Old Skies, the tried and true of a point and click adventure that makes us travel through time
Old Skies
If invented, what would humankind do with time travel? Capitalist society would obviously use it to make money. The richest could therefore pay for trips to the past to satisfy their curiosity, or to relive moments in which they were particularly happy, or to modify nefarious events. Of course, there would be rules to be respected, such as that of not upsetting the continuous space of time by acting on key events, but to make sure that everything goes right there would be designated agents, such as Fia Quinn, who would take care of solve all problems, in one way or another.This is, more or less, the future predicted by Wadjet Eye Games, of which we tried Old Skies, an incredibly fascinating new point and click adventure, in development for PC and Nintendo Switch.
Interface
The scenarios are hand-drawn Old Skies is divided into seven time travels. The demo that was provided to us by the development team allowed us to try a whole one. The game begins with agent Quinn and a client of ChronoZen, the agency she works for, arriving in contemporary New York, in an area that is very important to the man's past. The two chat briefly, allowing us to understand a lot of the user interface right from the start: the dialogues are managed through a multiple choice system, the lines are displayed in comic strips that appear at the head of the characters, when the cursor passes over a object that can be examined, a pop-up message appears on the screen with the description, while when an object is interactive, the cursor icon changes, depending on the type of linked action.Part of the interface is hidden in the upper portion of the screen. This is where you can access the inventory, call a colleague who acts in the present, giving us information and monitoring the situation, and access a database in which to research places, objects and people, which will prove essential to carry out the investigations.
Gameplay
Fia Quinn, the protagonist of the game The gameplay of Old Skies is the classic one of the genre, in which the scenarios are plumbed in search of interactive objects, we talk to the characters who they meet and, when necessary, the objects collected, or those obtained by the agency, are used. For example, Quinn has a small multifunctional tool, a kind of sci-fi Swiss army knife, which allows her to force locks. In the course of the case you will also receive a weapon, for reasons that we are not going to specify (rest assured, it is not a shooter). In reality, the demo, which lasted about an hour, showed us a gameplay focused more on investigations than on the search for objects. So we talk a lot, explore some scenarios well to hunt for clues, read documents, violate computers and so on, and from time to time objects are used, moreover easily understood.It's hard to say if the same will apply to the other time travel, but the impression we got is that Dave Gilbert, the game's author, has focused as usual more on the narrative part than on that of puzzles, trying to make the player's experience as fluid as possible. After all, the demo showed us a really high quality of writing, with the tones of the episode that fade from comedy to tragedy in a natural way, that is, without any forcing, giving the player conflicting sensations, which result in a much harder ending. than we would have expected.
Ideally Quinn's role and the essence of her work are immediately questioned, so much so that some questions arise in the player that also become one of the reasons why you want to continue playing. What is it allowed to buy with money? When does capitalist society deem it acceptable to alter the past? What if doing so goes against your interests? What measures can it take? To discuss the issues raised by even this first Old Skies story alone, we should tell you in more detail. Of course we will not do this in order not to give you advances that could ruin your experience. Just know that it is really worth living.
Art direction
The narrative style has many references to Blackweel and Gemini Rue From an artistic / technical point of view, Old Skies is a decisive step forward for the works of Wadjet Eye Games, including hand-drawn scenarios at 1080p (three times larger than those of Unavowed, one of the most celebrated adventures of the studio), very large and fluidly animated characters, full voice acting (only in English languages ) and so on. The overall impression he made on us was very good overall. Of course, we haven't been to particularly impressive places, but some are nevertheless very well done and perfectly reflect the claustrophobic style so loved by Gilbert and already seen in many of his other works, including places frequented by students, dormitories and offices, which represent the entry into the everyday life of a person whose human side one ends up learning when forced to an extreme gesture.The Old Skies demo has left us with a great desire to keep playing, to see where time travel will take Quinn and the agency's clients. As you may have understood, we liked it very much and, even if it is too early to give definitive judgments, it promises to be one of the best titles of the last period, from a narrative point of view. After all, Gilbert is a guarantee, a true author who never betrays expectations. Why should he do it this time?
