Welcome back to another week of Gaming With Heather, friends! I apologize for my recent absence, and I’m going to entirely blame it on all the new releases of September. This week though, I was fortunate enough to snag an early access code for the demo of Beyond: Two Souls. The rest of you will be able to experience the demo on October 1st, but until then I wanted to share with you why I think you my thoughts! If you’re not familiar with Beyond: Two Souls, it is an upcoming PlayStation 3 exclusive from Quantic Dream, who developed Heavy Rain. It is another interactive movie-style game that really raises the bar on how we play games. I personally don’t think Beyond: Two Souls has been hyped as much as it should be. If you read my last post I talked about too much hype, but in this case I have to wonder why everyone isn’t as familiar with this game as they should be.
I must admit that I have known about Beyond: Two Souls, but haven’t really thought to follow along with coverage of the game’s development. For the most part I don’t like to know game details, but I also haven’t really been compelled to keep up. I’m not sure if that is from lack of hype or that there have just been so many great game releases this year. People I’ve spoken to at local game stores don’t seem to know much about this game other than it’s similar to Heavy Rain. I think the most mainstream news people have heard about the game is during the controversy over The Last of Us character Ellie looking like the Beyond: Two Souls’ character Jodie. So when I noticed GameStop and the game’s official Twitter account giving out early access I thought I’d jump at the opportunity, and I’m so glad I did.
The demo instantly blew my mind because the graphics looked like something I would expect from the PlayStation 4. At that point I was ready to see the stunning graphics in action and of course, to learn more about the story. The demo gives you two scenes to play, The Experiment and Hunted. The first is very introductory and gives you a sense of the story and familiarizes you with the characters Jodie and Aiden. The second part of the demo throws you directly into the action while displaying how amazing the game’s graphics are. The simple controls took some time to get used to, but the demo is extremely forgiving in this aspect. I really enjoyed being able to spend a few minutes testing out the controls and messing around with the interactions without hurting my experience. The demo also features an amazing trailer for the game that again gives you a look into what the full game has in store for you.
We’ve all had those negative demo experiences where games try too hard to show you the action without letting you get accustomed to the controls or introducing you to the story. You know, those demos that assume you’ve read details about the game. The Beyond: Two Souls demo assumes nothing, and gives you a great look at the upcoming game. It was enough to get me hyped for the game’s release. I don’t think this game will be for everyone though. For those of you that enjoy games like Heavy Rain or even The Last of Us, I urge you to give this demo a shot. The 3GB download may discourage some of you, but I really recommend you do! I have never been more impressed with a demo, especially for a game in this genre.
The Beyond: Two Souls demo will be available on October 1st and the full game will be released on October 8th in North America.
Discuss:
What are your thoughts on this style of interactive video games, and are you looking forward to Beyond: Two Souls?