If the concept of teasing one game by another is a rarity in the video game world, it is not new. The latest example is indeed on the side of Bethesda where the arrival of Fallout 4 had been subtly mouthed via another title, namely Fallout Shelter. Released for free on iOS and Android before arriving on all platforms, the latter had greatly contributed to raising the hype around the Bethesda game. With Captain Spirit, Dontnod Entertainment simply takes the same path, except that the game turns out to be much closer to the final product (Life is Strange 2 for those who have not followed) and that it is more like an introduction than a true spin-off. Available for free on PC, PS4 and Xbox One, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit invites us to spend a boring Saturday morning in the shoes of Chris, a 10-year-old child with an overflowing imagination. Developed using the Unreal Engine 4, the game retains its own graphic touch to the series, which should please fans. Of course, the new version of the graphics engine from Epic Games also offers new rather nice lighting effects, and better physics of objects. You understood, if you have already experienced the adventures of Max Caulfield and those of Chloe Price, the game will not disorient you, and the first minutes may even seem long to you, the title taking the player by the hand for a good time. Conversely, novices will be delighted with this preamble which will allow them to apprehend the adventure gently, knowing that we learn very quickly that it is indeed Chris who will take on the role of main character of Life is Weird 2.
SMELLS LIKE TEEN SPIRIT ?
And very quickly, we realize that the habits of Dontnod Entertainment have not disappeared, and Chris will therefore have to face a complicated family situation, just as was the case with Chloe Price or the majority of the characters we could see in Life is Strange or in the episode Before The Storm. In its unfolding, the game also remains very easy to access, and very (too) short since we will simply experience a boring Saturday morning in December with Chris and his father. The latter being captivated by the basketball game on TV, but also overwhelmed by the quantities of alcohol he swallows, Chris is virtually alone, and therefore escapes into an imaginary world populated by monsters and creatures. other fantastic characters, whether friends or foes. In this world, Chris is Captain Spirit, a superhero with the ability to bend the world to his will through the sheer force of his mind. We will also have the example of this several times during the adventure during fights against monsters such as the Scald, which turns out afterwards to be only the cumulus of the residence. If these scenes thus told may seem banal, their photography is on the other hand incredible, whether it is a question of the frame, the angles of view retained and the staging in general. On this point, Dontnod unfolds all its know-how, which bodes well for Life is Strange 2. On the other hand, we must point out the rather limited duration of the experience. If a player accustomed to the series will ship everything in 1 hour watch in hand, looking for all the secrets and reading all the documents, we can manage to spend almost 3 hours on Captain Spirit. Unfortunately, the playing area is extremely restricted since it is limited to a small house, its garage and its garden.
In terms of gameplay, there are not really any changes except that certain actions can now be done in “heroic” mode, which triggers a rather nice little cinematic.
In total, there are therefore less than ten rooms to explore in order to understand what is happening in Chris's entourage, his relationship with his father, the origin of his mother's absence, and a little Moreover. In terms of gameplay, there are not really any changes except that certain actions can now be done in “heroic” mode, which triggers a rather nice little cinematic. For the rest, Captain Spirit still asks the player to poke around and deduce things, even if the puzzles are particularly simple, with the possible exception of the one that asks to unlock dad's cell phone. Finally, the contemplative scenes don't really have any added value in such a short adventure, even if they allow you to focus on the game's soundtrack, which remains a real success. Nevertheless, the many choices left to the player allow a certain replay-value, since if the end remains written in stone, we can make Chris oscillate between a devoted son or a rascal quick to play with the nerves (already well put in the ordeal) of his father, which gives a totally different tone to the story.
