This article originally ran under a different banner/website in August of 2018 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! GATHER ROUND!!! After the flogging I gave Square Enix for their low effort E3 presentation, I thought it would be a while before I sang their praises. Well, hell must have frozen overnight, because I am here to commend Square Enix on one of their new releases. While many of you might think I am here to sing the praises of Octopath Traveler, you are sorely mistaken. I want to talk about a game that hasn’t received the credit it deserves. A game that has flown under the radar. A game that I urge each and every one of you to try: The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.
Set in the Life is Strange universe, we are introduced to nine-year-old Chris. The Bruce Wayne to Captain Spirit’s Batman. We are introduced to Chris’s wild imagination as he saves his toys with his alter ego, Captain Spirit. We continue seeing more of his imagination as we are tasked with designing the Captain Spirit costume and exploring Chris’s bedroom. While interacting with various objects, Chris’s Dad, Charles, calls Chris for breakfast. You are given the choice to go to breakfast or continue exploring Chris’s room. I opt to ignore Charles’s call for breakfast. After running out of items to interact with, I went to breakfast only to be met by a furious Charles yelling he is not a hotel and Chris better come when he is called. We are then given some interactions between the two, that doesn’t paint Charles as someone who is winning the father of the year award. After promising Chris that they will pick out a Christmas tree after the basketball game (and his bottle of whiskey), the game officially beings.
While Charles watches the game, Chris tasks himself with six objectives that Captain Spirit must tackle ranging from piecing together a costume to taking down various villains such as Water Eater and Snowmancer and finally facing off against archrival Mantroid. The game opens up as you are allowed to explore every inch of the small house. Combined with the ability to pick up and use items to solve puzzles, you have what I believe is an evolution of the point and click adventures along the lines of Secret of Monkey Island, Grim Fandango, and the infamous Myst. Most puzzles are well designed as I was able to piece them together with little difficulty, but not so easy to make the puzzles unrewarding. The exception being finding the code to unlock Charles’s phone. We are given little clues as to what it could be, and I was forced to look online for the solution. When I found the answer my immediate thought was WHO HAS A EIGHT DIGIT PHONE PASSWORD? The good news is you’re not required to complete all these tasks to move the story along. I was able to complete three tasks before accidentally pushing the story forward. Luckily, the game autosaves just before the story triggers, which allows you a second opportunity to check everything off your list, and I highly recommend you do as it rounds out Chris and Charles as characters.
While on the surface, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, may appear to be a joyous adventure through a nine-year-old boy’s imagination, this story is about Chris and Charles tackling grief. As you complete more of Captain’s Spirit’s task, you learned that Chris and Charles lost a loved family member. While it is obvious Charles’s drinking and poor parental habits are textbook symptoms of a grief-stricken parent; you slowly learn through the various tasks that Chris’s alter ego of Captain Spirit is the embodiment of Chris’s desire to save that loved one. Despite not being a horror game, I found the final confrontation between Captain Spirit and his arch-nemesis Mantroid incredibly harrowing. Even with the rollercoaster ending, I found myself completely sympathetic to both Chris and Charles as they are both suffering in their own unique ways.
Speaking of the ending, there is a possibility that many players might be irate with the ending of The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit. The game has a cliffhanger ending followed by a note saying Chris’s adventure will continue in Life is Strange 2, set to release on September 27, 2018. While I have railed against episodic storytelling as it forces your story to constantly have build-ups and climaxes, I am willing to forgive The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit since it is essentially a demo for Life is Strange 2. Considering I was given a well-written story with solid puzzle gameplay, for free, I am ok with Square Enix using this experience as a way to get people’s interest in Life is Strange 2. While I have only played an hour of Life is Strange, The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit, has me wishing I had more time to play through the series to be ready for Life is Strange 2. I, for one, welcome other publishers to create demo experiences like this as I am now more excited for Life is Strange 2 than any other trailer or gameplay from E3. I personally hope that Bethesda brings one out for Doom Eternal.
I highly recommend The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit, but I would like to challenge all my followers. I challenge you not to play it alone but to play with a friend or family member who normally doesn’t game. I firmly believe games like The Awesome Adventure of Captain Spirit and Life is Strange showcase how games marriage story and gameplay that doesn’t overwhelm new players. We as gamers should be looking to spread our favorite hobby to other people as many of us use games to get us through tough times. If we all work to show the powers of games, maybe we can reach someone struggling with life. Think of someone like Charles. Had someone maybe introduced him to games, he might have found a healthier outlet for his grief. I am sure Captain Spirit would say you never know unless you try.