The Adventures of Captain Spirit is a slow-burner with intriguing character elements

The surprise reveal of The Adventures of Captain Spirit caught many by surprise during this year’s E3. The first entry in the series will also catch some players by surprise: mainly due to the contrast of childhood innocence mixed with a loving, but sometimes aggressive, alcoholic dad.

Playing from the point of view of young Chris helps adds to this dynamic as we see the world from his point of view. He’s a child who has still got their innocence and lives in a world where he is a super hero. Sadly, instead of the poignant nostalgic feels you’d expect from a Dontnod game, it feels a bit over-the-top and forced - too much like the Farewell episode.

Despite this, Chris is very likeable, and you feel genuinely torn in the opening episode as his dad is obviously trying hard, but is struggling to cope with his current situation. Sadly, this did not play into the gameplay much in this episode. Instead, you are in control of Chris’ Saturday morning, and his adventure, which sometimes takes him to a world of imagination. These moments are unlocked through simple fetch tasks which allow the player to unlock new areas.

The main issue with this episode is that there’s not the hook that there is at the beginning of Life is Strange. From the very beginning the action and story twist hits, whereas in this episode the story really takes a while to kick in. Arguably, it doesn’t even really start until right at the end. This needs to change as right now there’s not much drawing us back to later episodes.

Overall, it’s worth a play to see how the game dynamics have changed since Life is Strange, but don’t expect an experience anywhere near Max’s story yet. But, keep the spirit, and it could be awesome.