Performances by Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe are excellent, visuals are stunning, and while the soundtrack is at times generic, it accompanies the action well. The game’s flaws are certainly frustrating and will be off-putting to many, but when Beyond manages to reach its high points, it does so with such brilliance that it’s almost easy to overlook the times you wanted to break your controller over your knee. Still, it’s disappointing that the learning curve has to be such a janky one. Playing the game consistently for some time will eventually allow you to get past the inherently awkward nature of quick time events, and once you learn what the game is looking for, Beyond becomes a much more enjoyable ride. That being said, the same button prompts are used for a majority of tasks, and many of them actually make sense based on context. Related: Searching for a New Way to Define Value Interacting with the environment is a chore more often than it should be, combat is a confusing mess that I rarely pulled off with any bravado, and the game’s insistence on making you perform menial tasks sometimes crosses over from being immersive to absurd in how unnecessary it feels. Basing core gameplay on quick time events is a bold choice indeed, and those who aren’t fans of timed button mashing will probably grow tired of Beyond very quickly. Each of the chapters in Beyond take place as standalone vignettes jumping around in time, and the game is largely played using interaction prompts and quick time events. Not surprisingly, it was the actual gameplay that often left me frustrated and sometimes served to hurt the overall experience. Dialogue choices allow you to respond in different ways that play to your interpretation of Jodie’s character, and the fact that there are so many options and variations to end everything really serves to make the game feel like a unique experience to an individual player. This leads to especially touching interactions between Jodie and all of the people in her life that I found to be particularly resonant. There are also multiple opportunities to make game-impacting choices throughout the story that lead to varied playthroughs and experiences. Each of the characters are fully fleshed out and explored fairly well, and while no one is without their faults, there’s an endearing redeeming quality to each of them that gives them a real sense of humanity. Relationships play a huge role in Beyond: Two Souls, and the care with which each of them is tackled is fantastic. Related: Beyond: Two Souls Director's Cut Reportedly Leaked And while seeing her attempt to be social with other human beings is indeed awkward and at times difficult to watch, her relationship with Aiden and how the two sort out their boundaries is fascinating and compelling in its own right. Sure, we’ve all seen and been a part of the awkward early teen years that forced us to endure ridicule and shame, but having Aiden at her side allows Jodie to take some solace in the fact that she’s never truly alone. We’ll see her mocked in her adolescence, witness her angst-filled teen years, and sympathize with her awkwardness in adjusting to adult life, all while she struggles with her connection with Aiden and how she allows it to define her.īut despite the fact it’s re-treading old ground, Beyond never fails to find new ways to tell the story and connect us to Jodie’s character. The story of a special, yet misunderstood person is not a new one, and there are countless films, books, and games that have tackled this very subject in ways similar to Beyond: Two Souls. She’s misunderstood, abused, and used for purposes she never fully realizes until it’s too late. It’s because of this that she is perpetually labeled as an outsider, a girl with a limited social circle who struggles to relate to other human beings. In many ways, Beyond: Two Souls is a by-the-numbers story about a strange girl who wants so desperately to live a normal life that she knows she can never realistically achieve. It’s because of her attachment to Aiden that Jodie often finds herself in the middle of dangerous situations that ultimately lead to her being placed under observation by the Department of Paranormal Activity and eventually lands her a job as an agent for the CIA. And with Beyond: Two Souls, they not only create a memorable and resonant experience, but also find fascinating ways in which to re-invent old story conventions we’ve seen a thousand times before.īeyond: Two Souls tells the story of Jodie Holmes, a young woman who is inextricably attached to an otherworldly entity named Aiden. With the likes of Heavy Rain and Indigo Prophecy, it’s no secret that David Cage and the developers at Quantic Dream are ambitious people who aren’t afraid to break the rules and test the boundaries of what we consider to be a video game.