancholy with a streak of dark humour, best suited to a rainy evening or a patient solo session where you want to poke at things and read every line of dialogue. The pace is unhurried, built around conversation trees, item puzzles and wandering back through the same locations. The mood stays bleak but never oppressive, and the emotional register is sardonic, with a lonely outsider gradually finding loyalty and purpose. Violence is occasional and mostly off-screen or cartoonish, with some dark deaths and grim situations rather than gore. It suits players who love classic point-and-click puzzling, cyberpunk atmosphere and sly, character-driven writing.
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