Beneath a Steel Sky

Not really news, except to me: the classic graphical adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky has been republished as freeware by its original authors. When the game first came out, somewhere in the 1990s, I thought of buying it based on playing a cover disk demo, but never got around to it. Later I noticed that there had been a PC release, and I started looking for a copy in the bargain bins, but failed to find it there. So imagine my surprise when I found the freeware version. You can find it at the website of the Scumm Virtual Machine, which you’ll also need to download to play it.

BaSS is a point-and-click adventure that takes place in your average dystopian future, where the poor live in the polluted skies atop towers while the rich live safely underground. Your mission: get down. The game starts with a hunt-the-pixel puzzle, and has a few spots where you have to sit still and watch the game unfold the story, but apart from that I’ve been enjoying myself so far. Art by Dave Gibbons and professional narration make this a tight production.