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Beneath a Steel Sky review
Meh
by superlifi

As a classic in the point-and-click games, I was hoping to see a far more playable and enjoyable game. I did like the story it tried to tell (not my first choice, but still enjoyable), the humor was fairly good (I just loved the factory man), the art was the type I was looking for and even the soundtrack was reasonably enjoyable! So far so good, at least okay so far - and I was looking into it.

However, here's where it gets troubling. The playing part.

When I think of point-and-click games, I hope there's some kind of hint system that is based at least on the conversations we have with the characters we meet. However, instead of hinting on what's the next thing to do with that, we often get stuck and with absolutely no idea of what to do. Most of the time combining objects and people would do something, but even that seems like a dead-end here. I am guessing timing also play a part. Even worse is that we can't review information we've learned before: when we try to speak with characters we're interviewed before, it doesn't review past informations (the only dialogue is 'Never mind', closing the interaction).

To advance in the game, we need to do very specific actions, and we won't get anywhere if we try to half-solve other puzzles before. This also brings a problem because I had no idea where to start. I know where I want to go, but I don't know if I need to solve all the other puzzles before I can go to step two on this specific puzzle.

I had to go to UHS Hint System and even there it was troubling and hard to figure out what to do, as I said previously. 

I am really disappointed in this game and I'm not sure if I will finish it. It's too hard and complicated to solve puzzles, and the storytelling doesn't develop much past "I need to get out of here and go back to where I grew up". That is all. No subplots, nothing. It's pretty easy to just get tired of the main plot, since it feels like we're never moving forward, nothing happens, the interactions are barely relevant, and we get stuck so many times. I know I have an hard time with puzzles in point-and-click games, but this one was really not smooth at all. I am not this 'dumb' and often need only a couple hints to get through some specific puzzles.

It's a pity and really a little disappointment. I'm sad, because I really was willing to try hard.
«Disappointment of the year»

Other reviews2

An amazing point-and-click. As soon as the opening cutscene started, I got hooked right away. The characters, the cyberpunk universe, fully dubbed, etc. Within three hours, I'd finished my playthrough and this game is now officially one of my favorites point-and-click. Why is it free, though? I would have gladly paid for it, like I have with "I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream".