This review contains spoilers
All right, here we go.
I loved both Life is Strange and Before the Storm. I have my issues here and there, but Life is Strange hit such an incredible sweet spot for me, and Before the Storm was proof that the first game was more than just a one-time thing. So when Don't Nod announced that they were returning for another spin-off - a free release, one that would lead into their own sequel to Life is Strange, to boot - I was ecstatic. It took me a little bit to get around to it, but I sat down one fine Sunday to play through it.
And, um, after playing it, I decided Life is Strange 2 could wait for another day. As of this writing, I still haven't played LiS2.
(to be fair, part of that is also because I was told that LiS2 tackles Trumpism, and I really wasn't ready to deal with that in fiction in 2018. But Captain Spirit was a non-zero factor).
Captain Spirit is such a cynical, mean-spirited story. You're playing a little boy, Chris, who uses his imagination to combat his chores, all the while exploring his house and life situation. That's all well and good, but what the game is actually about is his widower father, who's slipped into drinking after his wife's death and stands to lose custody of his son. You're trying not to bother your day-drinking father while he watches and falls asleep to a basketball game on the living room TV. You eventually have to wake him up, and the expected happens. Your father engages in a little abuse, you almost break your back, and you meet the protagonists of the upcoming sequel, whom Chris has nothing to do with. The end, see you next time.
I think the problem lies in my expectations. I'd been told by a friend that Captain Spirit was a Calvin & Hobbes sort of story. I really need to temper my own expectations when someone uses Calvin & Hobbes as a point of comparison, because I think Calvin & Hobbes means something different to me than it does everyone else - but I get what was meant: a kid using his imagination to turn mundane reality into exciting adventures. I'm all for that, but the part of me that likes to engage with that type of media is almost wholly divorced from the part of me that likes to engage in more serious character drama. This game tries to have it both ways, and I'm afraid that all the fun that comes from Chris's adventures as Captain Spirit melts away with the certain knowledge that a drunken, cuss-riddled encounter sits around the corner. It's like, you know that you're going to be slapped in the face at some point on a given day, you just don't know when. Hard to have a good time with that certain knowledge looming over you.
And it's a real shame, because I think there's some fun with Captain Spirit's adventures in isolation. There's something very true to form with a lot of it. That you can somewhat customize Captain Spirit's appearance is cool, and I love how minimalist the audio design is for the imagination sequences. Like, yeah, the only sounds you hear SHOULD be the sounds Chris is making, contrasted with the lager-than-life visuals. That makes perfect sense.
I'm willing to believe that I simply am not in the audience for this game. Life is Strange appealed to me because I saw a lot of myself in Max, and Before the Storm appealed to me because I'd grown attached to Chloe (and the game has a lot of fun incidental moments). I think, if I'd grown up in a life situation such that I could identify with Chris, this might've resonated with me, too. Even so, there isn't any actual narrative catharsis I can see from experiencing this. There is no resolution presented to Chris and his father's situation, the game just cuts after Chris is saved by and meets the LiS2 brothers. I think, if I was like Chris as a kid, I would see verisimilitude, but no actual release for the feelings this work brought on.
Maybe I'll change my tune once I get around to LiS2, but for now - you can skip this one. You stand to gain nothing from it.
I loved both Life is Strange and Before the Storm. I have my issues here and there, but Life is Strange hit such an incredible sweet spot for me, and Before the Storm was proof that the first game was more than just a one-time thing. So when Don't Nod announced that they were returning for another spin-off - a free release, one that would lead into their own sequel to Life is Strange, to boot - I was ecstatic. It took me a little bit to get around to it, but I sat down one fine Sunday to play through it.
And, um, after playing it, I decided Life is Strange 2 could wait for another day. As of this writing, I still haven't played LiS2.
(to be fair, part of that is also because I was told that LiS2 tackles Trumpism, and I really wasn't ready to deal with that in fiction in 2018. But Captain Spirit was a non-zero factor).
Captain Spirit is such a cynical, mean-spirited story. You're playing a little boy, Chris, who uses his imagination to combat his chores, all the while exploring his house and life situation. That's all well and good, but what the game is actually about is his widower father, who's slipped into drinking after his wife's death and stands to lose custody of his son. You're trying not to bother your day-drinking father while he watches and falls asleep to a basketball game on the living room TV. You eventually have to wake him up, and the expected happens. Your father engages in a little abuse, you almost break your back, and you meet the protagonists of the upcoming sequel, whom Chris has nothing to do with. The end, see you next time.
I think the problem lies in my expectations. I'd been told by a friend that Captain Spirit was a Calvin & Hobbes sort of story. I really need to temper my own expectations when someone uses Calvin & Hobbes as a point of comparison, because I think Calvin & Hobbes means something different to me than it does everyone else - but I get what was meant: a kid using his imagination to turn mundane reality into exciting adventures. I'm all for that, but the part of me that likes to engage with that type of media is almost wholly divorced from the part of me that likes to engage in more serious character drama. This game tries to have it both ways, and I'm afraid that all the fun that comes from Chris's adventures as Captain Spirit melts away with the certain knowledge that a drunken, cuss-riddled encounter sits around the corner. It's like, you know that you're going to be slapped in the face at some point on a given day, you just don't know when. Hard to have a good time with that certain knowledge looming over you.
And it's a real shame, because I think there's some fun with Captain Spirit's adventures in isolation. There's something very true to form with a lot of it. That you can somewhat customize Captain Spirit's appearance is cool, and I love how minimalist the audio design is for the imagination sequences. Like, yeah, the only sounds you hear SHOULD be the sounds Chris is making, contrasted with the lager-than-life visuals. That makes perfect sense.
I'm willing to believe that I simply am not in the audience for this game. Life is Strange appealed to me because I saw a lot of myself in Max, and Before the Storm appealed to me because I'd grown attached to Chloe (and the game has a lot of fun incidental moments). I think, if I'd grown up in a life situation such that I could identify with Chris, this might've resonated with me, too. Even so, there isn't any actual narrative catharsis I can see from experiencing this. There is no resolution presented to Chris and his father's situation, the game just cuts after Chris is saved by and meets the LiS2 brothers. I think, if I was like Chris as a kid, I would see verisimilitude, but no actual release for the feelings this work brought on.
Maybe I'll change my tune once I get around to LiS2, but for now - you can skip this one. You stand to gain nothing from it.
2 Comments
Dunno how to respond to people on Backloggd directly, so - thank you for thoughtful response! I think that's a fair read on it. I definitely had my own expectations set a certain way, so my frustrations on the game can't entirely be attributed to the game itself. Personally, this isn't really the sort of story I'm interested in exploring in games - something almost entirely negative, with no real hint at lightness outside what Chris creates for himself and no sense of narrative closure from it. Like there's a sense that Chris's childish play is just a distraction from the darkness of the real world, and the full scope of the play just feels like it collapses at the end, with nothing we do as Chris really mattering. I think there are circumstances where I would've been much more receptive to what this game had to offer - if I'd grown up in a situation like Chris did and this situation really resonated with me, for example. I also know there's some tie-in with the events of Life is Strange 2, so if Chris and his dad get some narrative closure there, that might help clear up my thoughts on this game.
I think, an analogy that might help is this: I love the first Life is Strange, even though I think its ending has issues; the rest of the game built up so much good will, and the emotions I felt sitting on that final decision were strong enough that I'm able to overlook these issues. I liked some of the incidental moments in Captain Spirit, but there wasn't enough in there to build up good will with me for another ending I thought had issues. This isn't to say that I thought Captain Spirit should be the a five-part episodic narrative or anything; I just would've liked more to hold onto, and I think with my own set of experiences and biases, I didn't find that here. But for as negative as I was in my review, if you or anyone else found that in their playthrough, that's great to hear.
I think, an analogy that might help is this: I love the first Life is Strange, even though I think its ending has issues; the rest of the game built up so much good will, and the emotions I felt sitting on that final decision were strong enough that I'm able to overlook these issues. I liked some of the incidental moments in Captain Spirit, but there wasn't enough in there to build up good will with me for another ending I thought had issues. This isn't to say that I thought Captain Spirit should be the a five-part episodic narrative or anything; I just would've liked more to hold onto, and I think with my own set of experiences and biases, I didn't find that here. But for as negative as I was in my review, if you or anyone else found that in their playthrough, that's great to hear.
xider
4 months ago