Beyond Two Souls

[Slaver1]

It released recently on Steam and wanting to play a high-budget (adventure/story) game I picked it up. What a good decision it was - I ended up loving it completely.

You are Jodie Holmes, a woman endowed with a strange supernatural friend since birth, and this is your life. If you dare to slip into her shoes you may be in for a more engrossing *role-playing* experience than you might suspect. It was for me and I'm so glad about it.

First, let's lay out some criticism as a pre-cursor so playing BTS doesn't end up an exercise in frustration instead of the immersive journey it should be. Mouse & keyboard controls are atrocious so I'd humbly suggest using a gamepad. Even then there will be confusion on how to respond to situations on-screen and which input(s) to use but it becomes manageable and even satisfying when it all clicks. I found myself enjoying the interactive aspects of this title such was my connection to Jodie Holmes' story a couple of hours in.

My second bit of criticism is that the timeline is off-kilter. One moment you're on a mission from the C.I.A, the next you're a small scared girl looking out of the window. Thankfully, a remixed option where you navigate the game in a linear fashion is available
and should make the story more digestible. I'm chomping at the bit to try that for my second play-through.

Holmes is a delightfully expressive protagonist forged in scenes of emotional duress, (some unearned by heavy handed writing, true.) We're there for her moments of joy, of pain, of triumph and struggle and, if we're lucky, they become our moments too.
The supporting cast is equally adept. From the homeless person who rescues you lying in a snowy street, to the Navajo family offering you a place to finally belong, there wasn't a person I met who didn't leave some kind of impression on me and who weren't complemented by the breadth of my past experiences in the game as Jodie, both good and bad.

Holmes' journey spans several continents and locations around the world. You end up doing genuinely exciting shit like killing dozens of Africans in Mogadishu for example. There's romance, over the top Hollywood chases and fight scenes, horse and bike riding, supernatural rituals and bar-room brawls and yet the game remains a cohesive and quite thrilling sum of all its parts.

I had to do this write up since the game is relatively unheralded and, provided it's up your ally, is really quite a treasure.

 

[Venser]

I played PS4 remaster 2 years ago and I liked it despite of its problems. I wouldn't play it in chronological order because the story wasn't designed in that way and you'll miss out on a chapter that's not included in that mode.

This is what I wrote about it before:

The acting is really good, Ellen and Dafoe weren't hallf assing it and the supporting cast was decent too. I was impressed by how good the facial capture was, still ahead of most modern games. The (lack of) gameplay didn't bother me, I like these type of interactive stories. You can play it in co-op (one person controlling Jodie, the other controlling the ghost) and it's pretty much the ideal game to play with your significant other. The main problem is the writing and how fractured the game feels and it's not just due to it's structure, more about the tone and believability. One moment she's on the street making friends with homeless people and learning to get by and it all feels very real and you're empathising with her, the next she's on a military mission in Africa going full Solid Snake and David Cage uses some African kid to make you feel really bad and it's fucking hilarious cause he plays it completely straight yet it feels like a parody. Even if you can go with it and accept the fact that Jodie becomes a super soldier (I couldn't), the story still jumps the shark a couple of times. Like the Navajo thing... why is that shit even in the game? It's like David Cage thought it would be really cool to have a horse riding mechanic in the game so he built the whole chapter around it. Or maybe because Twilight was really popular at a time so he had to add a couple of hot shirtless Native American dudes. The game feels very inconsistent and it's way too long. If you'd remove a lot of stupid shit and cut it's length in half, it could be good. But as it is, it's just another messy David Cage game and it's worth playing just because of it.

 

[Slaver1]

I played PS4 remaster 2 years ago and I liked it despite of its problems. I wouldn't play it in chronological order because the story wasn't designed in that way and you'll miss out on a chapter that's not included in that mode.

This is what I wrote about it before:

The acting is really good, Ellen and Dafoe weren't hallf assing it and the supporting cast was decent too. I was impressed by how good the facial capture was, still ahead of most modern games. The (lack of) gameplay didn't bother me, I like these type of interactive stories. You can play it in co-op (one person controlling Jodie, the other controlling the ghost) and it's pretty much the ideal game to play with your significant other. The main problem is the writing and how fractured the game feels and it's not just due to it's structure, more about the tone and believability. One moment she's on the street making friends with homeless people and learning to get by and it all feels very real and you're empathising with her, the next she's on a military mission in Africa going full Solid Snake and David Cage uses some African kid to make you feel really bad and it's fucking hilarious cause he plays it completely straight yet it feels like a parody. Even if you can go with it and accept the fact that Jodie becomes a super soldier (I couldn't), the story still jumps the shark a couple of times. Like the Navajo thing... why is that shit even in the game? It's like David Cage thought it would be really cool to have a horse riding mechanic in the game so he built the whole chapter around it. Or maybe because Twilight was really popular at a time so he had to add a couple of hot shirtless Native American dudes. The game feels very inconsistent and it's way too long. If you'd remove a lot of stupid shit and cut it's length in half, it could be good. But as it is, it's just another messy David Cage game and it's worth playing just because of it.

It's a pretty divisive game and I can't really disagree with any of your critique. I tried to suspend my disbelief as much as possible. CIA training felt like catharsis after what came before in Jodie's life so I bought into her transformation which helped me accept the blatant Cage emotional wrangling.

I do think Jodie largely remains in-character/consistent throughout though which is important. She voluntarily becomes homeless after that disastrous mission in Africa, the initial premise of which was to kill a warlord which wasn't out of character/makes her a monster. I looked at it as her attempt to impress Ryan, and put her gift to good use for peace. Either way, the events that transpired were hilariously fun and getting guilt tripped by the little African kid was the cherry on top.

 

[Stavrophore]

If you liked beyond two souls, you will like Detroit: Become Human. The game is masterpiece, your choices actually matter, the story is engaging, albeit it drop the mystery halfway and you will already know the ending.

 

[Citizen]

Ugh... this game still has a female protagonist tag on steam? HELLO GABEN?