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Beyond: Two Souls - GR Review

Added: 08.10.2013 16:14 | 7 views | 0 comments

As the spirit moves you.

Beyond: Two Souls, as before it, challenges the common preconceptions of successful video game design. There is no life gauge, no loot drops, no experience points, no open world, no competitive multiplayer, no overly violent power fantasy. Developer Quantic Dream imagines games that marry the acting talent and high production values of film with the choice-driven narrative of games; in this case, the motion-captured performances of Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe with a supernatural story with twists, turns, and multiple endings. It's this special brand of cinematic gameplay that, despite its concessions for the sake of the story, is the lure and ultimately the saving grace of Beyond: Two Souls.

At its crux, the plot of Beyond: Two Souls revolves around the loss of family, a theme that steadily makes itself more apparent as you progress through the journey of Jodie Holmes, a woman who has always had an otherworldly connection to an entity named Aiden. While Jodie (Ellen Page) can commune with her ghostly companion and compel him to scout an area and protect her from harm, he's not always an angel. Of his own free will, he can knock over furniture and aggressively intimidate people. He can even be controlled by a second local co-op player, if you so choose. Either way, Jodie's witch-like ability pins her as an outcast, despite her desire to live like a normal teenage girl, and as a subject for protective study by the Central Intelligence Agency by way of head researcher Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe).