Old Skies review — Together, in time

In the not too distant future, time travel has become a commodity. Want to eat at that restaurant that closed down 20 years ago one more time? Make sure you were there for that company-altering presentation? Ask a long-dead boxer a question? Prevent the murder of a loved one? Chrono Zen has you covered, so long as you have the cash. The past is constantly changing, with people, places, and things going in and out of existence at the drop of a hat. Except, that is, for Chrono Zen Agents like Fia Quinn. In a world always swirling with change and possibilities, she always stays the same. 

In my book, Wadjet Eye Games makes some of the most interesting adventure games out there. I got hooked on the Blackwell series way back when and, though I have missed some of their releases, I’ve enjoyed every successive game I’ve played from them more and more. I was pretty late on my review of Unavowed, but I’m a bit more on time (pun intended) with Old Skies… mostly. The game released last month on PC and just came out on Switch this week, and I wanted to give the game the attention it deserves rather than being sandwiched between several big releases. I’m glad I did that, because this is not a game I’d want to rush through. Old Skies’ story is layered and dense with foreshadowing. It takes some bold risks, and they all pay off in one way or another.

Old Skies is split into six chapters, with each sending you to a specific time in history at the client’s behest to alter or find out something. For example, one client wants you to go back to the day of a big presentation at their startup and prevent the marketer from giving the presentation as it caused them to take over the company. You head back to that moment, make sure the marketer is busy, and the future chronoshifts so that was always the case. You do this with the typical adventure game things: talking to people, interacting with objects, and using items. In some chapters, you’ll also be able to travel between two time periods freely, which can put an interesting spin on things. 

Puzzles in Old Skies aren’t very difficult; I think I only really had to think about a puzzle three or four times over the game’s 15 hours. This is a game that is more focused on story than moon logic puzzles, which is a feat in and of itself given that time travel is involved. Every puzzle is presented in such a way that you always have all the information you need at hand. A lot of that is thanks to your handler, Nozzo, and the archive. By moving your cursor to the top of the screen, you can access your inventory, call up Nozzo for some advice, or look up names or terms in the archive. Sometimes speaking with Nozzo is necessary to move forward, but most of the time he’s there if you need a nudge in the right direction. 

The archive will populate with people’s names and specific terms as needed, and you can then pick a few to look up. You’ll see a few articles about that person, such as their obituary or police records. Sometimes Fia just seeing this information can trigger progress, but most of the time it’s there for your reference in puzzles. Both the archive and Nozzo are very handy and make the game a breeze to play.

It’s just a tad too much of a breeze. They’re all satisfying to solve, but I would have liked them to be a tiny bit more difficult. The longest I felt stuck in any chapter was just because I needed to go ask a certain NPC a few more questions. This feels like more of a nitpick, however, and I may have simply played too many adventure games for them to be very challenging anymore. 

Old Skies is much more about its plot, characters, and themes, and those are all phenomenal. You might not spend much time in the game’s futuristic dystopia, but you can really feel how bleak the lives of Chrono Zen employees are as the story progresses. History itself being a commodity sold to the highest bidder is one of the most cyberpunk plot hooks I’ve ever seen, but the game purposely focuses on the more human elements here. Not just with clients either, after most jobs the team will unwind at Mx. Mix the Mixologist’s bar (an incredible pun) and discuss the day’s events or just shoot the breeze. It all makes it incredibly easy to fall in love with these characters, especially with the excellent voice acting.

Wadjet Eye regulars, like Abe Goldfarb, return here, but there’s also a ton of talent I didn’t recognize. I especially enjoyed the performances of Sally Beaumont as Fia, Edwyn Tiong as Nozzo, and Judy Alice Lee as Hanna Tanaka. Lee in particular gave the chapter where you travel back to the day before 9/11 some incredible gravity on top of the already massive weight of the date. The voice acting is uniformly excellent, though the audio quality can be a bit of a mixed bag, with some lines sounding notably more compressed than others. 

Visually, Old Skies also excels. The backgrounds are all lovingly detailed and gorgeous, while the characters retain a more cartoon or comic book style. They’re fluidly animated too, so I think some form of rotoscoping was used on top of 3D models. It’s a distinct look, though some animations can look a little too smooth. The rare close ups can make characters look a lot older than I think they should for their ages, with way too many detail lines. These don’t happen too often, but most stick out like sore thumbs. 

Most of my issues with Old Skies are pretty minor, but I don’t think the game’s ending quite sticks the landing. The rest of the experience has some amazing pacing, giving plot revelations just enough time to sit before capitalizing on them or hitting you with another one. The last one, however, just jumps straight into the ending. I do like said ending, but the way we get there feels a little too quick. I don’t think it needs another full chapter, but a scene or two between that revelation and the climax could go a long way towards making it even more impactful.