Beyond a Steel Sky promises a dystopian tale of loyalty and redemption

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The quirky cyberpunk adventure Beneath a Steel Sky was released in 1994, and while it's probably not the most famous game from that era, it was very well-regarded critically and a big commercial success too. 25 years later, the sequel is finally in the works.

Beyond a Steel Sky will be developed by Revolution Software, the studio behind the original game, which in more recent years has become known for the Broken Sword series. It promises a "thrilling story of loyalty and redemption set in an eerie and terrifying world of AI-driven social controls," threaded with humor and featuring art by award-winning comics artist Dave Gibbons, who also provided the background art for Beneath a Steel Sky.

"Adventure games are played by a large, diverse audience that hugely enjoys the interweaving of story and puzzles," Beneath a Steel Sky deigner and Revolution Software founder and CEO Charles Cecil said. "Our approach has been to write an intelligent, witty adventure game that is wholly intuitive to play and assumes no prior knowledge of the original game or its universe. We aspire to write a modern day 1984 told through the medium of the adventure game."

Beyond a Steel Sky will feature distinct "comic-book-styled" graphics with support for 4K resolution and HDR, but the story is what it's all about: Revolution said players will have the ability to "profoundly affect and subvert the gameworld and its characters," with complex situations made accessible through a simple and intuitive interface. One thing it didn't say, though, is whether this is an evolution of the Beyond a Steel Sky 2 the studio committed to back in 2012, or something entirely different. I've emailed to ask, and I'll let you know how it works out.

Beyond a Steel Sky is expected to be out later this year. If you haven't played Beneath a Steel Sky yet, you can get it for free from GOG.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.