Old Skies (Review)

You only live once, right? Thanks to ChronoZen, that’s only somewhat true now, because if you have enough money you might just be able to take a trip to the past. Welcome to Old Skies, the newest release from Brooklyn-based Wadget Eye Games, known for developing classic titles such as the Blackwell Legacy. Set in an ever-shifting, future version of New York, time quite literally is money, being sold for a hefty price to those who can afford it. 

Fia Quinn is a rare ChronoZen agent, taking clients on trips through the past for various reasons - have a regret? Want to relive your favourite restaurant that’s been lost to history? Trying to uncover a mystery? With time travel, it’s all possible. It’s also sometimes a bit stressful - certain things in the past can’t be touched, and certain people can’t be affected. Seemingly small actions - saying something completely innocuous to the wrong person at the wrong time - can threaten the existence of residents of the future. As Fia notes, time has changed so much now that it’s not even worth trying to keep track of the shops on the street or the view out the window - who knows how long it will last this time. 

As an agent, Fia’s job is to accompany the privileged on their time travel journeys, acting as a guide, a guardian, and warden to ensure as little damage is done to the past as possible. Playing as Fia, you’ll make your way through several stories where it’s up to you to avoid incidents while keeping the client happy. Along the way you’ll start to ask more important questions - is there such a thing as fate when time can be so easily rewound? What drives people to live in the past? Is letting a corporation have control of time really the best option for the world? What would you go back to do? 

As you make your way through each story, it also becomes impossible not to wonder what kind of effect this job has on the ChronoZen agents - constantly aware of time’s shifting and all of the lives they could have lived, somewhen, somehow.

The game’s main mechanic is a combination of time travel and puzzle solving. Yes, you absolutely can die - but that’s the beauty of time travel, right? Don’t be afraid to make the wrong choice, or even take a cleaver to the head. With each death, you’ll be able to rewind and try to solve what went wrong in order to get a better outcome.

Unlike most point and click games I’ve played, I was a bit surprised that the stages don’t have a lot to interact with, and there aren’t a lot of items to combine or use. You might have a couple items, while the majority of hotspots are something you just scroll over to read a bit more info. At times I really wished I could explore these different points of history more. However, once I got to the third chapter, I found I’d started to become more appreciative of how the scenes weren’t bogged down - Old Skies has some really touching (and sometimes heartbreaking) stories, and they’re presented in a way that brings them into full focus. 

You’ll need to pay close attention to the dialogue, and if you can interact with something you already know it’s going to become important and it’s time to start thinking about how it might help you out. Trying to correct that past is pretty fun, as you test out what opens new dialogue or where you might find a helpful clue. Stuck? You’ll be able to call your helpful handler, Nozzo, for a tip. It also makes it feel extra good when you finally get it right and have someone in-game to cheer you on. 

Especially notable is Old Skies’ robust voice acting cast. The whole game is not just voiced, but voiced well. It adds a great layer on top of a game that already has so much heart. In 2022, I had the pleasure of chatting with Dave Gilbert, WadjetEye Games’ founder, and it was clear he had a passion for using voice acting to bring out the atmosphere and excitement of games. It’s a magical and gratifying experience to see now what all that passion has culminated in - a story that asks us to explore the human spirit and remember that everyone around us has experienced love and loss in all its different forms. 

Overall, I loved the stories of Old Skies, which were often as meaningful as they were dark and had a cast of characters that - whether I loved or hated them, wanted them to succeed or fail - made me really feel something. For experienced point and click gamers, I don’t think Old Skies will present a major challenge, but it has a lot of very satisfying puzzles and does a great job of making the player think in terms of moving back and forth in time. This was a great adventure to embark on, and I’m looking forward to what’s next from this wonderful studio. 

Overall score: 9/10 
Old Skies is available now on Steam, Humble Bundle, and gog. Prefer handheld? Stay tuned for a future release on Nintendo Switch too!