Game development is often a marathon more than a sprint.

You’ll generally find that some of your favourite games have been in development for years rather than months. The recently released Blue Prince was over 8 years in development, for instance. South of Midnight has been in development for around 5 years. As has the latest from Wadjet Eye.

It’s been a hot minute since the excellent Unavowed, and for a point and click adventure game to be in development for this long, for such a risky genre in the modern market, the fact it was made at all feels nothing short of a miracle.

But are we ever so glad that it has been, because just like the excellent Unavowed before it, Old Skies is a terrific, smart adventure game that has a brilliant cast, tells a compelling story and offers some truly spectacular visuals and puzzle design.

I was hooked from this one right out of the gate – how can you not love a series of time-travelling mysteries – and when I wasn’t thinking about playing it, I was struggling to put it down. Day of the Tentacle ranks right up there among my all-time favourite games, so I was definitely the target audience for this, but where that had a real comic book, quirky charm to it, Old Skies manages to make each adventure feel different but all inextricably connected in a gritty, dramatic way.

As Fia Quin, you have the power to take yourself – and others – through time to fulfil their wishes. Each mission offers something different, like taking an aging man to eat a burger at his favourite joint that’s long since closed down, or a boxer back to the 1930s to meet the person who inspired her to get in the ring.

But as with all things time travel, these interactions come with consequences, paradoxes, and everything else in between. Old Skies also plays with the convention in some interesting ways, by having time continually reset and reinvent itself. Ventuing any deeper is going into spoiler territory though and that would be a crying shame.

Old Skies is a game, I feel, you need to experience and go in as blindly as you can. Time travel is always a fun subject but it’s also a difficult one and it’s easy for the continuity to get mixed up or the story to tie itself in knots. Brilliantly, Old Skies avoids those pitfalls and each mystery is put together in such a way that the pace is even and enjoyable.

In order to progress, you’ll have situations where time needs to be rewound a few times in order for your character to learn about what to do or not do, which is a clever way of paying homage to classic Sierra adventures.

You’ll also need to do some research using the in-game Chronozen Historical database. Through dialogue, you’ll occassionally pick up key words/phrases and names, which you can then enter into a search enquiry and look them up to move the story forward.

At any point, you can also contact your host Nozzo to see if he has any hints and tips for you, and with all point and click adventures, of course you have items in your inventory you can use to help progress.

Old Skies is never too challenging, the puzzles feel just about right to not be too obscure, frustrating or overly simple either. The game limits its areas to help with that, but also with the hint system you can usually get a gentle prod in the right direction.

This, coupled with the game’s great voice acting, excellent visual style and pulse-pounding soundtrack, really make for a complete, compelling adventure that you will really struggle to put down.

While the back-tracking can sometimes feel a bit repetitive, Old Skies is one of the most enjoyable point and click adventures I’ve played in years and I absolutely loved my time with this from start to finish. It’s a truly memorable adventure that feels like such a throwback to classic 90s era adventures but also does something intriguing and compelling with the existing formula. Wadjet Eye have done it again!

Verdict

Old Skies both feels like a true throwback to classic point and click adventures from the 90s but also benefits from creative new ideas and a stunning visual style that helps it stay relevant and eye-catching in 2025. A fantastic bunch of stories, great characters and wonderful voice acting make this one a game to remember and a must for point and click adventurers, old and new.