Revolution Software‘s second point-and-click adventure (after Lure of the Temptress); first released in 1994; Beneath A Steel Sky is a humorous, futuristic, dystopian, “film noir” mystery, co-designed by legendary comic artist Dave Gibbons.

Gibbons – if you didn’t know – drew Watchmen, as well as Rogue Trooper and countless other stories for 2000AD and other comic outlets during the ’70s, ’80s and ’90s.

In this, Gibbons lends his artistic talents to the entire game – from the intro and cut-scene graphics, to backgrounds, sprites, and everything else.

In some respects it is a pity that Beneath A Steel Sky was made back in the days of VGA, where the resolutions were not that high. Meaning: that Gibbons‘ artwork is kinda pixelly and relatively low-res, which makes the whole look of the game somewhat murky. That said: it does add to the atmosphere, and Beneath A Steel Sky is certainly atmospheric.

Gameplay-wise Beneath A Steel Sky owes a lot of the classic LucasArts adventures of old (Maniac Mansion; Zak McKraken; Loom) – it not only looks like one, but it also plays like one, sounds like one, and reads like one. The script for Beneath A Steel Sky is certainly very funny in places.

What is great about Beneath A Steel Sky now is that it is a free giveaway at GOG.com, and has been for as long as I can remember. So if you do fancy giving it a try, it’s easy enough to get hold of. It’s also available for free on Steam too. At the time of writing anyway.

More: Beneath a Steel Sky on Wikipedia
Steam: Beneath a Steel Sky on Steam
GOG: Beneath a Steel Sky on GOG.com