Beneath a Steel Sky is a 1994 cyberpunk science-fiction point-and-click adventure game developed by Revolution Software and published by Virgin Interactive Entertainment for MS-DOS and Amiga home computers. The game was made available as freeware for PC platforms in 2003. Set in a dystopian future, the player assumes the role of Robert Foster, who was stranded in a wasteland known as 'the Gap' as a child and adopted by a group of local Aboriginals, gradually adjusting to his life in the wilderness. After many years, armed security officers arrive, killing the locals and taking Robert back to Union City. He escapes and soon uncovers the corruption which lies at the heart of society.Originally titled Underworld, the game was a collaboration between game director Charles Cecil and comic book artist Dave Gibbons, and cost £40,000 to make.
Cecil was a fan of Gibbons's work and approached with the idea of a video game. The game has a serious tone, but features humour-filled dialogue, which came as a result of Cecil's and writer Dave Cummins's goal to find a middle ground between the earnestness of Sierra's and the slapstick comedy of LucasArts' adventure games. It was built using Revolution's Virtual Theatre engine, first used in Revolution's previous and debut release, 1992's Lure of the Temptress.It received extremely positive reviews at the time of its release and is retrospectively viewed as a cult classic and Revolution's greatest game besides Broken Sword: The Shadow of the Templars. A remastered edition was released for iOS in 2009 (as Beneath a Steel Sky Remastered), which also received a positive reception from the gaming press.
Beneath a Steel Sky was a collaboration between Revolution's CEO and game director Charles Cecil (left) and comic book artist Dave Gibbons (right) of Watchmen fame The designers' goal was to create a visual bridge between comic and video game graphics.
A sequel was greenlit during the Broken Sword: The Serpent's Curse 2012 Kickstarter campaign, and was announced in March 2019. Entitled Beyond a Steel Sky it will released on Apple Arcade (iOS, macOS, tvOS) later in 2019.GameplayBeneath a Steel Sky is a 2D adventure game played from a third-person perspective. The player uses a point-and-click interface to interact with the environment and to guide protagonist Robert Foster through the game's world. To solve puzzles and progress in the game, the player collects items that may be combined with one another, used on the environment, or given to non-player characters (NPCs). The protagonist converses with NPCs via dialogue trees to learn about the game's puzzles and plot. Clues and other information are obtained by clicking on items in the inventory and on objects in the environment. Unlike in most adventure games at the time, the protagonist's death is possible, after which the player starts from the last save point.
In the remastered iOS version, the point-and-click interface is replaced with a touch user interface, a hint system is added, and hotspots are highlighted. SynopsisBackgroundBeneath a Steel Sky is set at an unknown point in a dystopian future, when the Earth has been significantly damaged by pollution and/or nuclear fallout.In Australia, the six states and two territories who have been consumed by their respective capital cities are described as 'city states'. Union City is the second largest of the six remaining city states after the acquisition of Asio-City. Within this socio-political milieu, the national intelligence agency ASIO wield a great deal of power.After the 'Euro-American War', all participants agreed upon a set of ideals described as the 'neo democratic principles' which remove all labour representation and social benefits. Ironically, those that subscribe to these principles are called 'Unions', contrasting the real world definition of what a trade union pushes for. Those that oppose the Unions' ideals are called 'Corporations'.
All of the City States in Australia are either Corporations or Unions.The larger political context of the game involves a conflict between Union City and the Hobart Corporation, whereby they are each trying to achieve market dominance by the use of sabotage. During the game, characters in Union City remark that Hobart Corporation is winning the 'economic war' by flooding the market with 'cheap, gimmicky garbage,' although it is never clarified whether this is mere propaganda.PlotThe immediate backstory is introduced via a comic book that tells the story of a young boy called Robert who is the sole survivor of a helicopter crash in 'the Gap' (the name applied to the Outback at the time of the game). Too young to fend for himself, Robert is adopted by a group of locals, who teach him the skills he needs to survive in this harsh new environment; they name him Robert Foster, partly due to him being fostered by them, but also because of the discovery of an empty can of Foster's Lager found near the crash site. Over the years, Foster learns engineering and technology and builds a talking, sentient robot called Joey.
Joey's personality is stored on a small circuit board, which can easily be inserted and removed from many types of robot. This allows him to change bodies as the situation requires, provided his circuit board is not damaged. His commentaries on the current 'shell' he is in are a running gag throughout the game.As the game starts, Foster is kidnapped and his tribe annihilated by security soldiers sent from Union City by its all-powerful computer, LINC (Logical Inter-Neural Connection). The abductors refuse to give Foster any explanation as to what is happening.
Shortly upon arriving in the city, the helicopter malfunctions and crashes in the city's upper level. Foster survives and flees, making his way into a recycling plant, carrying Joey's circuit board with him. Video Review and Screenshots.
Platforms: | PC, Mac, Amiga, Amiga CD32 |
Publisher: | Virgin Interactive |
Developer: | Revolution Software |
Genres: | Adventure / Point and Click |
Release Date: | 1994 |
Game Modes: | Singleplayer |
Beneath a Steel Sky is set in an apocalyptic future, time and location unspecified. The introduction itself tips you off that this isn’t your standard 1994 CD-ROM release. Instead of the usual digitized video or 3D-modeled graphic images we’ve come to expect in a new release, the prologue is told through a series of static, comic-book style images supplemented by a relatively deadpan narrative.
The intro tells the story of Robert Foster — the character whom you’ll play as — who was orphaned after the helicopter carrying him and his mother crashed in “The Gap,” a wilderness area outside the polluted, overcrowded, totalitarian metropolis of Union City. After being rescued by a band of inhabitants from the Gap, you were raised in an atmosphere of freedom and independence, and are now happy and content — until Union City Security forces arrive to take you back “home.”
A good part of the game’s puzzles aren’t extremely challenging for veteran players, though many of them do require you to link seemingly disparate clues and objects. But after you run into Hobbins, a maintenance man working in the building where you’ve taken refuge as you try to evade the Union City Security, you’ll realize that the game’s real appeal lies in talking to the warped characters which U.K.-based Revolution Software has created.
Everyone you meet, from the working-class Hobbins to the arrogant supervisor Gilbert Lamb to the small-minded bureaucrat Mr. Pitts, has a distinct personality, thanks in large part to the decision to go with a CD-ROM release. If you were reading the puns, one-liners, and extended diatribes from these folks, you’d probably think the writing is only slightly above average; but when you hear the voice actors delivering the lines, it changes the experience entirely. And there are more than a few subtle references, many British, that are especially hilarious.
The interface is simple but functional: a single cursor is used for every task, from picking up objects and using them to questioning characters or examining your surroundings. The result is that unlike some graphic adventures, you never have to fiddle with switching between icons; just move the cursor around the screen, and if there’s an object to look at/use or a person to look at or talk to, just click the appropriate mouse button.
But while the controls are good, the game does have some annoying throwbacks. Chief of these are some of the time-based puzzles, which are essentially point and click races. Them quibbles aside, Beneath a Steel Sky is overall an enjoyable retro adventure.
System Requirements: 386 CPU, 4 MB RAM, DOS
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