We reviewed Beyond Two Souls on PC

Driftwood
Friday, July 26, 2019 | 9:00 AM
9 comments

GSY Review PC PS4 PS3

There was a time when only Playstation 3/4 owners could enjoy Quantic Dream games but a new era has come and PC gamers can now play Heavy Rain and Beyond: Two Souls. There were too few codes for us to get Heavy Rain but we were sent a copy of the second game which came out on PS3. As a result, we have some beautiful 4K/60fps videos to show you as well as a full verdict on the game (which actually is the original verdict we wrote back in 2013). Enjoy!

Verdict

Back when it was originally released, Beyond: Two Souls was for us a case of love at first sight, no less. As subjective as it may have been, David Cage's second game on PS3 was clearly among the best narrative experiences we had on the previous generation. As imperfect as the game was, and still is, it does everything so much better than Heavy Rain that those of you who enjoyed Quantic Dream's previous title should be pretty happy with this port. Whether in terms of storytelling, plot, graphics (it was quite an achievement back then to make such realistic character models) or even gameplay mechanics, Beyond improves over everything the studio had done before that. There were obviously some flaws, which we chose not to underline too much at the time as they were very minor to us, but at the end of the day, the time we spent with Jodie Holmes hasn't been forgotten. Some hardcore gamers probably will never embrace Cage's vision, which we think is normal considering that appealing to everyone is close to impossible these days, but if Heavy Rain was too clunky for you, Beyond is certainly worth a shot while waiting for Detroit: Become Human. If you have an open mind and accept to embark upon Jodie's journey, there is little chance you will be disappointed by what Beyond has to offer, despite what some people said about the fact that consequences appear less visible when playing the game as it was designed. Even if you do mind going from one point in time to another, you can now choose to play it in the chronological order, just like in the PS4 version Take your time, let yourself be carried away and overwhelmed by your emotions. Quantic Dream's games always are about the choices you make, the paths you take, and they will differ from your friends' on a more or less important level and this time you can make those choices in 4K/60fps.

On the upside
The best version of Beyond Two Souls
4K/60fps
Experience the story chronologically or not
Engaging story
Aiden brings a sense of "freedom" that is rather nice in a QD game
Pretty cheap

On the downside
Nothing new if you've already played the game
It'd have been nice to be able to deactivate the black borders
Consequences are less obvious than in Heavy Rain when not playing chronologically

High quality stream and download

Commented on 2019-07-26 10:59:49

"Nothing new" What did you expect?

In reply to

Driftwood

Commented on 2019-07-26 14:49:52 In reply to unknownuser0001

I just meant that those who have already completed it on PS3 or PS4 have no real reason to play it again.

agni_rzm

Commented on 2019-07-26 15:05:57 In reply to unknownuser0001

Posted by unknownuser0001

how about better graphics and improved gameplay? I mean this release is just the base game running in 4k@60fps with some basic improvements so that could have been a good incentive for those of us who already played the games to buy them again. for example, I remember I wasn't a fan of the game's combat QTEs.

nostradamus

Commented on 2019-07-26 22:24:22

this non-game is a complete turd sandwich. at least heavy rain has chicken.

GunsnSwords

Commented on 2019-07-27 00:16:44

Gamersyde -
+The best version of Beyond Two Souls
+4K/60fps

Cage collection also features both HDAO and HBAO in settings btw.
an Interesting turn of events for Cages games. now you play them on PC, for those interested.

Posted by agni_rzm

"improved gameplay?"

"I remember I wasn't a fan of the game's combat QTEs."

I doubt that would even be considered. If anyone can remember way back the reason behind Cage's games.

--------------------------------------------
The biggest gaming critic in Hollywood at the time (and for so long) was Roger Ebert.
who numerously stated that games could never reach movie grade cinema. or could never depict emotion.
https://www.rogerebert.com/rogers-journal/video-ga...

For so long Cage has been more enthusiastic towards the Hollywood aspects of graphics and story telling, rather than just gaming.

Commented on 2019-07-27 00:39:18

With David Cage constantly pushing for being a different medium for branching narrative and story telling,
I don't expect Cage's narrative to change after so long.

MinorDespera

Commented on 2019-07-27 12:16:15

I really hope for a borderless mod.

LEBATO

Commented on 2019-07-29 04:35:27

I really liked Farenheit, Heavy Rain, and Detroit. But this, I can't get myself to play it. I played the demo and it was just boring and clunky and was not amazed at the graphics (unlike Detroit for example).

Commented on 2019-07-29 07:08:37

latest David Cage interview is out. for those interested. talks about the future of gaming, embracing future changes and more story narrative. Sheds some optimism, for future projects.

David Cage -..."we met people that we really like and who understood what we were doing, understood our vision, and just wanted to help us to grow and to explore different possibilities. It gives us the same freedom, give us the support we needed for our new ambitions, but we want to be even more ambitious than we've ever been and just continue creating games that are different."

"Does that mean creating games that are different from what we've seen from you before, like Detroit and Heavy Rain?"

David Cage - "Sure, we are working around on different projects, and that's also something we wanted to do for a long time. Putting the same passion and the same enthusiasm and exploring maybe different jobs. An important part of what we wanted to do was to become a publisher to publish our own games, that was something important to us, but also to work with other developers, and not necessarily regarding interactive storytelling, but any genre. As long as it's original, innovative, and high-quality, we are interested."

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/david-cage-quant...

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particularly cinemas in games are not that big of a deal to me.
much of it I've already embraced years ago, as a long time RPG gamer. I just prefer when the gameplay equally complements the narrative. and that the player has more environment interaction. they can have over 3-4 hrs of cinemas. just as long as the gameplay makes up for large percentage of the game. ideally i would prefer 10-13 hrs worth of actual gameplay. if the game can be as long.

my two cents.

[quote]David Cage -..."we met people that we really like and who understood what we were doing, understood our vision, and just wanted to help us to grow and to explore different possibilities. It gives us the same freedom, give us the support we needed for our new ambitions, but we want to be even more ambitious than we've ever been and just continue creating games that are different."

"Does that mean creating games that are different from what we've seen from you before, like Detroit and Heavy Rain?"

David Cage - "Sure, we are working around on different projects, and that's also something we wanted to do for a long time. Putting the same passion and the same enthusiasm and exploring maybe different jobs. An important part of what we wanted to do was to become a publisher to publish our own games, that was something important to us, but also to work with other developers, and not necessarily regarding interactive storytelling, but any genre. As long as it's original, innovative, and high-quality, we are interested."[/quote]

https://www.gamespot.com/articles/david-cage-quantic-dream-looking-to-publish-games-/1100-6468713/

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particularly cinemas in games are not that big of a deal to me. 
much of it I've already embraced years ago, as a long time RPG gamer.  I just prefer when the gameplay equally complements the narrative. and that the player has more environment interaction. they can have over 3-4 hrs of cinemas. just as long as the gameplay makes up for large percentage of the game. ideally i would prefer 10-13 hrs worth of actual gameplay. if the game can be as long.

my two cents.