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Beneath a Steel Sky FINALLY Gets a Sequel

Started by St_Eddie, March 27, 2019, 12:17:59 AM

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St_Eddie

At long last, a sequel to the classic comedic science fiction British adventure game, Beneath a Steel Sky (1994) has been announced, by original developer, Revolution Software (most famous for the Broken Sword series of adventure games).  The sequel is titled Beyond a Steel Sky.


Sadly, I feel that the trailer leaves a lot to be desired.  I was really hoping that any potential sequel would use gorgeous 2D hand painted backgrounds (à la Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse).  Instead it sports some rather visually unappealing 3D graphics (despite the involvement of the original game's famed comic book artist, Dave Gibbons).  I'm a firm believer that a 2D point & click system is by far the most appropriate method of interaction and graphics for a traditional adventure game.  Also, whilst Revolution Software has an exemplary history of making 2D classics, they have a bad track record when it comes to 3D games.

Still, beggars can't be choosers, I suppose.

NOTE: For those who've never played the original Beneath a Steel Sky, it's available for free over at GOG, DRM free.  I highly recommend playing it.

Twed

HEAVILY DISLIKE VISUALS

And that's 70% of what makes an adventure game. No lush artwork, no deal.

St_Eddie

Quote from: Twed on March 27, 2019, 12:21:52 AM
HEAVILY DISLIKE VISUALS

And that's 70% of what makes an adventure game. No lush artwork, no deal.

Sadly, I concur.  However, I've been hankering after a sequel for decades now, so there's no way that I won't be playing this.  None the less, the graphics are yet another horribly misguided attempt by developers of adventure games to appeal to non-genre fans.  It virtually never works.  The sooner that adventure game developers accept that it's a niche genre, the better.  I think that Revolution Software would have been a lot wiser to go the Kickstarter route with this (especially after the success of Broken Sword 5, which was funded via Kickstarter) and give the fans what they want; high quality 2D art by Dave Gibbons.

At this point, I just hope that Joey from the first game makes an appearance in the sequel.  I love that little guy.

Mister Six

Weird trailer. Bloke walking about, some trucks, glimpse of a contextual menu. No atmosphere, no story, no character. The sort of thing you'd expect to see from a little indie studio that's been told to put together a trailer in an hour.

samadriel

#4
It looks like the dusty wasteland and immediate entrance to the city is all they've made, so there's nothing to build a buzz with, just "you can really uninterestingly create a small bridge, and cross it".

You can see a smidge more of the game (incl. a nice snapshot of somewhere in the city that seems to take after the upper-class areas in the original game) and some Gibbons-y concept art in the video here, alongside some other games: https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2019/03/26/beneath-a-steel-sky-sequel-announced-for-pc/

Although even that video is selling how well the game will run on mobile, so... irrelevant to our tastes.

biggytitbo


Noonling

Quote from: Mister Six on March 27, 2019, 02:19:40 AM
Weird trailer. Bloke walking about, some trucks, glimpse of a contextual menu. No atmosphere, no story, no character. The sort of thing you'd expect to see from a little indie studio that's been told to put together a trailer in an hour.

That was my thought too. Heck, what they provided is worse than just mentioning "Hey, we're doing a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky". You would think they'd put something in to indicate the game has some sort of charm.


Twed

Yeah. What they put out is basically a statement that they would like some goodwill money.