Developers Revolution Software have just announced that the release of Beyond a Steel Sky, the upcoming sequel to acclaimed 1994 adventure game Beneath a Steel Sky, has been delayed. It's now expected to release sometime in early 2020, and will be available through Apple Arcade.
While many consider the original Beneath a Steel Sky to be a classic of the golden era of PC adventure games, it's more-or-less been overshadowed by the Broken Sword series, also developed by Revolution Software. In fact, all the way back in 2012, Revolution stated that the development of the then-untitled Beneath a Steel Sky sequel was contingent on the success of their Kickstarter campaign for Broken Sword 5: The Serpent's Curse, the first Broken Sword game since 2006, and fourth sequel since the series' first entry in 1996.
Beyond a Steel Sky was first announced for Apple Arcade in March 2019. It was even something of a marquee title for Apple's gaming service, shown alongside major franchise releases like Sonic Racing and LEGO Brawls in an early announcement for the subscription service.
While the game is technically a sequel to its 1994 predecessor, Revolution Software is considering it to be a soft reboot, wisely not requiring players new to the series to be familiar with a 25 year-old title to understand it. Revolution Games CEO Charles Cecil has said that the company is starting from the assumption that no one playing the new title knows anything about its source material.
Whereas Beneath a Steel Sky was a 2D point-and-click adventure game in the style of major PC releases of the time like The Secret of Monkey Island and Day of the Tentacle, the new Beyond a Steel Sky will be fully 3D. Returning to the series is art director Dave Gibbons, who is most well-known for illustrating the all time classic comic book series Watchmen. Now that Watchmen is experiencing a resurgence in popularity thanks to the success of Damon Lindelof's sequel TV show for HBO, the time couldn't be more right for a new Dave Gibbons project to see the light of day.
Further delays notwithstanding, Beyond a Steel Sky should be released for Apple Arcade early next year.
Source: Pocket Gamer