THE EMPIRE
If you are familiar with the Life is Strange games you will have a pretty good idea of what The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is like.
Right now, this game is free on Steam, PSN and XBOX stores. The level of polish this free game has puts games I’ve paid money for to shame.
You’ll find a *FREE* short story driven episode that has some game-play lite mechanics, some fiendish puzzles I had to look up and a really moving story.
Why is a game this well made free? Think of it as a playable teaser trailer for Life is Strange 2.
The Story
You play as Chris a young kid in a dysfunctional home dealing with the loss of his mother. Cheery huh? This game doesn’t hold back and the emotional notes it hits never feel forced.
The characters of Chris and his dad feel very well rounded and could have just been clumsy stereotypes but instead were written with nuance.
However Captain Spirit has a very distinct path and outcome, while Detroit’s multiple endings and sub-stories made every play-through a unique experience.
The Gameplay
Everything in Captain Spirit is experienced through the lens of a 9 year old boy. Character outfitting is colored pencil drawings. His costume is assembled from tinfoil and cardboard. His powers are switching on the hot water heater in the basement, putting a log on the fire, blowing up a snowman with a firecracker, but all are captured in a way a child’s imagination only could.
You go round completing your tasks on a snowed in pre-Christmas day and generally making your own fun. While exploring your house and backyard you find information that fills in the backstory as to how things got to this point.
It does a great job at projecting you back to your childhood and how an adventure could be made around any mundane household chores. Unlike Detroit: Become Human which literally had you doing chores.
See my Detroit: Become Human review for more on that.
The Problems
So bearing in mind this game is free and polished I’ll cover off some of the bits that were just flat out frustrating rather than flaws.
It comes across as an almost simple kid friendly game, it’s not. Unless you want your kid to understand why daddy drinks so much and still loves you although hes angry, this is adult oriented. This game in its 3 hours or so goes some dark dark places this is a strength not a criticism but its not for everyone.
But one thing that was inconsistent with the casual play-style is the puzzles in it are almost ridiculously un-intuitive.
I had to look up the solutions to some of the puzzles.
I’ll list them below.
*spoilers*
Unlock dads phone to play the HawtDawg man game requires the old alpha numeric codes 42983294 that spells HAWTDAWG.
Decoding the secret map from the treehouse (which I completely missed taking the first time) take the map to your room and align the 1 on the decoder with the 1 on the wall map and rotate till they match.
If you cant make head nor tail of the instructions on the map with the number of lefts and rights to take in the Maze of Doom go left, right, left and left to get to the treasure.
The key to the garage is on the wall near the back door.
The code on the locker in the garage is 2005 the year Chris’s dad won his championship cup.
Final Verdict
You’ll like it if you enjoy:
Free stuff!
Great writing.
Puzzle games.
Characters with depth.
Story driven games.
You won’t if you dislike:
Episodic length games.
Game-play lite.
Some confronting themes.
Frustrating un-intuitive puzzles
Available now
Free on Steam, PSN and XBOX stores
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