Beyond: Two Souls

I finally got round to finishing Beyond: Two Souls. It's been sitting in my library for months like the last few crisps in a screwed up bag. I didn't really want to finish it, but somehow I felt like I should.

Sometimes you just stop playing a game because something else comes along. That happens to me a lot, because I am easily distracted. My games library is littered with half completed games that fell foul of a new, shiny release.

That wasn't the case here.


It's Not Me, It's You

Beyond: Two Souls,  you have many good features. You look great. Your designers clearly had a big sign up in the office that said 'More Cinematic!', which they glanced at every few seconds.  You have real Proper Actors in it, who do Good Acting. Your plot is complex and epic, with loads of interesting themes.

But your gameplay. Oh dear, Beyond: Two Souls. Your gameplay drove me out of my mind. .

Let's start with your obsession with me swinging the controller about. It's not necessary. It's got thumbsticks on it. If I want to climb up, I can press 'up'. Why do you insist that I rhythmically jerk the controller up and down, like... well never mind what like. Needless to say, I feel foolish doing it, and I think you only want me to do it so you can feel innovative.

And why do you need my input on so many flipping things in the first place? I've no idea how long I spent staring at the screen, assuming I was in a cutscene, only to realise that you were waiting for me to tilt the thumbstick towards a door so it would open.

Which wouldn't matter if there was an option to do anything else. But there isn't. Literally nothing else I do has any effect. I can hammer all the buttons I want, but Ellen Page will just sit there, staring into space, until I press the exact thing you want.

So what's the bloody point? Why not do it yourself, if I don't have any actual choice? You're like someone who says "Oh I don't mind what we watch - you choose", and then turns down every suggestion I make until it's the one you want.


Hit Me One More Time

Very occasionally the controls feel intuitive. Which is, I expect, the idea. Tilting towards a little circular 'action' point makes me feel closer to Ellen Page, as her movements echo mine. But most of the time this laudable attempt to bridge the gap between me and my character simply doesn't work.

Worst of all is combat. You've decided that, when someone attacks me, time will slow down and I should attempt to dodge. And I dodge by pushing the thumbstick in the direction I want to dodge. Which should feel really immersive and kinetic.

But the problem is, the camera angle on my character keeps changing. So what am I dodging in relation to? The direction as I see it, on the screen? Or the direction as my character perceives it, which is not the same?

It is very unclear. And it makes no sense. Which leads to poor Ellen Page being smacked upside the head all the time, while I twich the controller about, swearing and cursing your stupid control system.

Your Ever Changing Moods


But none of that is what really made me stop playing. These were just inconveniences. What really got to me was how bloody inconsistent you were.

Your main mechanic is that I have a kind of magic demon thing attached to me, called Aiden, who helps me out. If I press triangle, my perspective shifts and I lift above Ellen Page, inhabiting the character of Aiden.

And Aiden can do all manner of cool stuff. He can zip through walls and strangle people who are in my way. He can knock things over, causing distractions that allow me to sneak past guards. He can even possess people, allowing me to control them. I like that one. Nothing delights me more than a possessed guard suddenly turning his gun on his surprised friends.

These are great game mechanics and could form the root of an interesting, emergent experience. Like in Metal Gear Solid 5, where Snake's various tactics can combine against guards in surprising and innovative ways.

But you throw it all away, don't you? Because Aiden's magic powers are only available sometimes, when you decide they are. Sometimes I can possess everyone in my way. But then I'll round a corner and, oh no. You've decided that possession doesn't work on these guys. Because you want me to do a distracty, sneaky thing in this level.

It's maddening, and it infects the whole game. Mechanics work sporadically, depending on how you want me to proceed.  And that's at the heart of everything that's wrong with you, and why I stopped playing.


It's All About You

You, Beyond: Two Souls, are obsessed with your story. You are so, so proud of it that you won't let go of it. So nothing I do will have any effect on it. I am an actor, playing my part, and you are a controlling, hysterical writer/director. Not only must I do the right things, but I must do them in the right way. There's a solution to each level, and nothing but the right solution will do.

What's weird is, you are trying so hard to make it look like I do have a choice. Options crop up all the time. At the end of each level you tell me how my choices compared to other people who've played. You look, for all the world, as if you are totally letting me do my thing.

But the real choices in games come not through tiny narrative branches, but rather through how you play, moment to moment. I didn't mind The Last of Us pushing me relentlessly towards a conclusion, because the way I played the game was mine. It allowed me to use all the mechanics at my disposal, exactly as I chose. And it was loads better because of it.

Finished

So. I finally got round to finishing you. Not because I really wanted to, but because I thought I should. And how do I feel? Like I wandered through a very interesting story, but not a very interesting game. I'm sorry. I know you tried.

Maybe you'll do better, in Beyond: Three Souls.