Old Skies Review (TeDeO)
After finishing Act Two, I can reassure you: it’s a typical Wadjet Eye game, and if you liked its predecessors, you’ll like this one too.
You’ll enjoy heartfelt dialogue—snappy and on point—likeable and believable characters, huge stakes, big drama (sometimes a bit melodramatic), and mild puzzling.
The very first real puzzle is a bit of a downer, as it requires pixel hunting before the game’s handy hotspot marker gets introduced, and it feels rather far-fetched (at least if you’ve ever cleaned something with a dry sheet). But it improves quickly after this, and once time travel really kicks in, you’ll see many clever and entertaining takes on classic puzzles. It’s never too hard, and if you get stuck, you can always ask your assistant for (mild) advice.
As is often the case with time travel stories, there are some logical inconsistencies you’ll need to accept, but the game goes quite a way to explain why certain solutions don’t work under the given circumstances—or it even lets you play out the most obvious ideas (with quick rewinding upon failure). Most of the time, it succeeds in keeping a coherent logic, which is a real achievement given the core of the story revolves around time paradoxes.
Sure, some characters are unexpectedly eager to make friends with total strangers in awkward situations, and you shouldn’t expect historically accurate reactions. While more serious in tone, the game’s depiction of the 19th century is more akin to Benjamin Franklin in Day of the Tentacle than to anything found in a history book. ‘Controversial’ topics (or what counts as such these days) are clearly avoided. But who knows how many times the timeline was shifted before the events of the game started—maybe this version of reality is simply a kinder one.
A word of warning: this game features a lot of depictions of suicide and murder. While many events can be undone, the game isn’t exactly sensitive in this regard. The same goes for its casual promotion of alcohol(ism). It’s nothing you wouldn’t find in a TV series from the noughties, but it feels a bit out of touch with modern sensibilities that nearly every character needs hard liquor ASAP.
Back to the positives: the game looks stunning. There are so many locations, each with its own unique vibe, emphasized by a wonderful soundtrack. You can really feel the craft that went into these areas—I often find myself just standing around, admiring the details. But then the story and its fascinating premise hook me again, and I want to know more...
All in all, it’s a very enjoyable journey so far, and I definitely recommend this game to any point-and-click adventure fan with a taste for engaging stories.