Wow. What an experience. If you are a fan of Wadjet Eye Games, your zeal will be transformed into divine adoration after playing Old Skies. There are many games from the 80s and 90s I've replayed often. I never really felt that urge with modern titles, moreso because there are way many more games to play these days, there's always a backlog, new titles coming out. But Old Skies? I have a feeling that's one I'll return to as well. This is just instant classic to me, and it should be instant buy for anyone who's serious about playing adventure games.

Old Skies isn't just a series of standalone time-travel missions... There's an overarching story as well, because... you know, butterfly effect and all that...

My name is Fia Quinn. I work for a company called Chronozen, which works as a kind of travel agency, only across time instead of across the geographical world. It's my job to accompany travelers and keep them (and the time they're traveling to) safe. Think of me as some kind of Time Police. Of course, this wouldn't be much of an adventure game if things didn't go wrong!

Old Skies doesn't feel like a game; it feels like a work of art. It's entertainment of a whole other level. Its graphical style doesn't look anything like other Wadjet Eye games. There's a constant jazzy, bluesy soundtrack that's just waiting for the game equivalent of an Oscar nomination. Fia is voiced by the incomparable Sally Beaumont, who also worked as a writer on this story.

The puzzles feel very much like those in the Blackwell series. It's mostly figuring things out and progressing the story than actually "solving" puzzles, combining items, etc. You talk to people, you look up things in Chronozen's archive system and even on a regular computer if they happen to exist in the time you've traveled to. The first real puzzle in the game is figuring out the combination of a door lock. The story progresses at a natural pace through dialogue and cutscenes, and I'm basically loving this type of gameplay. I'm playing, but it doesn't feel like I'm playing. I'm experiencing, and so far I haven't cursed getting stuck on some obtuse puzzle obstacle or other. Simply put, I'm enjoying the heck out of this game, and I'm having a great time with it!

You can die in this game, but then again, not exactly. An emergency protocol rewinds time for a short period when things really go haywire, so you can try to avoid your demise. But rest assured, these are short scenes and not as annoying as other time-looping games where they have you replay entire sections over and over again. I really don't like playing those, and I can honestly say I never once felt like I wasn't having fun with Old Skies! These scenes are actually part of the fun. They are very well written, and Fia's personality really comes to the fore in these extreme situations. They are also part of the puzzles, and usually come down to discovering the right information, which you can then use in the correct dialogue options. It takes some figuring out, and even some time-hopping between two different dates, but it all happens with the right amount of humor and doing so gives a great feeling of accomplishment.

My copy was converted from the beta testing

If there is one thing that Wadjet Eye does really well is having that excellent voice acting direction, Sally absolutely killing it with those subtle moments of frustration and contempt, but also Dave and the team doing the mundane work behind the scenes, in some ways the dialogue in this game is technically complex, as the characters can communicate directly and indirectly, which is color coded across the game. Also the game having a lot of that body language, as well as those subtle mannerisms and changes in the mood, really making those characters feel genuine. That said, even when there were a few slower parts of the game, Fia would almost always MVP carry the scene, so if nothing else I was paying attention to the story, which I can't say for many games.

I didn't think I would enjoy the writing, on a personal level I don't fully connect with Dave and the stories he likes to make, and yet I thought the game was really fun regardless, I didn't expect it to be so goofy at times, many of the jokes are way over the top, actually charmingly so. In modern adventure games the main characters are not getting murdered like they used to, but Fia is just constantly being slaughtered in this game, I could not help but laugh every time Fia was randomly pulled out of existence, and then complaining about it. A big mechanic in this game is that the character has a level of precognition due to time travel, so she can make the right choices by trial and error, essentially replaying the same moments until you find the solution.

There is a lot of 'small talk' in the game, which is absolutely a good thing, I often find that many games are missing those moments of characterization, and this is probably the best part of the game is that you get to know the characters so well and what drives them. The game has a very large variety of the emotions it likes to portray, there is tensions, there is romance, there are many moments of suspense and various unexpected outcomes, while also having those small moments that can make you laugh.

While playing the first chapter I was a little worried that the puzzles in the game would become secondary, I am more of a conventional player that likes exploration between the areas, and in a way this is a more narrative driven game, but eventually you will get more opportunities to investigate as you time travel between scenes on demand. There is hint system in the game that will guide you probably 80% of the time if you really need it, and I think it's integrated well into the game that it does not feel like it ruins the experience. Overall I was surprised that there were several challenging puzzles, but most of the time they made sense, even if I didn't get them right away, you will have to do some backtracking while time traveling to get the correct sequence and such.


(+) Very good voice acting and voice acting direction, as well as body language for animations, most of the characters felt very genuine, the 'small talk' in this game is what personally sold me on the characters and the experience

(+) I think the narrative twists were generally rewarding, it's very much a story of time travel consequences and psychological impact, there are a few nitpicks that I have with it, but it's a relatively complex narrative with a lot of opportunities for something to go wrong, so that being said, I think it worked better than I expected, at least when it comes to the important parts

(+) I thought the game was really funny, and I am not even talking about the dialogue which is also great, I liked the general randomness and weird situations that Fia finds herself in. It can be kinda over the top, but honestly I would rather play a game that goes for those unexpected moments. Is it just me, cuz I thought the game was super goofy.

(+) Relatively lengthy game, potentially over 9 hours depending on your speed, also has lots of optional achievements and the commentary mode which is pretty cool

(+) The puzzles that I liked the most were usually those 'precognition' puzzles, where you had to die a few times to abuse your time traveling abilities, which is kinda impressive from the game design especially in AGS, much better than say, use this item on this (the fist fight was my favorite)


Some nitpicks with the writing - I think the mellow and funny moments in this story worked really well, as well as the plot twists, the only part of the writing I didn't like is when the characters got very angry, sometimes not having a very genuine feel or flow to the the dialogue, almost like it's being projected over and over. Sometimes I felt that you could have gotten the point across with fewer lines or less edgy dialogue, maybe hiding the nuance that I think you intended for their personalities, with a few specific parts in the second mission, and largely in the 5th.

Some random things - the last mission is a bit laggy at certain parts, not sure if it's AGS being AGS but it seems to be affected by the fireworks, it was noticeable enough to where sometimes I felt like I was walking with a permanent debuff.

The hint system generally would be correct 90% of the time, but toward later parts of the game sometimes it would repeat puzzles that you already solved, and maybe not give you a direction. It wasn't a huge problem but sometimes it would trip me because it was generally reliable in most parts of the game.

Overall Thoughts: 8/10

So much of this game is about connecting seemingly unrelated actions to something that comes together in the end as a coherent narrative, and in that regard I think the first couple of missions didn't make an amazing first impression, but as I kept getting more feedback on what I did before, and what it meant for the character, I started to appreciate what the Dave was trying to do. As already mentioned I think the 'small talk' kinda sells this game, you really get to know Fia and the clients, see them develop and find new perspectives in contrast to their expectations. It made me laugh probably more than most adventure games, unexpectedly so, I actually like that it was a little over the top with Fia constantly getting killed or burping, maybe it didn't make much sense from the intuitive game design, but I personally like the randomness.

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.