The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a graphic adventure set in the same universe as the Life Is Strange series, three years after the events of the original. 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] 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 has some consequences in Life Is Strange 2, in which Chris also makes an appearance.[6][7]

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,[6] 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's "Death with Dignity" represents the theme of loss.[2] The game was revealed at E3 on 10 June 2018. It was initially announced to be released for free on 26 June,[1][3][14] but later stated to release earlier; on 25 June in North America and Europe, and in Australia the following day.[15]

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit received generally favourable reviews, according to Metacritic.[16][17][18] Destructoid's Brett Makedonski was most struck by the narrative, which also left him wanting more.[19] 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.[20] Michael Leri, writing for Game Revolution, enjoyed playing as Captain Spirit, noting that the character's function to contrast the mundane "livens up interactions".[21] 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".[22] 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".[23] 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".[24] 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.[25]

Conversely, Makedonski disliked that it ended on a "gratuitous" cliffhanger.[19] Juba thought the weakest segments were the ones using traditional adventure game mechanics.[20] Leri disparaged the writing for its "extreme" tonal shifts and "mediocre" dialogue.[21] O'Connor criticised the characters for being clichéd.[22] Hartup accused the game of being too short.[23] Blatt was usually annoyed with the primary mechanic and wrote that the quests fell short of challenging her.[24] Cook questioned the subtlety of the writing.[25]