Beyond: Two Souls

Game Info

Quantic Dreams is known for epic cinematic story telling.  From Omikron: The Nomad Soul to their Playstation 3 hit Heavy Rain in 2010 story telling has always been Quantic Dream’s expertise. With their new game Beyond: Two Souls, they still hold up to the great emotional story that they are known for telling.

In Beyond: Two Souls you play as Jodie who is acted by Academy Award nominee Ellen Page.  You also play as Aiden who is an entity who is connected to Jodie throughout the story.  Through the game you switch between the two to progress through the story and get out of tough situations.  Also in the cast of the game is another Academy Award nominee Willem Dafoe who is a scientist who studies Jodie and Aiden to understand what the link there is between the two.   In the story you will play through 16 years of Jodie’s life from when she was a little girl who just discovered that she has an entity to an adult who understands and accepts Aiden in to her life.

The first thing I had a problem with in the game was it would cut into different parts of Jodie’s life instead of starting off when she was kid and progressing as an adult.  It would cut to a life event to when she was a kid and then right after that you are thrown into when she’s a full grown adult.  The gameplay seemed to cinematic to where I was just in quick time events and there were no chances to explore.  There are different choices you can make in the game which would lead you to a different path to the same outcome though.  The graphics you will notice right off the bat are absolutely amazing and will make people around you wonder if you’re playing a game or watching a movie.  Also you can have a two player game as well, one controls Aiden and the other Jodie. You have the ability to use a tablet instead of a second controller, which is pretty intuitive. I found using the tablet while playing Aiden was the easiest. Without spoiling too much of the story I will say that Jodie gets recruited into the C.I.A. to do some recon missions and something goes down south and you start to sense there is a reason why Jodie and Aiden are linked together.  The soundtrack is done by the famous Hans Zimmer is amazing and fits the story so well.

The story in Beyond: Two Souls still is fantastic even with the time jumps and the graphics are amazing to say the least.   The cinematic feel and the different paths you can take will make you eager enough to play through a particular sequence again just to see a different outcome.  The acting is beyond amazing with Ellen and Willem which makes you feel like you’re watching a great interactive movie from start to finish.

The Recommendation

Let’s just say if you love story games or would like to play a game with your significant other this game is great. If you’re a casual gamer that likes a good story and simple gameplay and enjoys games with great emotional value then this is definitely a game I would recommend to check out.  Between the acting and the beautiful soundtrack its surely a game you will not want to pass up.