Old Skies (Switch) Review

Gameplay

Graphics

Audio

Narrative

Summary: A time hopping cyberpunk adventure that beings some fun twists to the point-and-click formula.

4

Quantum Leap

Old Skies is the latest adventure from Wadjet Eye Games, who you might remember as the talented team behind the fantastic Unavowed. This time, the action shifts from the supernatural to a time-hopping cyberpunk adventure where the past is rewritten on an almost hourly basis.

In the near future, time travel is the providence of the rich and irresponsible. Where, for a small fortune, celebrities travel through time to… eat at the diner they frequented while they were at uni or ask a minor historical figure an ‘important’ question.

The problem is that this thriving industry has left the fabric of space-time in tatters. Not that anyone outside of the travel agents and some shady government cabal knows this to be the case.

History is rewritten whenever a minor action taken by the rich on their jaunts through time butterfly effects its way through the ages. This ‘Chronishifting’ of the current timeline puts the world of Old Skies in a constant state of flux as people and places blink in and out of existence on an almost moment by moment basis, to the point that you might have a husband and kids by your first after-work drink and never be married by your second.

Players take on the role of Fia Quinn, employed by ChronoZen to accompany the rich and powerful into the past and make sure they don’t mess it up too much.

Throughout the game you accompany six prestigious figures with far more money than sense as they take trips to the past and inevitably screw something up.

This being a point-and-click adventure, though, there are still the usual find rag, combine rag with sludge, use sludge-soaked rag to open door type puzzles. However, these are also augmented with some fun time travel mechanics, which see you hopping between different periods to gain more information from NPCs after the fact, or using the future internet to find more information out about the people you encounter and their importance to the timeline.

Each chapter sees Fia take a different client into the past, though the basic setup is the same, thankfully, each time period and encounter is varied enough so the game never feels repetitive.

This is bolstered by a superb, well-researched script that does a marvelous job of balancing period-specific adventures with wider world-building and deep characterisation in its quieter moments.

You’re left wondering what kind of toll being a time traveller has. To be a part of the world, but forever separate from it. To have your life rewritten on an almost daily basis, but never truly live it.

It’s brought to life by a lovely hand-drawn art style with matte painting backgrounds and a laid-back score by Unavowed composer Thomas Regin, and solid performances by the main cast, with Fia, her handler Nozzo, and her mentor Duffy’s chats between jobs in their local chronolocked cocktail bar a clear highlight.

Most of the time, the game clips along at a fairly steady pace, that is, until you get trapped in one of the Dark Skies’ onerous time loops that happen whenever Fia is killed on the job. This can happen repeatedly until you figure out a solution that doesn’t end with a hatchet in Fias face or a bullet in her gut. The problem is that the solution isn’t always clear, and going round in circles doing slight variations of the same thing until something clicks is maddening. When a character starts complaining about your game mechanic maybe it’s a sign you need to cut it, rather than highlight that it sucks.

Final Thoughts

Old Skies is a surprisingly touching cyberpunk adventure with some great performances and neat time-hopping twists to the standard point-and-click formula.

The puzzles, for the most part, are challenging, yet grounded, with almost no moon logic to trip up on. Though dying half a dozen times in some of the more high-stakes encounters (Often by design) does derail the otherwise well-paced action.

If you enjoyed Disavowed, chances are Old Skies is already on your radar. However, if you’re in the mood for a solid point and click with a cracking script, and some serious existential stakes. Old SKies is well worth putting on your horrendous jumpsuit and diving through the nearest wormhole for.

About the Author

Gareth Newnham

Old Skies (Switch) Review