Game Review: Beyond Two Souls

Beyond: Two Souls is a difficult game to praise. For the most part it's overall output is hindered constantly due to a inconsistent pacing and a lack of substantial gameplay. That's not to say there's no value to be found in the game however, but unlike other Quantic Dream game's you won't find much of it in your first few hours.

Developed by Quantic Dreams, Beyond: Two Souls chooses to take a deeply personal journey through the lens of Jodie Holmes. Played by Elliot Page, Jodie is a girl with a strange ability in which she is attached to a telekinetic entity she called Aiden. Told in a non-linear fashion, the story follows Jodie as she progresses through childhood to adulthood and struggles to share her environment with Aiden. Growing up under supervision by the United States Paranormal Department, Jodie and Aiden face difficult situations as the government discovers a world beyond their own which holds the spirits of those who passed. It's up to Jodie to come to terms with the life she shares with Aiden and overcome the perilous situations they find themselves in

Out of the main three Quantic Dreams titles I've played, this game's narrative is easily the most underwhelming. I appreciate what this story was trying to do, and I think near the end point the game does pick up it's pace and gives some more intriguing plot beats. But when you face the reality that you have to give a substantial amount of hours to reach the period of value the story has, it's easy to note how unworthy it is of your time. I get the game was trying to tackle a story about a women's struggle to find her place in a world constantly throwing it's worst at her but it's done so in such a meandering way that none of it ever feels appropriately reciprocated. Even the star-studded cast that fills out the game's characters can't save this narrative from floundering constantly. It's nice to see big name stars like Elliot Page and Willem Dafoe working together and you can see they're definitely trying but the script and direction just isn't giving them anything compelling enough to justify their presence in my opinion.

On a gameplay element, it does fit the usual formula of interactive prompts all Quantic Dream games tend to have. You're influence on the game's direction is spread across quick time events and narrative based choices.  These choices however don't make up for how notably restrained the game's narrative choice concept actually is. Unlike Heavy Rain and Detroit: Become Human, the choices you make in this game don't feel in any way substantial for the most part. Even failure doesn't provide nearly as drastic a consequence as it did in the other games. It's a very linear game which is pretending to be a choice-based narrative and that illusion can become very annoying very quickly. The only unique attribute to the gameplay you won't find in other games is Aiden. The player has the ability to control Aiden and interact with the environment around Jodie in either a passive or violent manner. I like how the choice of how you play Aiden is made to be yours, but again it lacks much in the way of nuance and it fails to pick up for the game's other lacking aspects.

I don't think Beyond Two Souls is a truly terrible game, there are moments in which it breaks free of i't monotony to give you a glimmer of something unique and interesting. I honestly feel there's a interesting concept lost in the sea of tedium this game has filling it up. It's just a shame it never capitalised on it's potential until the very end when it's already too little and too late.