To play time travel games is to handle an extremely tricky and complex operation. For a long time, it was the main reason behind a great number of sci-fi plots, but only a few games have been able to show the confounding, butterfly-effect nature of Old Skies changing history as Old Skies did. Dave Gilbert and the Wadjet Eye Games team, led by him, have made a game that not only plays around with time loops but also gets you deep into the mind and reintroduces an old and new-like storytelling and gaming style.
Old Skies is set in 2062, and it depicts a world where time travel is not only possible but also regulated strictly, a consumable item, and a total disaster as far as human nature is concerned. Fia Quinn is a field agent of ChronoZen who is the one making the promise to keep history from being changed or twisted. More like a business and thriving, ChronoZen is the one being run by the visitors who are the customers of the time agency. The visitors are the ones who are the customers of the time agency, and they pay a lot to either live their best moments or to try to influence the future a little. However, there is a system: each visitor has to undergo a psychological test, and a complicated algorithmic method assigns a “timeline ranking” to each historical figure, which determines how much their life can be changed.
The game’s world design is very detailed. Fias, one of the ChronoZen agents, has a great privilege that no matter how drastically the world around them changes, she and her colleagues are always able to recall. Thus, you, as a player, are constantly kept in the know after every temporal ripple.
Fia doesn’t work alone on her assignments. Her handler, Frank “Nozzo” Nozzarelli, is the wisecracking voice in her ear, providing guidance (and sarcasm) from the security of headquarters. Then there’s Duffy, Fia’s mentor, whose steady know-how tempers the mayhem of fieldwork. The dynamic between the cast is a strong point, with Sally Beaumont (Fia) and Edwyn Tiong (Nozzo) giving solid performances that are full of wit, heart, and warmth. Their banter keeps the high-concept idea firmly anchored in realistic human relationships.
The tale is told in standalone chapters that take one or another client into a different time in New York’s long history. One assignment will deposit you in the 2040s, another on the rough streets of the 19th century. Each period is unique, down to the graffiti, billboards, and street sounds, which change as you jump between decades. Though the puzzles remain firmly rooted in point-and-click traditions, they also have a twist: you’re gathering data rather than tangible items. The built-in search function, where you can search through historic records, is a masterstroke of design. But to yield results, you will have to assemble full names and information from dialogue and clues, so every little bit of speech matters.
What Old Skies was most remarkable in was its handling of failure. The game does not offer death as an exit path—it is just another aspect of the game. Fia will be killed, and not once but many times. Due to the Paradox Field Excluder by ChronoZen and the resourcefulness of Nozzo, each time a mistake is made that leads to death, time is rewound as a result, and you are left with the teachings you got. There are actually several deaths in the middle of a puzzle when one finally gathers the necessary clues. Instead of punishing failure, the game system is made to integrate with advancement, each death bringing to the player either some sarcastic remarks or new thoughts.
On the other hand, the game is substantially excellent in conversation. The script is clever, the characters are unforgettable, and the emotional stakes are high. It could be a one-on-one duel of words with an acerbic ex-boxer or the messy politics of a divided family — in each case, not a single talk weighs less than others. Voice acting rather enhances these instances, as even the less present characters get some layer of softness and personality.
From an aesthetic point of view, Old Skies abandons Wadjet Eye’s typical pixel art in favor of richly detailed, hand-painted backgrounds. Each period is depicted in detail, from the neon light of future waiting rooms to the warm chaos of a 2020s apartment. Rotoscoped animation allows characters to have a smooth and emotive face, which is not commonly found in the genre. The music is the same, going from futuristic electronic tunes to past smoky jazz, always in line with the scene’s atmosphere.
Old Skies is not just a one-time show of love to classic adventure games—it is a breakthrough to the form. It is about living in the moment, understanding the seriousness of every choice made, and accepting the uncertain nature of a changing world. Anyone who loves time travel, the use of short, sharp prose, or the presence of well-drawn characters will be on this journey, not one of them will miss it, nd you might even feel like life needs a rewind button when the credits begin to play.