But if word of the existence of this endangered species gets out, it will destroy any chance of InterWest, a multi-national natural gas company, building an oil pipeline that would bring the company billions of dollars across Wyoming, through the mountains and forests of Twelve Sleep. Even after the "outfitter murders," as they have been dubbed by the local press after the discovery of the two more bodies, are solved, Joe continues to investigate, uneasy with the easy explanation offered by the local police.Īs Joe digs deeper into the murders, he soon discovers that the outfitter brought more than death to his backdoor: he brought Joe an endangered species, thought to be extinct, which is now living in his woodpile. There had to be a reason that the outfitter, with whom he's had run-ins before, chose his backyard, his woodpile to die in. When he finds a local hunting outfitter dead, splayed out on the woodpile behind his state-owned home, he takes it personally.
What I very much like are the little details spread around the world – the holo adverts and posters are brilliant – whilst some museum exhibits are fantastic.Joe Pickett is the new game warden in Twelve Sleep, Wyoming, a town where nearly everyone hunts and the game warden-especially one like Joe who won't take bribes or look the other way-is far from popular. It’s a very clean system in regards the UI and menu allocation as well. It has a great colour palette in play, one that reminds a little of the Borderlands universe, especially in terms of character animations and faces. Visually though and Beyond a Steel Sky does a great job of updating the original world and turning it into a modern-day game. It’s not helped by the camera and movement systems which occasionally verge on the annoying – I’d much prefer them to be more accurate. That said, I do think the puzzles in Beyond a Steel Sky become a bit complicated at times, and you’ll certainly end up walking around a lot, trying this and that in order to solve things. There are numerous uses for this gameplay device and it’s certainly one of the highlights of the new additions. Swapping these two around will see the treadmill shooting out boxes at a high rate – whilst I won’t reveal the exact effect, it’s safe to say you may be able to use this for the solving of a puzzle. By hacking into both machines you will discover that they have “gentle” in the command line for the treadmill and “aggressive” in that of the smasher. For example, you may see a conveyor belt delivering boxes – next to it is a smasher, destroying waste.
Here you are presented with the workings of the machines via code, enabling you the chance to swap things up, changing how they work. You see, very early on in the game you get access to a scanner that is capable of hacking and with a touch of the RB button this device comes into play, letting you delve into the diagnostics of every machine or robot in the area. The dialogue itself has a comical tone, mixed with some heavy subject matter, as serious themes of class structure, slavery, and AI manipulation all become heavily involved.īeyond a Steel Sky comes with a nice new feature that works very well one that is intriguing to use. But I don’t think this matters as the story can be played by newcomers with ease, and it works neatly as an extra bonus for those who remember the first.
It’s strange going back to a world more than quarter of a century later, mostly as memories of those times are hazy at best. The world-building and writing of Beyond a Steel Sky are both top-notch and brilliantly realised. It’s then left for Foster to once again head off to Union City, all in order to track down the kids and revisit his past… He lives with a local tribe yet one day a machine arrives and kidnaps a host of children.
He has now been exiled from Union City and has found a good life in the Gaplands (a sort of desert wasteland). Beyond A Steel Sky is set ten years after the first game and once again you play the part of Robert Foster.
Revolutions Software has developed Beyond a Steel Sky and it is they who have had a decent track record with narrative adventures in years gone by, with the Broken Sword series of games a highlight.