Old Skies: A Time-Traveling Masterpiece for the Curious and the Curiouser

Old Skies is a point-and-click adventure for the modern age—polished, thoughtful, and full of surprises. As Fia Quinn, you’ll hop between seven eras of New York City, from a Prohibition-era speakeasy to a high-tech future, untangling mysteries and changing lives with a mix of wit, warmth, and just a hint of sci-fi.

Old Skies centers on Fia Quinn, a “chronolock” agent for ChronoZen, a company that—for a fee—lets clients revisit and sometimes change pivotal moments in their pasts. The game expertly weaves seven standalone stories into a larger narrative about time’s ripple effects, relationships, and the consequences of second chances. It’s a single-player adventure aimed at both fans of classic point-and-clicks and newcomers who enjoy a good, well-told story.

Gameplay is all about exploration and puzzle-solving: talk to people, sift through clues, and experiment with time travel’s unique mechanics. There’s no combat, no sprawling inventories, and no punishingly obscure puzzles—just thoughtful challenges that reward curiosity and intuition. The game is entirely premium, with no microtransactions or gimmicks—buy once and enjoy the complete experience.

Old Skies is built on Wadjet Eye’s custom engine, designed specifically for high-resolution, hand-painted visuals and fluid animation—no “retro” pixels here. This bespoke tech lets the team deliver a look that’s both nostalgic and thoroughly modern, with backgrounds that pop and characters that expressively emote. The game isn’t pushing the bleeding edge of graphics tech (no ray tracing or DLSS), but the art direction more than makes up for it, creating a living, breathing city across the ages.

Updates have been minor since launch, as the game launched in a polished, stable state. There’s no robust modding or community tools (yet), but Wadjet Eye has a history of supporting their games with patches and extras, so that could change. For now, expect a focused, developer-intended experience.

The core loop is simple: explore, talk, and experiment with time. You’ll revisit scenes, try alternate approaches, and—thanks to the Paradox Field Excluder—rewind time after messy outcomes. Death is rarely a setback, and the game’s relaxed pacing means you can soak in each era and its inhabitants.

Controls are straightforward (click to move, interact, or trigger actions), and the game plays well with both mouse and controller. There’s no hardcore platforming or reflex-based challenges—just puzzles that require attention to detail, a bit of lateral thinking, and sometimes, a willingness to mess up and try again.

Performance is solid even on modest hardware. The game runs smoothly on mid-range laptops and handhelds like the Steam Deck, though you’ll notice the prettiest visuals on a desktop or docked Switch. Load times are reasonable, and there’s no always-online DRM. Accessibility options include control remapping but no colorblind modes or subtitles for color-dependent puzzles; Fia’s dialogue is subtitled throughout, so hearing-impaired players can enjoy the full story.

Old Skies shines in its storytelling and world-building. Each era is a mini-world, packed with period-appropriate details, from jazz clubs and vintage ads to futuristic cafes and holographic billboards. The writers clearly love New York, and that affection comes through in every scene.

Narrative choices are limited—this isn’t a “choose your own adventure” with branching endings—but the stories are expertly told, with emotional heft and a surprising amount of humor. The voice acting is excellent across the board, and the music, composed by Thomas Regin (of Unavowed fame), adapts to each era with jazz, synth, and even some ’60s psychedelia.

Compared to other point-and-click adventures, Old Skies feels both classic and very new. It’s more emotional and character-focused than The Case of the Golden Idol, which leans into deduction and puzzle complexity. It’s less sprawling than Unavowed (another Wadjet Eye title), but more visually ambitious and thematically daring. Primordia (also from Wadjet Eye) offers a grittier, more philosophical sci-fi tale, while Technobabylon mixes cyberpunk and detective storytelling. Old Skies sits somewhere in between—intimate, witty, and visually lush, with a focus on time as both playground and puzzle.