Beyond a Steel Sky

You're unlikely to find a more divisive game than this adventure anytime soon. Fans of Beyond a Steel Sky's cult hit predecessor -- Beneath a Steel Sky -- will be thrilled to return to the game's world (and might overlook its flaws because of that). Old school adventure game fans, who don't mind having extensive conversations with characters and challenging puzzles might also find some charm here. But if you're coming in with no knowledge of the world and anything less than a devotion to the genre, you might find it lacking.

The game's long on exposition and story -- and tells it at a slow pace. And speeding past the conversations is spotty. That'd be fine if the voice acting were stellar, but in this case, it's not. The readings veer from flat to overly emoted, depending on the character, never settling into a realistic tone. And that's jarring when you hear them so frequently. The game's also full of bugs. Characters will often try to walk through you, walking in place until you move or not facing you during a conversation. The controls themselves are imperfect as well. Focusing on an object to interact with it can be challenging at times and movement is often as jerky as the game's animation. That said, there are some redeeming qualities. The game lets you solve some of its puzzles in multiple ways. And the visual style works perfectly with the storyline. While it's not as funny as it thinks it is, Steel Sky does try to break out of the gloomy cyberpunk genre from time to time. You might fall in love with it. You might hate it and quit after just a few minutes. But you're definitely not going to be uncertain about how you feel about this game.