Old Skies

It is with a heavy heart that I write this review, because even though I'm a long-time fan of Wadjet Eye's work, this game in my eyes is the worst by far. While I don't think it's bad per se, it's just... very weak. So much in this game feels under-cooked and under-prepared: the story is often nonsensical (I think this game tackles time travel rather poorly), most of the puzzles are silly fillers like "use lockpick on door", there's a crapload of backtracking in some parts and the art style is just... ugly as sin, especially in the close-up scenes. I can say that chapters 1-3 are quite weak (especially 3, sheesh), chapter 4 is excellent, chapter 5 is quite good, and while it does start very weak chapter 6 ends with a banger of a puzzle. It's a shame that the following epilogue and ending are... well, what they are. Play only if you don't mind adventure games that are mostly walking simulators with a few good puzzles thrown here and there, and are willing to listen to a somewhat weak sci-fi anthology while applying suspension of disbelief. A WHOLE LOT of suspension of disbelief.

"Made for a modern audience"? Sadly yes. Thankfully the main character Fia Quinn is not a girl-boss, but is filled with flaws and doubts, but the narrative keeps hunting for checkmarks and not to offend. It makes the story toothless. We follow a black female boxer back in time to 1871. Are people sexist or racist towards her? No! All is fine. With a timejump-concept like this, It is a huge missed opportunity. Let them be sexist and racist - so we can reflect over their time-based ignorance. That is how you get a better world - and story.

All right, I came into Old Skies thinking it could be another Technobabylon (would highly recommend that, btw, easy cyberpunk classic), not realizing that Wadjet Eye is a publisher in addition to being a developer and Technobabylon is from another smaller studio. Oh boy. Old skies, what subversion of expectations have I stepped into? This is the single WORST adventure game I have ever played, and I don't say that lightly. I have been through a lot of trash, but this one piles it so high it's hard to know where to start. There is a commonly used plot device, the twist ending, which requires quite a bit of setup. A good twist ending never comes out of the blue. It is foreshadowed in hints peppered throughout the story that may seem innocuous or incomprehensible at first glance but coalesce to force the viewer to reframe the entire narrative through another lens. A good example of this, actually something of a benchmark for the employment of twist setup, is a film like the Shawshank Redemption where Andy Dufresne, the mc, who throughout the film is shown suffering and finding ways to accommodate his new reality of being an inmate, Then the escape scene happens, and all the little tricks that he pulled to dig a tunnel and avoid scrutiny are revealed as his long con. And then you realize all the things that led up to this moment that you didn't notice this before. Well, Old Skies tried doing this. And it comes off as a deus ex machina. I will try to avoid spoiling as much as I can, but it involves faking one's death. Problem is, throughout the game, one of the core mechanics is this death rewind feature, and you go through many scenarios where you save yourself and other characters from impossible death scenarios through charting an optimal course through rote memorization - like Edge of Tomorrow's "Live. Die. Repeat." In the end you are told that the rewind won't work. But not because you try and fail, as the game doesn't even let you try. Whatever scheme the main character, Fia, concocted works because it fades to black and you're told about some cool stuff happening in the epilogue. The End. To me it seems like they ran out of money or time or something and had to slap an ending on in the last month of production. But this isn't even the worst of it, oh no. Look, I can tolerate a terrible ending like I can tolerate being forced to eat a piece of chalk after a fabulous 5-star meal. If 95% of the game were great and worth playing, I would recommend it even if it breaks its hip on the landing. We don't get that. Beyond the terrible writing, the worldbuilding is threadbare and total ass. The main character works for ChronoZen, a combination of a timecop / tour guide government agency. We are led to believe in the first chapter that ChronoZen timeline interference protocols are extremely strict, where everything has to be meticulously checked for impact and that time agents are regulated and put under lock and key. However, that couldn't be further from the road that Old Skies goes down. By the middle of this game we are seemingly taking requests from multiple people to rewrite a fortune 500 company. "Medium impact." (WTF?) When ChronoZen agents literally kill people for trying to, I dunno, prevent a person from dying, or a minor crime lord dying requires another to fill his place immediately or the timeline would suffer major damage? When you can willy nilly rewrite a Fortune 500 company? The whole concept of even having time regulation in this setting is so stupid that it requires a player to suspend all of his logical faculties while playing this dumpster fire. Finally, there are other, smaller things about Old Skies that betrays a lack of care and attentiveness to the setting. A lot of the charm in adventure games happens in the margins, in scenes with enough points of interest extraneous to the plot that allow for the wonder of discovery as the player character comments on the things that he or she sees, to add convenient layers of complexity to the character and the setting. You get none of that here. Why are points of interest even clickable when Fia says nothing about them and the only thing you learn is from tiny popups with a pithy line describing the object. Even the somewhat entertaining looks at alternate timeline social media profiles is a gimmick that ends midway through the game because Fia just says she won't look. I just call this laziness. Lack of time, money, or whatever just to deliver this turd.

Absolutely phenomenal game in the same mould as LucasArts golden age genre greats. It makes great use of it's timetravel shtick both in the narrative and for puzzle solving, and it lends itself really well to an almost episodic format with each chapter being largely-self contained. I say "largely", there is an overarching meta-narrative which tells a beautiful, tragic story about love, loss and regret. Fun, interesting - albeit not hugely difficult - puzzles, woven neatly into the narrative; absolutely stellar voice acting; and a phenomenal soundtrack make this one of my top picks in the genre in recent years.

This is a lot closer to a visual novel than to the point and clicks of old. I didn't get into the story - YMMV.

This game was incredible, I would play any and every version or sequel released. Engaging characters, perfect level of puzzle, and the storyline was genius.

Absolutely loved it. The game flowed naturally, and I didn't really get stuck much either (quite the compliment for a point-and-click adventure :'D), and also the music was quite to my tastes too. The characters, narration, and themes were quite captivating and natural, and I really liked the whole time travel keeper concept as such. I'll have to replay it again to get the remaining achievements sometime. Sigh... maybe One Day™ I could become a ChronoZen agent too.

Time travel mechanics were new to me and fun to play I really enjoyed the script, characters and voicing ! Don't refer to my playtime, you could probably half it. The game was often running without me and I had to slow play with my other hand because of an injury (thanks for making these single handed days a bit better ;-) )

Мене досить легко заінтригувати історією про подорожі в часі. Зазвичай я беруся за неї, щоб розбити в пух і прах. Не подумайте, це не guilty pleasure: я дійсно люблю класні, логічні хронофантастичні твори, просто вони трапляються вкрай рідко. Почувши про [b]Old Skies[/b], я одразу зацікавився: відгуки обіцяли не тільки міцну історію про подорожі в часі, а й прекрасний класичний квест. Тож я почав грати і щойно мені пояснили, як тут працюють мандри в часі, подумав, що це максимальний абсурд, і серйозно сприймати я цей твір не зможу. Проте зрештою я сприйняв його доволі серйозно. Будемо чесні — навіть сльозу пустив. Загалом справа у коректно налаштованій оптиці. [b]Old Skies[/b] використовує подорожі в часі не для того, щоби побудувати серйозну наукову фантастику (хоч і містить у собі цікаві фантастичні ідеї), а для того, щоби поговорити на вічні теми про помилки і вибори та відповідно зачепити емоційні струни. Десь на цьому ж полі грав бестселер Тосікадзу Каваґучі “Доки кава не охолоне”, проте в авторській грі Дейва Ґілберта все не настільки солодкаво і поверхнево. Old Skies розповідає кілька історій з робочого процесу Фії Квін: вона працює в організації, яка за замовленням змінює певні події в минулому, або ж просто возить мандрівників у минуле, щоб вони згадали молодість чи познайомилися з кумиром, який загинув ще до їхнього народження. Кожен такий кейс зазвичай призводить до змін у теперішньому, і, повертаючись з чергового завдання, Фія читає свою біографію і щоразу дізнається про себе щось нове. Як саме ці зміни працюють, що таке хронохвилі і чому Фія наприкінці кожного робочого дня прямує в бар, я не розповідатиму і залишу вам для особистого знайомства. А я дуже раджу це знайомство провести, якщо раптом досі незрозуміло. В [b]Old Skies[/b] варто грати не тільки заради історії, а й через те, що це справді гарний квест. Страшно навіть уявити, коли я востаннє грав у point and click quest — невже це було щось із серії [b]Deponia[/b]? Хоча, як представник жанру, [b]Old Skies[/b] мені сподобався більше: всі загадки логічні, і тут нема й натяку на піксельхантинг. В будь-якому разі тут навіть є кнопка для підсвітки усіх активних зон. Навіть якщо ви застрягнете, то завжди можете зателефонувати його асистенту і запитати, що робити далі: так ви не тільки отримаєте підказку, а й матимете змогу почути унікальний діалог. Інвентар ніколи не переповнений, дурних комбінацій предметів нема — все дуже чітко і прямолінійно. При цьому загадки не назвеш надто простими: тут дійсно змусять добре подумати. Важливою ознакою сильної історії для мене є те, що я пройшов [b]Old Skies[/b] ще три місяці тому, але досі добре його памʼятаю. Дейв Гілберт зміг створити насичену оповідь із яскравими персонажами, які викликають щирий відгук: за них переживаєш, із ними смієшся, сумуєш і врешті-решт зустрічаєш неминучий фінал. Якби [b]Old Skies[/b] вийшла років 30 тому десь поруч з серіями [b]Broken Sword[/b] і [b]Monkey Island[/b], то зараз би вона вважалася безсмертною класикою. А так — доводиться лише констатувати, що вона чудово переносить у минуле. Що ж, для гри про часові парадокси це найкращий комплімент.

Phenomenal. It feels like lightning in a bottle - there's excellent story, strong VA, moderate puzzles (minimal moon-logic) and it doesn't wear out its welcome. Time travel is such an incredibly difficult storytelling device, let alone game mechanic, and not only does Old Skies make it feel believable, it feels perfectly natural.