Beyond: Two Souls

This game hold a terribly conflicting place in my heart. I want to get into both the good and the bad, so bare with me. Beyond: Two Souls is an aesthetically wonderful game. For a story-based game, it also has great pacing. The animation is lovely, the atmosphere is well thought out, and the character design is fun and immersive. On the other hand, the writing is frequently sloppy. You aren't given a lot of time to empathize and get to know the characters as well as I would prefer, including Jodie. What plays out is watching her repeatedly get thrown in awful, gut-wrenching situations with little time to see her flourish. I understand this is meant to tug on the heart strings, but it becomes exhausting and dull without any in-between space to actually form a connection with her. On top of that, the same issue is repeated for Nathan Dawkins. His character writing is messy, and his climax makes no sense. [spoiler] What we actually experience is a story that repeatedly romanticizes death, suicide, and self harm. With scenes such as Jodie's multiple chances to attempt suicide and Dawkin's inevitable demise to be with his family, you're just left with a bad taste in your mouth. It is edgy in an exhausting, upsetting way, which I doubt that's what the story was going for. [/spoiler] Now for my personal least favorite bit of writing, Ryan Clayton. [spoiler] Ryan is not only unlikeable, but is also the main love interest of the game. As opposed to other romance options, Ryan is repeatedly given the chance to get with Jodie. Despite him chronically being insufferable and rude, he's also a creep. When Jodie and Ryan meet, she's still a teenager. It is not specified what age she is when they start their romance, however it is still a gross situation for Ryan to try and get with her as both someone who met here when she was a child and he was an adult, but ALSO as her mentor. This romance isn't treated as strange in the game, and that bothers me. It normalizes predatory behavior, and practically encourages it by constantly giving you the change to romance him (even if you reject him over and over). [/spoiler] My last, and least offensive critique of the game, is that the port is mediocre. The controls struggle frequently, and it can be incredibly frustrating at times. Especially if you're playing with a controller / steam deck, there will be times where you'll have to switch to an easier difficulty just to get through an area because the input is so poor. Especially during QTE and when controlling Aiden, this makes the game frustrating to play. It's hard to give this review, as I'm very fond of story based games. However, it marks itself as forgettable at the end of the day. I wish I had kinder things to say, as the concept could have been wonderfully executed if done right.