Beyond: Two Souls Review

"Intertwined"

Campaign

August 24, 2020 at 4:01am
By Jason Stettner

This is a narrative driven venture that follows the life of Jodie Holmes (Ellen Page), an individual tethered to two realities. You get to see glimpses of various times in her life as she deals with having a special entity that’s attached to her and its rather interesting. This was my first time playing the game, so it was an entirely fresh experience for me on PC. It was really great to play it in this format as it looked absolutely remarkable in 4k 60fps.

With this version you’re able to play in the traditional story format, and also the chronological way as well. I chose the former since it was the intended way to play, at least for your first time and it really was quite jumbled. I definitely regret not going chronologically quite honestly. I did eventually get what they were going for with it, but at times it felt very disjointed narrative wise.

There were some questionable moments, and thoughts in regards to why the entity wouldn’t come in at certain points to assist. It’s interesting, and I liked the element of choice in this one. There were some aspects that felt forced, love interest wise. Still, I liked a sense of choice that I had with certain moments as it felt dynamic and open with its story telling. I’m not sure if I quite enjoyed where things ended at, but certainly had a great time with the story.

The interesting dynamics of Jodie, the people she dealt with and particularly her daughter/father like relationship with Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe). It really does feel quite cinematic, hence the formatting with names that I typically reserve for movie reviews. It’s very much one of those light interaction experiences, and that works well for it. The evolution of the adventure genre quite honestly, which isn’t as unique in the modern era.

Gameplay

The visual quality here really does hold up incredibly well. The models, the environment and the performance were very impressive. I did find some of the character facial animations to come across as aged, but still quite good for its time. The smoothness of the higher FPS and the visual fidelity of a 4k resolution were a treat to take in.

I did notice some slight glitches here or there that could have been polished out, but just brief things that didn’t impact gameplay in any way. I was just mostly blown away by how well the environments hold up. They’re full of items to make them seem lively, typically fairly large in scale and also dynamic. Being the entity you could throw things around, take advantage of other people and cause some damage. It was surprising to see such depth and how many options were present there.

I found the performance by Page to be great, as was what Dafoe brought to the table. I didn’t expect such an action packed story quite honestly, it was sort of crazy to see Page get unleashed in some high end military situations. It was also sleek in regards to the reactions, and in the style for how you’d interact with the world. It was mostly light touches, and simplistic movements but that did make me feel engaged with the action.

The Conclusion

Beyond: Two Souls was a great narrative driven experience that plays beautifully on the PC platform as a definitive release. I quite enjoyed the story here, and the style of gameplay. I did find some of the plot points to not necessarily line-up perfectly. At the same time, it was enjoyable and worked for an engaging experience. The overall story featured a fine length to it, with some little extras.

I liked that there’s the choice of the original intended play style, and also chronologically in case you’re coming back for something a little different. I do question some of the plot beats on this as I’ve mentioned prior. The whole desert spot seemed random, as did some of the more agent type missions.

I do understand why it was like that according to the conclusion I ended up with, at the same time it felt as though there was something more I was missing out on in understanding the context behind some scenes. I think this is a great offering if you’re looking for something story heavy. It’s light on direct input, but still makes you feel as though you’re directly engaging with what’s going on.

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Beyond: Two Souls Review on PC
Review Code Provided by BH Impact

Rating Overall: 8.0