It finally happened, y’all: Life is Strange 2 has been confirmed, and we now know it will be taking place in the same universe and timeline we all know and love. DONTNOD Entertainment Executive Producer, Luc Baghadoust, said we will be getting an official announcement with more information about Life is Strange 2 in “the next two months.” With Gamescom 2018 falling just slightly out of range of the two month mark, we can only hope we’ll get to see more at the European convention.
In the mean time, DONTNOD wanted to “reward the fans,” with a completely free standalone Life is Strange game, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. Baghadoust said he hopes the free title helps tie over big fans of the franchise until the announcement, and helps people who have never played the game pick up the other two titles.
Captain Spirit shares a lot of similar elements from the rest of the series (and that is of course intentional): the art style, the gameplay, and the music. DONTNOD really values the overall aesthetic and feel of the game and wanted to make sure its key elements were still present. Captain Spirit was developed on Unreal 4, where as the previous titles were made on Unreal 3. This change was made to keep up with newer tech and improve animation and rendering.
This game will slightly differ from previous titles, as Captain Spirit gives the player more freedom of decision, and has “more of a sandbox feel, whereas the rest of Life is Strange is more linear.” Luc said although the game is much more sandbox-y than the others, there is still a very heavy narrative. Again, you don’t need to play the other Life is Strange games before Captain Spirit, but there are a lot of little easter eggs if you have.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit follow a ten-year-old boy named Chris, who is very lonely and has a wild imagination. He lives at home with his dad, and there are hints his mother is out of the picture (I’m sure we’ll find out when we play the game). Without spoiling anything, DONTNOD yet again created an environment with relatable characters and dialogue to remind us that life isn’t perfect, and we all have our struggles. Chris’ biggest dream is to become a superhero; he plays with his toys and narrates made-up stories, all while pretending to use his “super powers.”
Captain Spirit takes you through both reality and the crazy imaginative world Chris has made up in his head. While similar to Max’s visions and Chloe’s dreams, Chris’ world isn’t separated by being in a cutscene, or a new chapter: you can enter his imagination just by opening a door. The game will offer many different objectives you can (well, you can skip a lot of them too, if you so wish) complete to learn more about the Life is Strange 2 lore and dig up the references to the past games. What’s also good to know is that the things you do in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit will effect your playthrough of Life is Strange 2 also.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit will be available, for free, on June 26th, 2018 on Steam (PC), Xbox One and PlayStation 4.
