‘Captain Spirit’ is a flawed, admirable game about escapism and abuse

This review contains mild spoilers for the ending of the 2-3 hour demo of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

Games that address the hard truths of reality, like child abuse, are a rarity — to say the least.

So it’s truly a shame when games which take this admirable risk often feel this anxiety to suddenly veer into the fantastical. And its a dissonance that almost always comes at the expense of the real-world themes the story sets out to explore. 

Perhaps no studio and series encapsulates this more than DONTNOD’s narrative adventure game Life is Strange, and by extension, its free 2-3 hour spinoff The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. A precursor demo to Life is Strange 2, Captain Spirit tells a story set in the same universe but only tangentially related to the sequel. Read more…

More about Entertainment, Abuse, Square Enix, Indie Games, and Life Is Strange