'Beyond a Steel Sky' comes to Apple Arcade tomorrow
The sequel to 'Beneath a Steel Sky' will also make its way to Steam in July.
Beyond a Steel Sky, the sequel to classic 1994 point-and-click adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky, hits Apple Arcade on Friday, with a Steam release slated for July. Developer Revolution Software shared a launch trailer that shows what new and returning players can expect from the sequel.
Beyond a Steel Sky once again sees players assume the role of series protagonist Robert Foster. After what seems like a lengthy absence, Foster has returned to Union City, the dystopian metropolis where the original game took place. While the city has changed, he still manages to find some of the characters that made his first visit so colorful, including Joey, the sentient robot that helped solve puzzles in the original.
Beneath a Steel Sky was one of the first video games to give non-playable characters (NPCs) a schedule. They would wander around a scene. By 2020 standards, that's a feature you see in almost every game, but in 1994 it was groundbreaking. This time around, Revolution has developed AI the studio claims makes NPCs willful and motivated. The system allows for "interesting" and "emergent" solutions to gameplay puzzles, according to Revolution.
It also appears the sequel maintains its predecessor's sometimes silly and zany tone. Beyond being a must-play in a genre that includes heavyweights like The Secret of Monkey Island, Beneath a Steel Sky was a big deal in 1994 for uniting the talents of Charles Cecil and Dave Gibbons. Gibbons is best known for collaborating with Alan Moore on Watchmen, while Cecil is the co-founder of Revolution Software. Besides Beneath a Steel Sky, the studio is best known for its work on the Broken Sword series. Both Cecil and Gibbons worked on Beyond a Steel Sky.
Apple Arcade costs $5 per month. A subscription allows you to play the game (and many others) on iOS, tvOS and macOS. If you haven't played Beneath a Steel Sky, you can grab a free copy on GOG. A remastered version of the game is also available on iOS for $3.
