Beyond: Two Souls
DISCLAIMER
The review you are about to read is based on my own experience with the game, my judgment, and the rating system! No third party has impacted anything said in this review. This review is also 100% spoiler-free, so you don’t need to worry about that either.
Gameplay and Interaction (16 out of 20)
So, as far as the gameplay is concerned this game is the interactivity festival in a good way. Since Beyond: Two Souls is mainly focused around the actual delivery of the story, it is expected for the number of interactive elements to be higher than what you’d usually see. One thing that might surprise a few people is that everything you interact with has a purpose, and there’s no single object that you interact with being there just to fill the space up. Unlike other similar story-based games, there are no interactive components that are wasting your time for the sake of prolonging the playtime - everything is pretty much associated with the story itself. The only thing on the interactive side which doesn’t make sense is that the game is (in certain sequences) almost unplayable without a controller. Considering that this game was a console release at first, without any plans for a PC release does help me look past some of the decisions that were made for the PC release. The only frustrating thing is that the developers did not even try to alter the originally designed mechanics and make them at least a little bit easier to cope with on the PC. Let’s be honest, the PC is the platform where most of the players do not own a controller, to begin with.
– Real player with 25.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure Story Rich Games.
I burned the house because she said rock music sucks
I am Quantic Dream fan since Fahrenheit, after I played it I fell in love with narrative games and couldn’t wait for more similar games. Heavy Rain came out after some time and again I enjoyed it very much but it had flaws. And then Beyond Two Souls have been released. Wow I loved everything about this game, it’s hard to find to say anything bad about it.
Beyond Two Souls tells a story of Jodie and her entity Aiden. Don’t expect realism here, it’s kinda similar to Life is Strange 2 in some way or Fahrenheit. A girl with supernatural power. Aiden is always with her, he doesn’t leave her, he protects her and even lets her see souls and past events. In her childhood Jodie was taken by the scientists to do tests and experiments and her life has been a real roller coaster. No need to talk about the story much because of spoilers on every step so you need to experience it yourself.
– Real player with 21.9 hrs in game
She Sees Red - Interactive Movie
I liked Late Shift and I bought this game as it’s similar to that game, I finished my first play within 45 minutes and got a good ending don’t know if it’s best, this game has various choices to select like Late Shift but it’s shorter than Late Shift, when I started my play the game mentioned to play it twice to reveal more of the story.
As for the story it’s so fast players will be confused when they start the game as it progress they will get to know what is happening and what was this all about. There are around 15 achievements and I only managed to get 5 on my first time playing the game.
– Real player with 8.7 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure FMV Games.
“She Sees Red” is a short, well-produced interactive movie that can take radically different turns depending on your choices.
The story is standard thriller material with murders in a nightclub, drugs, two detectives on an investigation, and some allusions to organized crime. The narrative is interesting and mysterious, particularly because you play both the detective and the killer. While you take moment-to-moment decisions like “fight or flee”, the motives of these characters remain unknown at first. But as you replay the game and discover more endings, secrets about each main character are revealed, until you understand the full picture.
– Real player with 6.2 hrs in game
The Dark Pictures Anthology: Man of Medan
To be honest I heard bad things about this game a lot but to be fair I actually prefer it over House of Ashes.
Good things.
-I really liked how it based it off a real ww2 boat and how it really followed the myth of the Ourang Medan and how 22 crew mates died with no explanation to this day. (search up the name of the boat for more details)
-Setting, I enjoyed the idea of being isolated from land and the feeling of not being able to get out of this trapped nightmare.
-I know a lot people didn’t like the idea of the monsters being in their heads but I did as it was something quite different from being killed by monsters or humans.
– Real player with 39.1 hrs in game
Read More: Best Adventure Horror Games.
Following the release of House of Ashes one can observe a steady increase in quality with each game starting with Man of Medan. While Little Hope and House of Ashes progressively improve the series' mechanics, gameplay, and storytelling, Man of Medan still stands as a fun time to share with friends. I love this game, and even if it could stand to be updated by Supermassive to compete with its sister games, it’s a successfully lays the groundworks and dives into the world the Dark Pictures Anthology seeks to build with each story.
– Real player with 30.6 hrs in game
DEKONSTRUKT
DEKONSTRUKT is an interactive movie, with elements of first-person gameplay. You will be immersed in the inglorious story of a game developer with plenty of destructive black humor. The game responds to never-before-seen creative challenges. Help the protagonist deal with his inner demons. Or not really.
As you can see, the game tries with all its might to seem like it’s not just another triviality. In other words, my mother grew a vegetable, even though she is not a gardener.
✔ A story that will stay in your memory for a long time.
Saint Kotar
It’s an interesting game, and has many excellent points. But all in all I can only give it a weak recommendation.
Pros:
–Excellent, dark art style.
–Very atmospheric.
–Subtle but fitting music, with a couple of tracks that are so good that I find myself excited for the soundtrack.
–Extremely dark, in a way that few games are willing to go.
–I played through it twice and generally enjoyed the experience both times.
Cons:
–Extremely thin story that often doesn’t make sense. A huge chunk of the game is spent wondering why your sister would have ever had you all come here. Having played through the game twice, I find myself still unable to answer that. Possibly the answer is, “Actually, she didn’t.” But if that’s the correct answer, a HUGE amount of story that fleshes out how the character who did knew to do that and why they’d want to just isn’t in the game (but absolutely should be).
– Real player with 41.6 hrs in game
Full disclosure: I backed this game’s Kickstarter and have reviewed it for the Croatian gaming portal FFA. You can find the Croatian review here . This is an abbreviated version of that review.
Saint Kotar is a traditional p’n’c adventure game trying its best to fit in with the rest of the adventure greats. It plays like most standard examples in the genre - you explore a variety of locations, examine and interact with objects, talk with people quite a bit and try to piece together what exactly is going on.
– Real player with 28.2 hrs in game
Tales of the Black Death
If you like narrative games with difficult moral choices, then this is the right adventure for you.
Tales of the Black Death follows the troubles of Baldasar, a young boy trying to escape the 1346 plague. His journey will take him from Italy to France, and finally to England.
The story is very engaging and effective in delivering the collective and individual drama, helped by a very inspired art style and soundtrack.
I couldn’t stop playing and found myself torn in front of many troubling decisions, feeling the urgency and the tragedy, hope at times, and worry about the fate of the protagonist.
– Real player with 19.6 hrs in game
1346 – 1356
A Pandemic reaches europe.
The Black Death.
Over 25 Million Human died.
Hard Times – hard Decissions.
What have you done to survive in such times?
Welcome to TALES OF THE BLACK DEATH!
In first look it seems to be a typical Visual Novel.
It is not.
It is more.
It is a Journey into a dark Time where you not only have to read Text.
You also have to care about yourself, you have to make hard Decissions …… you have to survive!!!
You can be sure that each decision has consequences and you can also be sure that you will disbelief many of your decisions, wishing to have other choices.
– Real player with 4.8 hrs in game
1979 Revolution: Black Friday
Certainly one of the more unique and surprising games I’ve played. The concept had peaked my interest, as I’m a film-maker and interested in politics myself, and also interested in world history. I believe you cannot truly make an informed choice, until you understand the context behind what you believe, and the bigger picture. I’m well aware of Iran’s history in the 20th century, from the CIA/British coup against Mossadeq, to the current day Islamic republic. When I’m told by the media that ‘Iran is evil’, my first thought is ‘why?’. It seems in today’s world, we’re expected to hate on command, rather than to think critically and dig deeper. With that in mind, I was keen to see how the events were depicted in this game.
– Real player with 6.5 hrs in game
It is quite difficult to fairly judge a piece of work when its qualities and failures are exceptionally conflicting. 1979 Revolution: Black Friday proposes a fresh and intimate look at a very critical moment in history, mostly unexplored in today’s media, and becomes a very important creation deployed over a rich, unique background. However, it completely fails as a game on so many basic levels that it renders the experience partially unpalatable.
– Real player with 5.3 hrs in game
80 Days
This interactive narrative of the steampunk variety encompases the adventure of Passepartout, a french valet who provides service for his master, Phileas Fogg - of whom has wagered £20,000 that he can travel around the world in 80 Days. This immensely dialogue rich game immerses the player in a world (with a little imagination) not too dissimilar from our own. Set in the 1872 it explores not only the geological but plunges into the philosophical and ethical as you converse with people around the world in every country.
– Real player with 78.1 hrs in game
I bought this on a whim in a sale and then didn’t play it for a little while because looking at the screenshots on the store page didn’t make me super enthused for it. I know the description and tags show that it is heavily narrative-based but I just want to emphasise that because if I had seen more narrative screenshots, I probably would have bought and played it sooner.
The things I love the most are the setting and the writing. I don’t normally get very enthused about steampunk but I really liked this universe. Part of what can make me iffy about things taking inspiration from the Victoria era is the colonialism, but this game addresses these issues and doesn’t just hide them away. The world is full of anti-colonial conflicts, revolutions, and discussion of slavery and you can often talk to characters directly impacted. There are also plenty of women in the world doing non-traditional things (which you can choose to be shocked by, usually). The writing is of a very high quality and the narrative choices frequent (with impacts ranging from minimal/non-existent to huge). I can’t even imagine the full extent of the script, although I’m sure it will become apparent if I play it many more times! I really love being Passepartout and I find myself very engaged by the narrative.
– Real player with 42.4 hrs in game
Batman: The Enemy Within - The Telltale Series
Batman: The Enemy Within is the second season of Telltale’s version of my favourite DC superhero. Obviously this game is mostly focused on story, so I’ll start with my overall recommendation, and then you can skip my detailed analysis if you want to avoid spoilers.
This is an essential must play for any fan of Batman. The story is fantastic, Telltale back to their absolute best form. Voice acting is outstanding throughout the whole cast, headlined by Troy Baker as Batman/Bruce Wayne. I advise playing season 1 first, because some decisions carry forward, which can impact the appearance of some characters, and their relationship with Bruce. It took me 9 hours to finish Enemy Within, which is longer than Telltale’s other recent games, and I think you can justify buying the game for full price or a small discount.
– Real player with 18.0 hrs in game
Gotham’s Finest
By now almost everybody knows who Batman is and most of the details surrounding him (parents‘ death, enemies and villains, Batman‘s codex etc.). So you would probably think “why should I play another Batman game? Will it be the same old story I already know?“. In case of Batman - Enemy Within you would be nicely surprised because many things are just not as you are used them to be. And this is good because it makes the story much more interesting than still playing the same song over and over again.
– Real player with 17.2 hrs in game
Batman - The Telltale Series
I have some friends and people-I-know who like to judge me. All these judgement comes from their inability to accept that people can be different and their tastes can vary, it highly depends on what kinda person you are, your lifestyle and your education.
Telltale Games are always a reason for discussions and some weird talks like “what do you exactly call a game in there?” and every time I hear it I start to get mad. Truth be told, I never understood why people like to judge the genres they don’t like and people who play them, ‘cause it’s never been a big problem for me. If I don’t like the game or genre, I just don’t play it, easy as that.
– Real player with 67.9 hrs in game
By now, Batman is a well known character who’s had probably the largest exposure among comic book characters. Across the years there have been many interpretations of the character, some focusing on the hero, others on the darker aspects of his personallity and most of them on his growth. They’ve all been done to death. How does Telltale’s Batman fare? Do you need to know his character to enjoy this game? Is this a cashgrab or is there some worth to it, something that make the game shine ? Telltale’s catalogue is formed of both kinds. Batman season 1 is an interesting one. It starts as the former and ends as the latter. Before I go on with the narrative and technical details, I’ll get something out of the way: If you intend to play it on a low-tier device, better stay away! The engine of the game served as a prototype and therefore not many things could be fixed. To this day, the framerate can drop to the half of your display, there’s some stuttering in few moments on high-end machines, but it’s much worse on lower-ends. With that out, here’s the actual review:
– Real player with 35.3 hrs in game