Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)

[b]My Playtime:[/b] 4.1h (finished the game) [h1]Intro[/h1] [i]Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)[/i] is a point-and-click game set in a universe with advanced technology. You play as Robert Foster, a man who lived outside the city until people started coming to take him alive with no explanation, leading him into a city with several floors above the ground. Your goal is to return to the ground floor and figure out why you are wanted. [b]Pros:[/b] - Detailed worldbuilding [b]Cons:[/b] - Confusing controls - It's easy to get killed [b]Specs[/b] AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D, 16GB RAM, AMD Radeon RX 9060 XT [h1]Should you play this game?[/h1] [i]The game seems to have aged. Unless you have played the game and are in for the nostalgia, you'd be better off not playing this one.[/i] [hr][/hr] [h1]In-Depth Review[/h1] [h3]Story[/h3] Dialogues are mostly there for the sake of progression. The game also explains the world the characters lived in. In my opinion, they are well thought out. It has a lot of originality and makes the game unique. However, that's all the story has. The dialogues tend to be bland most of the time, and the only saving grace is the main character's robotic companion, which has an attitude that is reflected in its dialogues. The open-ended ending gives a nice room for the sequel, [url=https://store.steampowered.com/app/1146310/Beyond_a_Steel_Sky/][i]Beyond a Steel Sky[/i][/url] ([url=https://steamcommunity.com/profiles/76561198132503739/recommended/1146310]my review[/url]), though. [h3]The Game[/h3] [b]Gameplay[/b] The game starts with a cutscene with no subtitles. The voice was full of noise and hard to listen to, and they were presented with a slideshow rather than an animation. Still, for a game that old, it's understandable given the limitations. However, the same can't be said for the controls. The game never specifies how to use an object or even save the game, to the point that I thought it wanted me to finish the game in one sitting. Luckily, a simple online search will show how to do these things, although I would appreciate it if the game explained it anyway. Being a point-and-click game, you are supposed to explore the area, pick up objects, and talk to people. Sometimes, finding the object that you can use with your items can be challenging since some of them are small and concealed around another object that can also be interacted with. Moreover, the game has a lot of areas that you can explore. Most of these areas are still accessible even after you reach new locations, and you are supposed to move between the old and new locations to progress the game. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3417782198 The numerous screens and the cryptic puzzle mean that it will be hard to solve the puzzles. Some of them are almost impossible to figure out unless you know what you are doing. For example, there is this puzzle where you are supposed to talk to someone who is moving to different locations from time to time, and the dialogue will only unlock after you do a certain action. Unless you are talking to everyone after you progress the game a tiny bit, there is no way you'll know what to do next. Moreover, the game can be quite buggy when you are talking to people who walk around. There is an animation that will make them walk to a certain location, and if your original position blocks the path, the game will freeze a bit before you can control the game, removing all interactions that are supposed to happen. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3366012504 I hate the instant deaths. They are unpredictable and getting more frequent as you are nearing the end. Moreover, some of them don't make sense either, requiring you to do trial and error to figure out what went wrong. Furthermore, the game only has manual save, and getting unexpected death means that you need to rely on your latest manual save and hope it's not too far from where you were. The puzzles don't make sense. You can talk to the NPCs to figure out the context and what went wrong, but sometimes they won't give any. You are supposed to know what the game wants and spend time figuring out how to proceed on your own without hints. This just forces you to waste time searching for what to do if you play the game blind. [b]Length and Difficulty[/b] I finished the game in 4.1h. I played the game blind at first and then got softlocked in the second area. I ended up replaying the game from scratch after that and consulted a guide to avoid the same mistake. The game can be hard to finish if you play blind, although there are many guides that you can look up online if you need some help. [h1]Conclusion[/h1] [i]Beneath a Steel Sky (1994)[/i] sure has dated. The controls instruction is nonexistent, and the game's difficulty mostly stems from the fact that there are many areas to explore with so few hints of progression. Playing the game blind will make it frustrating to progress, while playing it with a guide will most likely beat the purpose of playing the game. Since the dialogue is pretty much mediocre, I'd rather not recommend this game.

Achei bem interessante como ele mesclou os assuntos mais sérios da temática e história mais pesadas com o humor, mas sem parecer divergências criativas ou algo assim, sabe? Agora, o que realmente brilha nesse jogo é o design do gênio Dave Gibbons, sensacional! Tem um fator pixel hunt que pode incomodar novatos do gênero, mas no geral diria que é um Adventure excelente, gratuito e que felizmente está perfeitamente jogável nos sistemas modernos via emulação.

Oyun aşırı güzel grafikleri 1994 yılına göre bence aşırı iyi şahsen ben böyle oyunlara hastayım.

Classic point and click game. Relatively good for its time and it's given free. There's a bug with the sound, that every time you switch surroundings in the game the sound will return to maximum volume. Take note that arre several places in the game that you can die unexpectedly and the game doesn't save automatically, so you should save manually every once in a while.

Replaying Beneath a Steel Sky almost 30 years after I first played it was a bit like opening a time capsule and discovering that most of the contents still work. Sure, it's impossible to judge a 1994 adventure game by modern standards, but what surprised me most is how well the story holds up. For a game that's over three decades old, the writing, world-building, and characters remain sufficently engaging. The gameplay naturally shows its age, but that's part of the charm. More importantly, if you're planning to play Beyond a Steel Sky, I'd strongly recommend starting here. The sequel benefits enormously from knowing the original story, characters, and setting, and several moments simply land better if you've taken the journey from the beginning. A classic that has aged far better than many games half its age.

Классика жанра, да еще и бесплатная!

[h1]《钢铁苍穹之下》鉴赏：来自32年前的手绘赛博朋克点击AVG[/h1] 《钢铁苍穹之下》估计是我玩过最老的游戏之一了。它是1994年的一款点击式AVG冒险游戏，基本玩法就是和物品互动、和环境互动、和角色对话，再加上一些对话选项，没有任何战斗桥段。放到今天来看，这当然已经是一种非常古老的游戏形式，但也正因为如此，玩这种三十多年前的作品时，会非常明显地感受到一些我之前在《辐射1》《辐射2》鉴赏里也提到过的东西——时代的伤痕。 [h2]老游戏最大的时代伤痕：你必须和开发者对上电波[/h2] 很多老游戏首先有一个非常明显的问题，就是极其依赖攻略。因为很多时候，只要你和开发者的电波对不上，就会直接卡关。《钢铁苍穹之下》还算幸运，Steam社区里有一份非常详细又简练的指南，我后来基本就是跟着它一路玩下来的。但大家知道，我这个人玩游戏从来都不喜欢看攻略，除非我实在不行。可这款游戏之前有一个地方，我在那里卡了20分钟，实在受不了了，最后只能去看。一开始我还以为这只是个偶然情况，毕竟现代游戏当然也会有卡关，只不过非常少见。说实话，我玩现代游戏，感觉玩100个小时可能都不会有1个小时是在纯粹卡关。但这种老游戏完全不是这样。《钢铁苍穹之下》没有任务标识，也几乎没有现代意义上详细的互动提示，基本所有事情都需要你自己去对电波。你要记得前面发生了什么，后面发生了什么，自己手里有什么东西，然后突然想到：这个和那个是不是能够组合起来？ 问题是，它偏偏又是一款那个年代的低分辨率像素画面游戏，所以很多时候你卡关甚至都不是因为谜题本身有多难，而是因为场景里有某一个关键道具，你压根没有看见。它可能藏在地面的一块污渍里，可能贴在墙上，看起来只是一个裂缝。我有很多次卡关，最后一看攻略才发现：哦，原来这里还有一个可以捡的东西。这真的非常要命。当然，它毕竟是1994年的游戏。当时这种类型对于玩家引导的设计方法论还远远没有今天这么成熟，甚至整个时代对于电子游戏的理解都不一样。那时候很多游戏本来就是默认你会去查攻略书的。如果大家不知道的话，以前甚至还有游戏客服热线，你卡关以后可以直接打电话过去，会有人专门告诉你接下来应该怎么走，任天堂当年就有类似的服务。所以放在那个年代，卡关以后去查攻略完全是一件正常的事情。你和游戏对不上电波，那你就找攻略。但如果用今天的标准来看，这显然就是一种设计上的失败。 [h2]独木桥的问题[/h2] 单从这一点来说，其实我并不怎么推荐大家完全不看攻略去玩《钢铁苍穹之下》。因为我真的很难相信，有多少人能够在完全不查攻略的情况下顺利把它打通。它有时候会要求你在地上捡一个看起来像污渍的小白点；有时候又要你从墙上找到一个看起来像裂缝的工具。更麻烦的是，它里面很多所谓的解谜设计都非常像一座独木桥：你必须先做这个，再做那个，而且顺序往往只有这一条。问题在于，你仔细想也未必能够自然想到那个答案。比如有一个地方，你需要用一张卡去把锁划开。你看到一个被锁住的东西，正常情况下可能会去找钥匙，或者寻找其他开锁方式，但游戏要求你想到：我要把物品栏里的ID卡拿出来，用这张卡去划开它。整个游戏里有非常多类似的情况。 这就是为什么我后来几乎全程把攻略放在旁边。短短四五个小时里，你真的可能卡关几十次。如果没有那份攻略，我觉得自己很可能早就弃坑了。 [h2]但它的画面直到今天看起来依然很漂亮[/h2] 虽然游戏设计上的时代痕迹非常明显，但它好的地方也同样很明显，其中我非常喜欢的一点就是它的美术。严格来说，我们甚至不能把它叫作今天意义上的像素风。现在的游戏做成像素画面，是主动选择了一种像素美术风格；但1994年的开发者不是选择做成这样，而是当时的技术条件只能做到这种样子。可即便如此，《钢铁苍穹之下》的画面依然非常精美。它有一种很明显的预渲染质感，很多场景直到今天看起来都很漂亮，也会让我想起小时候玩《主题医院》之类作品时看到的那种画面。当然，《主题医院》其实还比它更晚一些。所以回头看一款32年前的游戏，你会发现它在视觉层面其实相当有魅力。那种低分辨率、预渲染、带着明显年代感的科幻场景，反而形成了一种今天很难主动复制出来的气质。 其实，游戏场景都是手绘的铅笔画然后扫描进去的！ ”设计师们的目标是打造漫画与电子游戏图形之间的视觉桥梁。吉本斯用铅笔绘制背景， 先从粗略图开始，这些草稿被送往Revolution公司，以评估其技术上是否可行。一旦达成一致，吉本斯将制作最终的草图。铅笔草图随后由莱斯·佩斯上色。背景在Macintosh上扫描为24位、1000x1000像素、1600万色图像，随后转换为PC版8位、320x200像素、256色图像。“ [h2]32年前的仿生人与赛博朋克[/h2] 更让我觉得有意思的是，它的设定和叙事概念其实相当超前。你想想，那是在1994年，它已经在做一款涉及仿生人、赛博朋克以及未来社会的科幻作品。具体剧情我就不详细剧透了，但仅仅从题材本身来说，它放到那个年代已经很有意思。而且它的视觉气质并不是今天最常见的那种霓虹灯、紫色蓝色、高科技都市式现代赛博朋克。我一开始甚至不知道该不该把它叫柴油朋克，它给我的感觉反而有一点像《辐射1》《辐射2》那种老式科幻美学。后来我突然想到一个更合适的参照：有些场景其实很像《阿基拉》。这种老派、肮脏、工业化，同时又拥有未来科技元素的城市画面，我个人其实非常喜欢。它不像今天很多作品已经形成套路的现代赛博朋克视觉，而是带着一种非常属于那个年代的未来想象。 [h2]一个非常少见的舞台：悉尼[/h2] 这款游戏还有一个我特别感兴趣的地方，就是它设定在悉尼。其实以悉尼为舞台的游戏非常少。你如果不仔细看的话，在《钢铁苍穹之下》里甚至不太容易认出来，因为它并没有把悉尼那些特别明显的标志性地标直接摆到你面前。但你仔细看里面的一些站名，就会发现它确实是在对应现实中的悉尼。比如Central、Museum、Saint James这些站名。Saint James站就在海德公园附近，如果大家去看悉尼市中心的地图，会发现这些关系确实能够对应上。Saint James旁边也确实有大教堂，下一站也确实是Museum。所以虽然它没有依靠悉尼歌剧院之类的标志性建筑来告诉你这里是悉尼，但在这些城市结构和名称上，还是能够找到现实对应关系。 这也是为什么我会在现在来玩这款32年前的游戏。我这次去澳大利亚之前，想找一些设定在澳大利亚的作品提前玩。你当然可以说《极限竞速：地平线3》，但如果想找一款真正以悉尼作为背景的游戏，选择实在太少了。我找了一圈，可能也就是《环太平洋》相关作品、《钢铁苍穹之下》，以及它后来的续作。对我来说，这种现实和虚拟之间产生联系的感觉，本身就是我现在选择游戏时很重要的一部分。 [h2]20多年以后，它居然又出了一部续作[/h2] 更有意思的是，《钢铁苍穹之下》后来居然还有一部续作。一代叫《Beneath a Steel Sky》，也就是《钢铁苍穹之下》；隔了二十多年以后，又推出了一部《Beyond a Steel Sky》，也就是《钢铁苍穹之外》。我也觉得这件事情非常神奇。一个这么老的点击冒险游戏，隔了这么多年突然又做了一部续作出来。之后我应该也会去玩那一部。 续作本质上应该依然是这种偏剧情、点击互动式的AVG，只不过从2D变成了3D，而且美术风格也发生了非常明显的变化。一代是这种偏老式科幻、甚至有点《阿基拉》和早期《辐射》味道的美术；续作则明显更靠近今天大家熟悉的现代赛博朋克风格。单纯从现在看到的风格来说，我个人反而更喜欢一代这种感觉。 [h2]值得一玩，但你最好把攻略放在旁边[/h2] 所以最后如果让我总结《钢铁苍穹之下》，它是一款非常典型的老游戏。它有极其明显的时代伤痕。玩家引导几乎不存在，很多关键互动根本看不出来，谜题的解法又经常只有一条非常狭窄的独木桥。如果你和开发者没有对上电波，就只能卡在那里。有时候你甚至不是不会解谜，而是根本没有发现地面上那个像污渍一样的东西居然是关键道具。这种设计今天看来真的非常折磨人。 但另一方面，它的美术直到现在依然很有魅力，低分辨率预渲染场景拥有非常独特的年代质感；它在1994年就已经开始讲仿生人、未来社会和赛博朋克，概念本身非常有意思；以悉尼作为舞台也相当少见，而且一些车站和城市结构确实能够和现实对应。整个游戏大概就是四五个小时左右，所以如果你对老式点击冒险、早期赛博朋克美学，或者这种游戏史上的老作品有兴趣，它确实值得一玩。只是一定要做好一个心理准备：[b]把攻略一直放在旁边。[/b]因为在这么短的流程里，你真的可能卡关几十次。我自己如果没有Steam社区那份攻略，大概率早就弃坑了。但抛开这些非常明显的时代设计问题，它依然是一款让我觉得很有意思的32年前的老游戏。