'Beyond A Steel Sky' Is A Spiritual Successor To A Beloved 1994 2D Adventure Classic

Secure the Steel Sky Steelbook on Switch!

by Kate Gray Thu 2nd Sep 2021

Every now and again, it pays off to be a fan of a cult classic, and today is that day for anyone who was hoping for a sequel to Beneath a Steel Sky, Revolution Software's dystopian point-and-click adventure game from 1994. You held out for almost 30 years, and finally, you're about to get your just deserts when Beyond a Steel Sky comes to Nintendo Switch in the Year of Our Luigi 2021.

For those of you who didn't play the original, here's some background information: Revolution Software is one of the point-and-click darlings, with their Broken Sword series firmly cemented in the annals of adventure game history. Led by British designer Charles Cecil, the company has been making games since 1989, and Beneath a Steel Sky — their 1994 cyberpunk sci-fi game — also featured art and design from Dave Gibbons, the artist and co-creator of Watchmen.

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Beyond a Steel Sky, the "spiritual successor" to the original, is set ten years after the events of the first game, and came out on Apple Arcade and PC in 2020. Now, it's heading to consoles, with a November 30th release date, a new trailer, pre-order bonuses, and two special editions. That's a lot. Let's take a look:

Utopia Edition

A Unique Collector’s Box
An Exclusive Hologram Lamp
An Exclusive Steelbook® featuring comic artwork from Dave Gibbons
A 50-page Mini Artbook
The game on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch
The game’s Original Soundtrack (digital format)
5 Holo-ad Cards
Exchangeable Dog Tags (keychain & necklace)
A Sticker Sheet
An Enamel Pin
2 XXL Premium Stickers

Beyond a Steel Book Edition

An Exclusive Steelbook® featuring comic artwork from Dave Gibbons
The game on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One or Nintendo Switch
The game’s Original Soundtrack (digital format)
A Sticker Sheet

Pre-Order Bonuses

An exclusive physical Foster Enamel Pin
A 50-page digital Artbook
2 Comics from Dave Gibbons (in digital format)

Formerly of Official Nintendo Magazine, GameSpot, and Xbox UK, you can now find Kate's writing all over the internet. Her latest projects include writing for Moonstone Island, a deckbuilding creature-collecting game, and [REDACTED], which is very [REDACTED]. Sometimes she writes things here, and sometimes they are about cows and crabs.

1
Mando44646
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

Well that looks really cool. I might pick it up

I'm concerned about price though. Considering it was a phone game on Apple arcade, I'm not willing to be price gouged on console if it's priced way too high like most Indies try doing

2
kukabuksilaks
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

Beneath a Steel Sky was a great game, plus that and sam & max hit the road, day of the tentacle and the first Monkey Island games was how I learned english before all my classmates (Sam & Max was hard, like really hard, when your english comprehension is equal to that of a hamster.. Still not an easy game when you do know english)

3
Scapetti
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

Monkey Island on switch when?

4
ferryb001
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

I thought this game didn’t run too well on Apple Arcade… so I’m not too confident about a switch version, but who knows. I’ll wait for the videos to decide

5
Mii_duck
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

And kids today moan about loading times...

Goes through wrong door by accident

"Insert disc three.

Insert disc 12"

Goes straight back through the door

"Insert disc six.

Insert disc eight".

Great game though, I genuinely thought it was something new when it came out on the Amiga, full of 'moments'.
And to be fair, I still moan about loading times - looking at you, Kingdoms of Armalur.

6
Yodalovesu
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

This article is a nice change of pace to the occasional cut and paste eShop listing that you will sometimes see on video game / Switch websites. It expanded my knowledge of the game, what to expect from it, and provided a little history as well.

Maybe all that was on the eShop already tho, I'm not sure haha. If not, I appreciated the extra effort!

7
N64-ROX
Thu 2nd Sep 2021

@Gwynbleidd did you see the article about the two nothing-burger SNES games getting republished with limited edition posters and CDs, etc? Seems to be just how these things are done. At least Beneath a Steel Sky has a genuine cult following - if you kind of squint it's almost as if all this holographic mumbo jumbo is for that timeless original...