Aether & Iron Smuggle, Talk, Outdrive the Barons

New York's islands have been launched into the air by aether technology, and where you live says everything: Lowers, Uppers, Heights. The class divide is not set dressing, it shapes who you deal with and how. Art Deco panels, smoky speakeasy shadows and 1930s Detective Comics styling give every scene a hand-drawn look that feels pulled from a pulp cover. The city's actual golden-age history roots the factions, architecture and character design, and the writing leans into pulp noir: shady figures, inner monologues, similes stacked like a card sharp's chips. It is a world that feels lived in, and it carries the whole game.

Conversations are where most of the game happens. Dialogue is backed by skill checks on your stats, so a smooth talker and a hard case play the same scene differently, and winning checks earns experience you will want for unlocking more of the story. Gia's narration does the noir heavy lifting in a steely gumshoe voice, and the cast of over 200 voiced characters gives every exchange weight. Your decisions shape how each mission turns out, and those results push the story toward one of many endings, with a closing slide for each of the city's three levels and every companion. The luck of the dice keeps you honest: no matter how good your build, you are always one roll from triumph or disaster.

If you come for the story, this is your kind of game. It plays like a visual novel with teeth: long, well-written scenes over illustrated character art, broken up by skill checks and the occasional fight. The mystery pulls you forward, the characters are written as people first and stat blocks second, and everything is voice acted, some 34 hours of it. You level your dialogue skills to open up more of the narrative, and the branching choices mean a second run reads differently. One honest note: the combat is the side dish, not the main course. Come for the city, the crew and the plot, and the fights are a fun change of pace between chapters.