Old Skies Review – An Affecting Stroll Down Memory Lane

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Change can sometimes feel scary, but standing still while the world and people around you keep moving forward can be just as isolating. This is the core theme in Old Skies, a point-and-click adventure game where you play as Fia Quinn, a professional time traveler who’s unaffected by the changing timeline. Initially, Old Skies may seem like a typical time-travel tale about the dangers of altering time. However, it takes an unexpected turn by exploring the negative consequences of not impacting the flow of time, of being someone forgotten despite your achievements. This results in a deeply moving story that has left a lasting impression on me since the ending credits.

In the role of Fia Quinn, you’re assigned to journey through various milestones in New York’s chronicles, spanning from the Gilded Age to the tragic morning of September 11, 2001, and a significant afternoon in 2042. Fia is employed by ChronoZen, an organization that escorts affluent clients on time travels, enabling them to re-live past events, unravel old mysteries, or modify minor aspects of their lives they’ve long regretted. However, these excursions seldom unfold as anticipated, demanding Fia to improvise swiftly and devise strategies that will satisfy clients without tampering with historical occurrences that the strict algorithms of higher-ups have mandated to stay untouched.

In Old Skies, the plot is rigidly linear, offering only one viable resolution to each challenge Fia encounters. While this reinforces the fixed nature of Fia’s destiny within the narrative, it can be frustrating in gameplay terms. There were instances where I thought of a potential solution, only to discover it wasn’t validleaving me to try out various random possibilities instead. If a bribe was necessary for the initial mission using money, it seemed illogical that this method couldn’t be used later when dealing with characters who clearly desired cash. However, throughout the story, I couldn’t bribe anyone else, even though Fia consistently had money in her possession following time jumpsa recurring reminder of an unused item and a missed opportunity for strategic thinking.

While it’s true that Old Skies doesn’t introduce anything groundbreaking in the point-and-click adventure genre, its gameplay primarily revolves around classic elements such as engaging in extensive dialogues with characters, exploring the environment by clicking on everything, and figuring out which items or clues are essential to bypass each challenge. The puzzles can be inconsistent – some follow a logical sequence, making it satisfying to solve them correctly and witness your insights lead to success. However, there are instances, particularly towards the latter stages of the game where the puzzles become more intricate, that the solution feels illogical, suggesting that you need to guess how to progress and keep trying until something fits. This often disrupts the pace of the narrative, which is arguably Old Skies’ strongest aspect.

In most instances where Fia receives cases, the narrative explores themes of love, sorrow, and the persistent pang of remorse that frequently arises with these emotions. Since Fia and her colleagues are time-bound at work for ChronoZen, they remain untouched by the ever-changing world around them. Initially perceived as a benefit, this unique aspect soon reveals itself to be more of a burden. Due to temporal fluctuations, Fia and her coworkers cannot form significant relationships or engage in many leisure activities outside their profession. Friendships, marriages, family ties can become unrecognizable or vanish entirely due to timeline alterations, while favorite spots like restaurants, libraries, and museums may disappear while they are still present. The only place Fia finds continuity outside of work is a bar that ChronoZen has shielded from the time flow. Early on in the story, she mentions losing her home once – during a brief period when history shifted, her apartment was temporally erased.

In this game, Fia’s life is marked by solitude, which gradually wears away at her mental health and emotional balance, and similarly affects the player by consistently undermining any feelings of emotional security with skillfully-timed narrative blows to the heart. The narrative cleverly inflicts pain while offering a glimmer of hope that Fia might find stability if you can bear to guide her through another day’s work. As Fia becomes increasingly desperate to establish stability, her struggle mirrors the rhythm of the story and your own desire for a satisfying ending that seems both deserved yet uncertain. You must persevere to uncover what kind of outcome awaits Fia.

As you progress through the game, the links among the storylines strengthen, creating a sense of unity for New York that seems untouched by the passage of time, almost as if it’s a constant coworker who remains oblivious to the full implications of time travel. Initially, this may not be apparent because New York has undergone significant transformations over the years – the vibrant nightlife of Prohibition era is starkly different from the somber morning of 9/11, and the college town dwellers in 2024 bear no resemblance to those residing along the boardwalk in 1993. However, Old Skies skillfully weaves connections between these characters and locations, ensuring that New York retains its unique essence, making it familiar enough for players to recognize.

As you begin to observe the intricate connections between characters in this game, a deeper enigma unfolds: Could there be something more to these links than mere chance and coincidence? Is destiny a tangible force at play here? The various characters Fia encounters hold differing beliefs on this topic, and it’s within these diverging perspectives that the game offers players some control over the storyline’s trajectory. While the choices you make don’t ultimately alter Fia’s final destination, they do raise thought-provoking questions about free will in relation to the storyline, and intensify the emotional repercussions of Fia’s actions – whether deliberate or not – on the captivating characters of Old Skies.

Discussing Old Skies, its characters are truly captivating, with a stellar cast of voice actors breathing life into them. The standout performance is Sally Beaumont as Fia, who masterfully combines a curious innocence with an authoritative air, punctuated by endearing stammers when she’s flirting or struggling to contain her feelings of helplessness. However, Chanisha Somatilaka and Sandra Espinoza deserve special mention for their hilarious portrayals. Somatilaka brilliantly portrays an experienced journalist’s tired excitement as she tries to mentor a newcomer, while Espinoza’s character, Liz Camron, is the embodiment of chaos and fun, a youthful, reckless figure who seems to disregard consequences. Despite knowing the ending, I find myself eager to revisit the entire series just for the joy of experiencing that journey again and hearing those memorable lines. And oh, the music! The vocal songs in particular give me goosebumps.

In Old Skies, the experience rather than the destination takes center stage – a fitting choice given how engrossing the game’s narrative journey is. The dialogue stands out thanks to a top-notch ensemble of voice actors, and the story, from its initial shocking moments to its mind-bending finale, keeps you hooked. Unlike other point-and-click games I usually play in short spurts, Old Skies had me playing extended sessions, eagerly moving through multiple chapters at a time just to uncover what would happen next. Even when parts weren’t particularly enjoyable, the game more than compensated with one of my favorite stories this year.

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2025-05-13 23:10