Beyond: Two Souls

If you’ve never played Beyond: Two Souls before and fancy sitting down with something that tells an interesting story and doesn’t require too much effort to play, you’d be wise to give it a go. Available at a budget price on PC, you’ll be hugely impressed by its visuals, and while some scenes feel like filler, you’ll feel the urge to push on to discoverer Jodie’s, and Aiden’s, ultimate fate. Like any Quantic Dream tale, the narrative is sometimes ham-fisted, but it’s still head and shoulders above what’s offered by most videogames, making the time spent with Beyond: Two Souls something you’ll ...

A deft remastering of what was arguably the PS3’s technical swansong, Beyond: Two Souls finds new life and an attractive home on PS4, with some extra features thrown in to sweeten the deal.

Beyond: Two Souls feels like a Frankenstein creature; a television show with interactivity jammed in for the sake of it. It’s an interminable cutscene that demands your input at every moment, constantly disrupting the flow of the story to do so, but doesn’t reward your actions with any kind of meaning. And being held hostage to every second only means you have a whole lot of time to think about how Ellen Page deserved better.

As a whole, though, Beyond: Two Souls is without question one of the most ambitious undertakings of this generation — an interactive experience with a massive scope, tremendous mo-cap performances, and a story that, while a little convoluted in places, competently encompasses several decades of a girl's very complex life. Controlling Jodie and Aiden makes for a unique combination of mechanics and puzzle-solving, but the limitations of what the player can and can't do will feel restrictive to some. However, those who embrace the experience will find that everything has a purpose in the end, and...

Beyond: Two Souls is a game that you should play. It may not immediately endear itself to everyone, but Quantic Dream’s ambitious excursion into the otherworld is an experience that deserves to be sampled at least once. This is a daring adventure that’s not afraid to delve into the aspects of life that the medium is often eager to ignore, and while it falls short of its lofty aspirations on occasion, it very much makes the equally innovative Heavy Rain look like a dress rehearsal. As far as console swansongs go, director David Cage’s spiritual slice of interactive cinema could not be more uniq...

Beyond: Two Souls is a beautifully rendered and emotionally charged narrative that makes you feel like it knows you're there.

After completing Beyond: Two Souls, my biggest question has been how to define it. Is it a game? Is it a choose-your-own adventure? Would it have been better as a movie? Creative director David Cage has referred to it as an “interactive drama” and that’s probably the best way to describe it. I sort of knew what to expect having played Heavy Rain but even though I went into the game knowing Beyond would be different than any previous game experience I’ve had I couldn’t help but feel there was something missing. The developers have said they tried to make Beyond an imitation of life, and while t...

The PC port stands as the definitive way to experience Beyond: Two Souls, boasting a higher frame cap, solid keyboard & mouse controls, and a remix mode. These additions, however, do nothing to remedy the poorly-aged, cliché-ridden script and inconsistent chapters you may remember, but do highlight the game’s strong visuals and emphasis on variety.

Quantic Dream's latest aims to take interactive storytelling to the next level, but it falters.

Scene by scene, Beyond: Two Souls is compelling enough, principally thanks to a remarkable performance from Ellen Page. But never before have I felt like such a passive participant in a video game, my choices and actions merely icing on a dense, multi-layered cake. Playing Beyond is a memorable experience, yes, but a good video game it is not; and while the credits were rolling I admit to thinking I would have been happier to sit back and watch a movie version that was eight-and-a-half hours shorter.

And that’s all Beyond: Two Souls is — a pantomime. A childish play at being a meaningful journey, a vapid illusion of passion and poignancy. Nothing but a pantomime.

Beyond is a tale of squandered potential. With acting talent such as Page and Dafoe on board, music from legendary composer Hans Zimmer and visuals that give the PS4 launch line-up a run for their money, it’s such a shame that when it comes down to it, the incompetent story and poor gameplay mechanics leave a lot to be desired.