At first glance, Beyond: Two Souls and Heavy Rain seem to have more in common than not. Both games focus on intricate narratives and deep character development, highlighted by cutting-edge performance capture and dazzling digital sets.
But on closer examination, Beyond: Two Souls, which launches exclusively for PS3 on October 8th, is a wholly unique creation with no obvious analogue. For one, its sweeping story focuses on one character instead of four. Beyond: Two Souls spans an entire lifetime as it follows the trials of protagonist Jodie Holmes (Ellen Page) and her constant companion, Aiden — an invisible entity with incredible powers. For another, it features a radically different, more direct play style compared to Heavy Rain.
In our new interview, Quantic Dream co-CEO Guillaume de Fondaumiere discusses the differences between the team’s two latest projects, and the daunting scope of the story. Listen in for his insight on the game design process, and how Quantic Dream infused player-driven choices into a story-driven experience.
In Beyond: Two Souls, players jump between different periods of Jodie’s life, piecing together the story while controlling both her and Aiden’s actions. But Jodie’s life hasn’t been easy. Exposed to psychological experiments at a young age, and hurled through adulthood by desperation and heartache, this woman has seen more danger than most. Though she hasn’t seen it alone. Aiden has been connected to her since birth, and will share in her 15-year journey through Beyond: Two Souls.
Beyond: Two Souls promises to push the limits of interactive storytelling as Jodie hunts for answers. Help her unravel the mystery surrounding her connection with Aiden, and what lies beyond life itself.
Can’t wait for Tuesday!! Got my GameStop Beyond: Two Souls special edition pre-ordered ?
I want it but I’m poor for now ='(.
Played the demo and loved it. I am not a big fan of quick time events which this has some of, but the presentation and cinematic quality of the game is outstanding! Can’t wait to pick up the full retail version.
Can’t wait to pick up my copy Tuesday!
as a gamer that has gone digital only since last year, I was a bit annoyed of this game not being day 1 digital. however, this game had been a must have for me up to the point of learning this. tried the demo, 1st physical game I’ve bought in a while. may be the last with ps4 launching soon
Gameplay feels broken, Jodie so far seems unrelatable and whinny. This demo makes me wonder if I made a mistake pre-ordering this game. The trailer seems to seriously oversell the events that appear in the demo as well…. Hopefully the final product proves itself.
Visually (forgetting story and gameplay) its stunning, everything heavy rain should have been and wasn’t. Really hit the bar visually that Naughty Dog set.
Damn right it is not another Heavy Rain! THAT game was good! This is game is an interactive storybook that you can play with ONE FINGER. I will wait until it is $20 to watch the movie since there is no gameplay to be had here.
Loved the demo. Got it on pre-order. Can’t wait!
I’d still like to know why there isn’t an Official Guide from Prima or some other book publisher.
I really enjoyed Heavy Rain and the Beyond: Two Souls demo was amazing! Tuesday can’t come soon enough for my Gamestop Special Edition pre-order.
@1 Me too, had to pre-order the awesome Gamestop edition.
I’ve been excited for this game since it was announced at E3 2012. Definitely going to be my Game of the Year.
Making it sound like being another Heavy Rain is bad or something! Can’t wait for October 8 :)
Played the demo. 1 word. Incredible! Can’t believe this is running on a PS3! Scary to think how good Quantic Dream’s next game (and all PS4 exclusives really) will look on PS4! And although Heavy Rain was a great game don’t get me wrong, the story in Beyond is much more gripping and interesting to me than Heavy Rain.
long as jodie threaten and beats more cops and alden keeps blowing stuff up, im all in
Woot, only a few more days of avoiding all spoilers, which includes NOT reading any blog or article or tweet or trailer, and I’m home free!
I will be playing my special edition on Tuesday.
I was going to pre-order, but the review embargo made it pretty clear it isn’t going to live up to expectations.
Oh well.. I was excited for it too
The demo is mind-blowing…I was amazed…cant wait for the full game…but please..if anyone at Quantic Dream is reading this…please for the love of God….get rid of those black stripes up and down the screen….that ruins the experience for real….at least give us the option to turn that off and play the fame in full-screen….with those black stripes I get the feeling I’m playing in my old SD TV where almost every game .had to be played that way….its unbearable.
@ 15 cleversignin – Cant stop laughing.
I hope it will be great drama
i just bought, and i can say is a masterpiece and yes is not another heavy rain. 10 of 10 good one quantic dream.
is it the 8th yet ?
I can’t wait , I’ve been wanting to play this game since it was first announced and bought it on pre order frm gamesop the day they posted the free upgrade to the special edition
I have not watched a single game play video or behind the scenes video posted on the blog yet , don’t want to spoil anything . I just needed to know quantic dreams made it for me to buy it . heavy rain is awesome but I never expected that two souls would be exactly the same , just that it would be a great game with a great story and hopefully some replay value with alternate endings
I’ll be playing it every day until I finish it then probably playing arhkam origins after that , best month ever for ps3 games
Hate this article headline, makes it seem like Heavy Rain was a bad game or something to distance from. One of the best PS3 exclusives honestly
If its not the same then its the same.
my first impression of the demo in the opening minutes was “man this feels a lot like heavy rain” but in away I felt like the contextual controls seemed to be too open. Once you start controlling Aiden however then my thought changed to ” this is really different than heavy rain” and that whole train/escape sequence was like one of the most heart pound, adrenaline rushing, intense experiences I’ve ever had playing a game. Can’t wait to play the rest of this game, I think this one is going to be something special and one we will talk about for many years after
The atmosphere and concept of the game are pretty damn great but I’m going to be honestly here-
the controls are absolutely awful. Atrocious. The part where you’re hiding behind the car and the helicopter is above you was BS. Awful controls. Maybe they should have spent a little more time engineering the “GAME” part instead of the movie part. David Cage should have signed with Sony Pictures instead of SCE if he just wanted to make a movie.
I was kind of excited about this game until i heard its another movies with little interaction, just like heavy rain….they said same control as heavy rain except its only 2 players you follow…..SAME GAME
Howdy
All i care about is censorship. I would like and am going to only buy the full untouched uncut version. Im in Russia and i have read an article where it says that Russia will get the same uncut version as the US, whereas Europe gets the infamous slightly modified one.
Is it true that the US version of Beyond will be the pure untouched one?
Looking forward to you soon reply
Thank you
sure its not like Heavy Rain. This is still a rental at best for me.
day 1 digital? NO!?! =/
I will wait the digital version
@ Ryumaou,
I hope any game your a fan of gets rented by a ton of people and causes them to lose sales….oh wait now I don’t because even though I may/may not like the games you like, I still want video games to do well.
Never understood your pathetic attempts to make it seems as if they don’t deserve your money by boasting how you will rent a game. Is your life that crappy that you need to always mention how you are going to rent a game on a blog post dedicated to the game and people who made it? Almost tantamount to a child sticking his tongue out and making fun of someone.
Why don’t you cut it out? What you are doing is fine, go ahead rent it, but you are taking the time to pretty much say, “I am not going to buy your game, and I am rubbing it in.”
Guess I wouldn’t expect someone who lacks common courtesy to know what I’m talking about. Just shows how much of a hypocrite you are though, always talking about how you hate David Cage’s games and anytime a Beyond post comes up, yet what do we see here? Lo and behold you are saying that you will play the game.
Anyway, sorry for that rant, already pre-ordered the game from Amazon, cannot wait to play it.
there is nothing wrong with lending or renting a game, sony said it themselves. If a game dont sell well its cuz of their own mistakes, for example this one not being digital, I think is a mistake, and it will make me not buy it on day one. But I still think Its a great game that I will eventually buy.
I think is rare sony dont put this game on the store on day one with a big poster like they did with gtav and other games, probably its too big, and thats the reason its not digital, to not deal with 30 plus GBs.
Just a few more days!
I’m definitely picking this game up. But I have to ask:
Is the game being censored over here in the US like in Europe? It’s not a dealbreaker for me. I was just curious.
@ Ryumaou,
Yeah right bud, unless your cheap *** got your optical drive fixed, we both know you aren’t going to rent ****.
@nolo, I know this guy is a tool, but seriously he’s a dunce, he just likes to make a fuss. His optical drive on his PS3 is broken and thus why he is always crying about certain games not being digital.
I seriously cannot wait until they implement some better message board settings on here, maybe a thumbs up/down, I guarantee it, his posts would be downvoted so much his post would be hidden(ala Reddit) because they are horse ****.
Sad part too is the guy is in his 20’s. If that’s not pathetic, I don’t know what is.
@ Lefoul,
Not sure what your buying habits are, but when a game like this by a well reputable company that has a history of great games, is released I like to support them by buying the game especially on day one. I vote with my wallet I want to keep seeing games like this, so I will gladly buy them.
playing promo only :)
So is it CUT Version ? And when this will become Digital ? BEYOND!
At first i thought it was the same as Uncharted and The Last of Us, But one of the “Greatness Await” pictures made me think otherwise, I didn’t watch the trailer yet or play the demo(And probably never will)
But i would probably never play it and maybe give it a try when it gets on plus, I don’t like “Movie games”
Yeah, it’s not Heavy Rain, because at least that game wasn’t CENSORED in America like Beyond Two Souls is. This was totally on my radar until I read more into the USA/UK censorships taking place. It’s probably why I have yet to download the demo too. It doesn’t matter if it doesn’t ruin the story or gameplay, censorship is wrong no matter how seconds are missing. It’s a M rated game. If nudity (in America) was an issue then we shouldn’t have had it in Heavy Rain either. If violence (in UK) is an issue, then how many other gaming releases are threatened?
@luvmyr6 you are right but not evebody buy every game that is out. And for most people its not a thing of voting or supporting companies. Having said that, I hope they do well and keep the good work. I will buy the game eventually cuz I like it, not because I think a game company need my money or support, they are making entertainment, not saving the world.
It’s not another Heavy Rain? Well, I’m out.
Just kidding, can’t wait for Tuesday!
I’ll never understand fanboy-dom, especially over a game that’s not even out yet. Once the independent reviews start coming out, then I’ll consider getting this. Pre-ordering isn’t safe, and t’s like Adam Sessler said about the next-gen consoles, “you’re buying a promise”. With things like the Aliens: Colonial Marines debacle it’s not in your best interest (as the consumer) to pre-order any game that has a cool trailer and/or demo. I’ve been watching this game for a while and I hope it’s good, but as of yet I still am unsure of what this game is about/trying to do. All of the marketing has been ambiguous and seems like guise to make this game seem super deep and complex.
Looks like this game will be hit or miss just like Heavy Rain was. Even some HR fans aren’t liking Beyond.
I’m buying it though.
Can’t believe the game is not day 1 DIGITAL…hard to trust Sony on every title on PS4 being available day one digitally now…? : (
I’ll not buy BEYOND because my BluRay lens is dead…and we’re just 2 months away from PS4 so I’ll not pay to repair it, I have a lot of PSN games on my PS3 HDD including TLoU so I didn’t need to repair it…I’m not the only one in that case so you’re loosing sales…even GTA V wich is not a Sony exclusive was day 1 digital… …really disapointing for Beyond TS, hope it’ll be available soon…! …because the game really look great,, the demo was awesome! : ) Nice work to the dev, but just an average one to the publisher! ; )
Played the Demo and loved it. I’m having a little trouble with Aidan’s controls, but I guess that’s just me.
I think I’ll like Beyond more than Heavy Rain (which was a good game, but not all that spectacular imo. The ending as shown was just not possible with the way the story had been presented)
I’m really looking forward to Beyond and REALLY HOPE that it’ll come as a digital download, too. My bluray drive died and I already switched over to digital with all my other games. Please make it happen QD!
It’s a shame that this game is not next gen… Still, it’s one of those day one, must play games on PS3. Can’t wait! *#Greatness!!*
BEYOND!, but not my cup of tea
@robepapu_g11
Try it a couple times and it may become the best cup of tea you ever had