Was the World Ready for Beyond: Two Souls?

As of the time of writing this, Beyond: Two Souls stands at a 71 on Metacritic based on the reviews of 90 critics. This score was achieved not by consistently scoring "good" scores, but rather from getting incredible scores from those that appreciated it, and mediocre scores from those that don't. All of a sudden the 71 looks different. Rather than indicating what most critics thought of the game, it was the product of a polarizing game.

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Beyond: Two Souls was the product of David Cage, a man who straddles the line between fame and infamy in gaming circles. His reputation comes from his interpretation of what a video game should be. Previously, I discussed the world of Telltale Games' The Walking Dead and how it was a narrative experience. Game play wasn't conventional game play, but rather an interaction with players giving them choice and showing how it affects those around them. This is the style of game that David Cage tries to produce, but with higher production values and, as a result, higher expectations.

David Cage is the head/founder of studio Quantic Dream. Though the studio has been operating since the late 90's, it wasn't until mid 2000 that the studio started to gain attention with 2005's Indigo Prophecy (also known as Farenheit). At the time, it was unlike anything on the market: a narrative experience that flirted with the supernatural and the absurd putting the player into the story as an essential cog in the story. It currently holds an 85 on Metacritic, this time with more consistently positive reviews. Following this, Quantic Dream put out Heavy Rain. Though holding an 87 on Metacritic, this marked the beginning of the polarization in reviews for Cage's games. This is also the first Cage game I played.

In Heavy Rain, you control multiple characters that are interwoven in a mystery involving someone killing kids by drowning them, then leaving their bodies somewhere with an origami figure. At the time, I hadn't played anything like it. Though the game was mostly comprised of quick time events, Heavy Rain had a quality that truly separated it apart from most modern games: there was no failing. If for some reason the player did not succeed in a challenge, it didn't reload from the last checkpoint. The story was then altered based on this outcome.

The type of hard hitting decisions to be made

As an introduction to the games of David Cage, Heavy Rain challenged me as a player in a way no other game had. I approached events with a different perspective. The permanence of a misstep was much more pressing. It was unlike anything I had ever played before. But a question nagged me: was I enjoying this game, or was I just impressed with the scope of it?

By the time Beyond: Two Souls was announced, I had become acquainted with the two different sides on this issue. Was Heavy Rain actually good? Was David Cage a revolutionary with an invigorating view of the future of gaming, or was he trying to make a product in the wrong medium? Over the three year span between games, people had began to see past the shine of Heavy Rain. Eventually, people weren't afraid to dissect for flaws that had been permissible at the time, because Heavy Rain was something new. People began picking apart the story and truly saw Quantic Dream's product for what it was. Granted, it was still a good game, just not as revolutionary as imagined.

Which brings me to Beyond: Two Souls. 

There were three types of people following Heavy Rain and thus three different mindsets going into Beyond: Two Souls. The first is the believers of David Cage and his games, the second are those who despise him, and the third are the apathetic. The ideology the person possesses creates an insurmountable bias towards the game and the division of opinions on Cage's view of video games has manifested itself as a division of opinions on his games. 

Most reviews for Heavy Rain give high praise for being innovative, but I see it all as a knee jerk reaction to this oddity of an experience. It's not a game, it's not a movie, yet these people applaud it for being the next step in video gaming. But as it challenges these conventions, it must be asked how much can it do that without breaking away from that medium? Cage is now in an awkward limbo where there is a divisive opinion towards him and as Beyond: Two Souls strays further away from being a "game," he may be in a medium limbo.

Was the world ready for Beyond: Two Souls? Are these games really indicators of where games are headed? At this point, it's all speculation, but it leaves me wondering what's next for David Cage and his team at Quantic Dream. As this last release indicated, not everyone is willing to give up their perception of what a game is and it may hurt them.