| Publisher | Virgin Interactive |
| Developer | Revolution Software |
| Release date | 1994 |
| Genre | Adventure |
Beneath A Steel Sky was the second game of Revolution Software and was made in collaboration with legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons who provided a great deal of the artwork including a comic.
The game revolves around Robert Foster and his robotic sidekick Joey who are kidnapped from the Australian wasteland and taken to a mega city called Union City. The kidnapping fails, however, when the helicopter taking you to the city crashes allowing you to escape. The rest of the game ultimately revolves around you trying to figure out why you were kidnapped, by who and how to escape the city.
The game sports a very user-friendly interface using only the left & right mouse buttons for “look” and “use”. It also features the “Virtual Theater” system which allows characters in the game a life of their own, going home, taking the elevator, etc. This was the second using this system after Lure of the Temptress.
- Beneath A Steel Sky was only Revolution’s second game
- Dave Gibbons drew a small comic book telling the back story of the game. This was turned into an intro for the CD version
- A special demo was on the very first issue of PC Gamer (UK)
- The game was released as freeware in 2003
- Mrs Piermont (and her voice actress) returns in Broken Sword
- This game caused a rift between Charles Cecil (CEO) & Dave Cummins (script writer). Dave wanted a witty funny dialogue whereas Charles wished for a more Blade Runner type atmosphere with only serious overtones.
iOS release (2009)
Unlike Broken Sword, Beneath A Steel Sky never received a remaster for PC. However, Revolution did release a mobile version for the iPhone and iPad which has some extra additions such as updated animated cut scenes drawn by Dave Gibbons as well as an updated inventory and interface similar to that of Broken Sword.
Because the first iPhone only had a resolution of only 480×320, they “upscaled” the game from 320×200 to this resolution. Anyone who can do math will quickly see that this means every pixel needs to be scaled by 50% meaning the entire game has a soft look to it. Inventory items have been redrawn but the rest of the game has just been scaled without any sharpening or redrawing.
Another disappointing aspect is the sound quality which has not seen any improvement over the original game. It seems the original sound files have been lost or this was a quick & dirty port … .
Honestly, if you want to play this game on the go, just get SCUMMVM for Android and you’ll have access to many games including B.A.S.S.
- Walkthrough (credit: Tom Hayes)
Audio may be on the quiet side. Press F5 to enter menu to lower the music. For the CD version you can also turn on subtitles in this menu.
To save the game: press F5, click on the SAVE button and save your game. Then, press ESCAPE to unlock your mouse from the window and click on the little disk icon in the top left. This will locally store your save-games allowing you to return later and continue your save-game.
- Text & screenshots: RedAvatar
- PIB: DOS.ZONE
- Video: Indie James
- Box art: MobyGames
