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The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

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The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a demo adventure game in the Life Is Strange series developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It was released in June 2018 for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One as an introduction to Life Is Strange 2. The plot follows Chris Eriksen, a young boy who creates the superhero alter ego Captain Spirit to deal with the loss of his mother. Square Enix External Studios worked with Dontnod for the development. The game received generally favourable reviews, praising the narrative, main character, and script, but criticising the game mechanics and aspects of the writing.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit
Developer(s)Dontnod Entertainment
Publisher(s)Square Enix
Director(s)
  • Raoul Barbet
  • Michel Koch
Producer(s)Luc Baghadoust
Designer(s)Kevin Poupard
Programmer(s)Nicolas Sérouart
Artist(s)Michel Koch
Writer(s)
  • Christian Divine
  • Jean-Luc Cano
SeriesLife Is Strange
EngineUnreal Engine 4
Platform(s)
Release25 June 2018
Genre(s)Adventure
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay and setting

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The player assumes the role of a young boy named Chris Eriksen.[1][2][3][4] It takes place in Beaver Creek, Oregon, where Chris lives with his father, Charles, who is struggling with the death of Chris's mother.[2][5] One Saturday morning, Chris creates the superhero alter ego Captain Spirit and projects his imagination onto reality.[4] He imagines his various chores as supervillains to be defeated. After an argument with his father, Chris falls from his treehouse, but mysteriously levitates instead of hitting the ground, and spots two boys watching from afar (who appear in Life Is Strange 2).

His costume is customisable, while the environment can be interacted with and contains quests like treasure hunting and exploring an imagined planet.[2] Dialogue trees are used to respond to non-player characters.[5] The choices that the player makes in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit affect some parts of Life Is Strange 2, in which Chris also makes an appearance.[6][7]

Development and release

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According to developer Dontnod Entertainment, the game fulfilled their wish to expand the Life Is Strange universe, which arose during the production of Life Is Strange 2,[1] for which it serves as a demo.[8][9] Co-directors Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch collaborated with writers Christian Divine and Jean-Luc Cano to create the story and characters.[2][10] They researched the location with reference to what the protagonist's father could bear the expense of, including the nature of his work.[10] Dontnod used the game to experiment with mechanics from Life Is Strange;[11] dialogue trees were improved to allow responses while moving.[5] Using the Unreal Engine 4,[7] Dontnod developed a new facial and physics animation system[12] and designed original assets.[11] It was influenced by the Japanese anime series Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya, according to Barbet.[13] Sufjan Stevens' song "Death with Dignity" is used to represent the theme of loss.[2] The game was revealed at Microsoft's E3 presentation on 10 June 2018 for released on 26 June,[1][3][14] but was found to release on 25 June.[15] A version localized and dubbed in Japanese was released on 6 February 2020.[16]

Reception

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The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit received generally favourable reviews, according to Metacritic.[17][18][19] Destructoid's Brett Makedonski was most struck by the narrative, which also left him wanting more.[20] Joe Juba of Game Informer concurred and appreciated the parable between Chris' imagination and its real life counterpart. Its explicit connections to Life Is Strange 2 excited him.[21] Michael Leri, writing for Game Revolution, enjoyed playing as Captain Spirit, noting that the character's function to contrast the mundane "livens up interactions".[22] James O'Connor at GameSpot thought that Chris succeeded "as a sympathetic figure", while also praising the cutscenes for being visually inventive. He saw the script as "tight" and called the storytelling "smart".[23] GamesRadar+'s Andy Hartup commended that it is free-to-play, agreed with O'Connor about the script's succinctness, and said it contained charm and "genuine human drama".[24] Writing for IGN, Louisa Blatt found the father-son dynamic to be emotionally satisfying, never once growing bored with the story. She also declared the setting "the most beautiful scenery I’ve ever seen in a Life is Strange game".[25] Adam Cook of VideoGamer.com wrote in his verdict, "As a teaser for Life is Strange 2, Captain Spirit does its job", citing its length as what it did well.[26]

Conversely, Makedonski disliked that it ended on a "gratuitous" cliffhanger.[20] Juba thought the weakest segments were the ones using traditional adventure game mechanics.[21] Leri disparaged the writing for its "extreme" tonal shifts and "mediocre" dialogue.[22] O'Connor criticised the characters for being clichéd.[23] Hartup accused the game of being too short.[24] Blatt was usually annoyed with the primary mechanic and wrote that the quests fell short of challenging her.[25] Cook questioned the subtlety of the writing.[26]

Awards

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The game was nominated for "Game, Franchise Adventure" at the NAVGTR Awards,[27] and for the "Matthew Crump Cultural Innovation Award" at the SXSW Gaming Awards.[28]

References

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  1. ^ a b c Farokhmanesh, Megan (10 June 2018). "New Life is Strange game, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, coming June 26th". The Verge. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e Wilson, Aoife (10 June 2018). "25 minutes with Life is Strange 2's brilliantly unexpected free prequel". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 12 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b Kuchera, Ben (10 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a '100 percent free' game in the Life is Strange universe". Polygon. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018.
  4. ^ a b Dontnod Entertainment (25 June 2018). The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit (PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One). Square Enix.
  5. ^ a b c Futter, Michael (13 June 2018). "'The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit' Sets Stage for 'Life is Strange 2'". Variety. Archived from the original on 14 June 2018.
  6. ^ Jackson, Gita (24 January 2019). "Life Is Strange 2 Is More Moving If You've Played Captain Spirit". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 9 July 2021. Retrieved 3 July 2021.
  7. ^ a b Stevens, Colin (11 June 2018). "Choices Made in Captain Spirit Will Affect Life Is Strange 2". IGN. Archived from the original on 11 June 2018.
  8. ^ Warr, Philippa (28 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a hit and miss teaser for Life is Strange 2". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018.
  9. ^ "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit". PlayStation. Archived from the original on 4 July 2018.
  10. ^ a b "The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit preview and interview – Life is Strange too". Metro. 19 June 2018. Archived from the original on 23 June 2018.
  11. ^ a b Francis, Bryant (14 June 2018). "How Captain Spirit is helping Dontnod prep for Life is Strange 2". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018.
  12. ^ Vincent, Brittany (14 June 2018). "E3 2018: Dontnod Entertainment's Michel Koch Talks The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit". Shacknews. Archived from the original on 15 June 2018.
  13. ^ Frank, Allegra (19 June 2018). "Life Is Strange spinoff draws inspiration from a classic anime". Polygon. Archived from the original on 19 June 2018.
  14. ^ Summers, Nick (10 June 2018). "'Life is Strange' returns with 'The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit'". Engadget. Archived from the original on 10 June 2018.
  15. ^ Dale, Laura Kate (22 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is Releasing a Day Early". Kotaku UK. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  16. ^ 徹也, 稲元 (6 February 2020). "無料配信タイトル「オーサム・アドベンチャーズ・オブ・キャプテン・スピリット」プレイレポート。「ライフ イズ ストレンジ 2」へとつながる物語を体験しよう". 4gamer.net (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 29 May 2021.
  17. ^ a b "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Critic Reviews for PC". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 29 October 2021. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  18. ^ a b "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Critic Reviews for PlayStation 4". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 11 June 2019. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  19. ^ a b "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Critic Reviews for Xbox One". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 15 July 2020. Retrieved 25 June 2018.
  20. ^ a b c Makedonski, Brett (25 June 2018). "Review: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit". Destructoid. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  21. ^ a b c Juba, Joe (25 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures Of Captain Spirit". Game Informer. Archived from the original on 25 June 2018.
  22. ^ a b c Leri, Michael (25 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Review – More Like "Relatively Decent Adventures"". Game Revolution. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  23. ^ a b c O'Connor, James (25 June 2018). "Life keeps getting stranger". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  24. ^ a b c Hartup, Andy (25 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit review: "Completely free to download, and a wonderful couple of hours of gaming"". GamesRadar. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  25. ^ a b c Blatt, Louisa (26 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit Review". IGN. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  26. ^ a b c Cook, Adam (25 June 2018). "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit review". VideoGamer.com. Archived from the original on 30 June 2018.
  27. ^ "Nominee List for 2018". National Academy of Video Game Trade Reviewers. 11 February 2019. Archived from the original on 13 February 2019.
  28. ^ Trent, Logan (11 February 2019). "Here Are Your 2019 SXSW Gaming Awards Finalists!". South by Southwest. Archived from the original on 14 February 2019.
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