Beyond: Two Souls is a story-focused adventure game with an interesting premise and good presentation. I went into it with fairly low expectations, but I ended up enjoying the story more than I expected.
The story is told out of chronological order, which some players may find frustrating. Personally, I didn't mind the structure itself. The different parts of Jodie's life tie together well enough that I never felt lost, and I think telling the story chronologically would probably make it less interesting. However, the fragmented structure also removes a lot of the tension because you often already know what is going to happen and are simply waiting to see how the story gets there. It feels like a deliberate choice in how the story is meant to be experienced, but it comes at the cost of suspense.
It's also a bit weird how Jodie seems to have a very different personality in different phases of the story. Some important sections are also very short, while others, like "Homeless", are quite long. The differences in chapter length add to the feeling that some parts of the story don't quite align with each other. At times it almost feels like most of the writing effort seems to have gone into side stories, leaving me wanting to hear more about those stories than about the main plot itself.
I also didn't have much of an issue with Jodie herself. Some players find her overly emotional or complain that she spends too much time feeling sorry for herself, but I think her behavior generally fits what the story puts her through.
The relationships are more of a mixed bag. The game does a good job of showing Jodie's lack of friends and how isolated she can be, but some of her actual relationships aren't particularly well developed. Her relationship with Professor Dawkins, for example, feels about as deep as a shoebox. There are some good moments, but I rarely felt that their relationship developed into something particularly meaningful. For a story that focuses so heavily on Jodie's life and relationships, this left me wanting a little more depth.
One thing I particularly appreciated is how much freedom the game gives you during its scenes. Compared to many other story-driven games, there are surprisingly few moments where you're simply looking for a specific item or following an obvious sequence of actions. Instead, you're often free to decide how you want to approach a situation. Your choices can also influence how some scenes play out, which makes the experience feel more interactive than it initially appears.
That said, the PC controls are not particularly good. A lot of the interaction feels like playing a Tinder swipe training simulator, where you're constantly moving the mouse in different directions to perform simple actions. It works, but it doesn't always feel natural or precise. Some of these interactions are also important during quick-time events, where performing the correct action can affect how a scene plays out or whether you get a particular achievement. I also noticed that some mouse gestures require surprisingly small movements; swipe too far or too quickly and the game may not register the input correctly. In some parts I was also wondering how it's possible that I can't seem to press a button repeatedly without the game failing to register it properly. Because of all this, I think the game would benefit considerably from better mouse and keyboard controls.
The presentation still holds up fairly well. The environments look good, the character models are convincing for a game of its age and the cinematic presentation fits the story-focused design. The game also does a good job of creating atmosphere without constantly relying on traditional gameplay mechanics.
Gameplay is obviously very limited. Most of the time you're exploring small areas, interacting with objects, making choices and progressing the story. That's not necessarily a problem because the game clearly prioritizes storytelling over gameplay, but it does mean that the quality of the narrative is extremely important.
Overall, I'd give Beyond: Two Souls a 6.5/10. It has an interesting story, good presentation and more freedom in its scenes than I expected from this type of game. The non-linear storytelling works better than I expected, and I never found the fragmented structure particularly confusing. The biggest problems for me are the PC control scheme, sudden and sometimes strange changes in Jodie's behavior, and the somewhat underdeveloped relationships, but none of these completely undermine the experience. Still, if you enjoy story-driven games, Beyond: Two Souls is worth giving a shot, especially if you can get it cheaply.
