Life is Strange 2’s first episode arrives on September 27, but fans can hop on the hype train early with Chris Eriksen in DONTNOD’s narrative sandbox The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Beyond offering a first glimpse at the Life is Strange 2 universe however, Captain Spirit is, at its core, an adventurous exploration of childhood imagination as a means to escape the harshness of reality.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
DONTNOD Entertainment
Price: Free
Platforms: Xbox One (reviewed), PS4, PC
MonsterVine was provided with an Xbox One code for review.
Chris preparing to draw at his desk
The entirety of Captain Spirit involves exploring Chris’s home in Beaver Creek, Oregon and his relationship with his father, Charles—strained after the death of Chris’s mother, Emily. Chris clearly adopted his mother’s creative spirit, as he occupies his time drawing comics and writing stories—oh, and casually donning superhero clothes and being Captain Spirit. Snow sprinkles treetops and Chris’s treehouse as he enjoys breakfast from his dad before the big basketball game. Charles eventually falls asleep due to his early morning drinking, leaving Chris to wander more freely around the house and his backyard. Waking up Charles then initiates the end of the experience.
Because Captain Spirit is a sandbox game, Chris has a list of tasks to complete titled “My Awesome Things To Do.” DONTNOD specifically stated that completing some of these tasks isn’t straightforward, which is where creativity and having a childlike sense of curiosity will come in handy. There are a total of eight tasks (I only finished seven 🙁 ), though there’s a lot more substance to the game than just this list, including hidden special events. Experiences will even unfold differently depending on where the player is at certain times. In these ways, Captain Spirit is an ambitious take on quotidian life and how choices, down to where you are and when, can affect even the smallest outcomes.
Chris confronting a snowman outside
Although the game features a school-age male protagonist (unlike Max, Chloe, and Rachel) living outside of Arcadia Bay, Captain Spirit is undeniably a Life is Strange title with more player choices than ever before set to a beautiful acoustic soundtrack. With abundant secret narratives for players to discover, Captain Spirit offers many returns and hours of gameplay to really get to know the characters—much more than imagined for previous titles. Multiple objects also reference Life is Strange events and hints to Life is Strange 2, though some merely exist as red herrings to divert fan theories.
Every “important” object the player encounters can be easily accessed in the pause menu’s convenient Document Gallery. This makes piecing together the plentiful narrative arcs (and theorizing for Life is Strange 2) a lot simpler.
Charles, Chris’s dad, watching a basketball game
In addition to more interactable objects, Captain Spirit has two new player interactions: Power Actions and Answering Options. Power Actions are indicated by Captain Spirit’s logo minus the CS, offering cool cutscenes with Chris using his superpowers. These cutscenes use clever cinematography to reveal the true actions behind his supernatural powers, and are a fun way to keep players on their toes. Answering Options are dialogue options that pop up whenever Charles talks to Chris (even from a separate room). Players can choose to say nothing at all, but I found the interactions more realistic than previous titles, where only the most important dialogues were emphasized.
Some of the choices made in Captain Spirit WILL carry over to Life is Strange 2 if players keep their save files, though it’s currently unclear which ones exactly. It’ll be fun to see all the different outcomes though, especially since it only took me around three hours to discover most (I think?) of the game’s secrets.
Because most of Captain Spirit’s spirit (sorry) is experienced through discovering the narratives, any theories that popped up from playing the game will be featured in a future article. It’s more fun that way for everyone! All I can say is that Captain Spirit is absolutely worth your time, and it’s *free*, so there are no excuses not to play it.
The Final Word
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit efficiently sets the stage for Life is Strange 2 with more player choices, more object interactions, and more secrets to uncover than ever before despite its short length. Its ambition shows through time-/place-sensitive events and just-small-enough-to-miss environmental details—though its beautiful acoustic soundtrack and relatable characters keep it faithful to the Life is Strange series.
– MonsterVine Review Score: 4.5 out of 5 – Great
