The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a free-to-play graphic adventure video game developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It was released on 25 June 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One as a spin-off of the Life Is Strange series. The plot follows Chris Erikson, a young boy who creates the superhero alter ego Captain Spirit to deal with the loss of his mother. The game received generally favourable reviews, praising the narrative, main character, and script, but criticising the game mechanics and aspects of the writing.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a graphic adventure in which the player assumes the role of Chris, a young boy who pretends to be a superhero named Captain Spirit. His costume is customisable, while the environment can be interacted with and contains quests like treasure hunting and exploring an imagined planet. Dialogue trees are used to respond to non-player characters. The choices that the player makes in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit will have consequences in Life Is Strange 2,in which Chris will also make an appearance.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, also referred to as Captain Spirit, is a standalone game inside the Life is Strange universe developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It was announced June 10, 2018, and will be released on June 26th for free on Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC (Steam). It follows Chris Eriksen, a 9-year-old[note 2] boy who dreams of adventure, and carries on the theme of childhood nostalgia that was a central element of the original Life is Strange. Likewise, the game tackles challenging social issues, such as grief, neglect and alcoholism.[1] The story presumably is about imagination and how it helps us cope with reality.[2] The game takes place in Beaver Creek, Oregon, during winter time, 3 years after the events of the original Life is Strange.[3]
The game serves as a precursor to Life is Strange 2 that will “give you glimpse into Life is Strange 2‘s brand-new story… but only if you’re clever enough to piece the clues together!”. Dontnod calls it a “perfect introduction” to the upcoming sequel. Dontnod confirmed that “some choices in Captain Spirit will carry over and have consequences in Life is Strange 2.“[4]
The game will be between 1 and 2 hours long, according to Dontnod.[5] It is more open-ended than the original Life is Strange‘s episodes as Chris can complete an optional list of quests. Also after passing the ending and being returned to the menu, players can continue following the quests at any time by pressing “Continue”.
“The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is not Life is Strange 2, but it does connect to it in multiple ways. This is the first step into the diverse world of Life is Strange beyond Arcadia Bay where you will find secrets and hints as to what to expect in Life is Strange 2. In addition to this, choices & actions you make in Captain Spirit will carry over to Life is Strange 2.”[6]
Official features:
- An original narrative experience set in the Life is Strange universe
- Play as Chris and his super-hero alter-ego, Captain Spirit
- Complete a series of missions as Captain Spirit and discover secret content
- Some choices and actions will link to your Life is Strange 2 experience
Story
“In The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, you play as Chris, an ordinary [9-year][note 2]old boy who dreams of being a superhero. Chris has a big imagination that will take him on all sorts of adventures, but on this particular Saturday something truly extraordinary will happen to him…”[7]
“Have you ever dreamt of being a superhero? Meet Chris, a creative and imaginative 10 year old boy who escapes reality with fantastical adventures, as his alter ego – the Awesome Captain Spirit!
Return to your childhood and play a touching and heart-warming one-of-a-kind narrative experience from the directors and development team behind the BAFTA award winning game Life is Strange. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a self-contained narrative experience with plenty of hidden secrets to unearth with each play-through as you explore Chris’ world.”[8][6]
Synopsis
On this particular snowy winter’s Saturday, Charles has promised to take his son to get a Christmas tree, but refuses to do so until the Basketball game is over on TV. Charles has already started drinking beer and heads to the living room with a half-bottle of whiskey. He tells Chris to wake him after the game if he falls asleep (which he does) so they can go get the promised tree.
Chris explores his environment, giving us a glimpse into his world and his imaginary super hero Captain Spirit. We learn more about his mother Emily, including the fact she once went to the Blackwell Academy and fell in love with his father Charles at the Eugene College. They got married and had Chris in February 2007. She was Chris’ Kindergarten teacher and his dad worked at the same school. Emily was killed in a hit-and-run accident on December 16, 2014 and the offender was never found. His father lost his previous job at the school and is currently working for a railroad company. It is now December 2016 and Charles is currently seeing an exotic dancer named Audra, which he has yet to tell his son. The narrative leads the player to believe the boy has possibly been physically abused by his father, most likely due to his alcoholism and anger issues.
At the end of this chapter, Chris wakes his father as he was told to do. Charles is still very intoxicated and falls twice, the second time knocking over a side table. He swears and yells at Chris. The neighbor Claire Reynolds is out for a walk and hears the commotion. She rings the doorbell and an angry Charles sends the boy to the door, telling him to get rid of whoever it is. Chris and Mrs. Reynolds have a conversation and the story changes depending on how the conversation goes. After she leaves, Charles continues yelling at his son, and blames him for Emily’s death, stating if it wasn’t for the boy, she wouldn’t have been in a situation to get hit by a car in the first place. He immediately apologizes and says he didn’t mean it, but Chris refuses to accept it and runs out of the house in his socks to his tree house.
During the quick and angry climb up, a board comes loose and Chris falls. Just before reaching the snow, his body slows and comes to a brief halt. Chris, completely surprised by this, slowly lands in the snow. He gets up, checks himself over, still completely baffled as to this ‘power’ that kept him from getting hurt and looks at his hands. He then notices two children in the Reynolds’s back yard waving to him and waves back.
Characters
- Chris Eriksen
- Charles Eriksen
- Claire Reynolds
- Emily Eriksen (mentioned)
- Audra (mentioned)
- Peter Wyatt (mentioned)
- Kristen Wyatt (mentioned)
- Stephen Reynolds (mentioned)
- Principal Wells (mentioned)
- Professor D. Jennings (mentioned)
- Mantroid
- Snowmancer
- Sky Pirate
- Water Eater
- Mark Jefferson (mentioned)
Locations
- Chris’ Room
- Eriksen Household
- Tree House
- Eriksen Garage
Development and release
According to developer Dontnod Entertainment, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit fulfilled a wish to expand the Life Is Strange universe, which arose during the production of Life Is Strange 2. Co-directors Raoul Barbet and Michel Koch collaborated with writers Christian Divine and Jean-Luc Cano to create the story and characters.They researched the location with reference to what the protagonist’s father could bear the expense of, including the nature of his work. Dontnod used the game to experiment with mechanics from Life Is Strange; dialogue trees were improved to allow responses while moving. Using the Unreal Engine 4, Dontnod developed a new facial and physics animation system and designed original assets. The game was influenced by the Japanese anime series Sailor Moon and Saint Seiya, according to Barbet. Sufjan Stevens’ “Death with Dignity” was featured to represent the theme of loss.
The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit was revealed at Microsoft’s Electronic Entertainment Expo press conference on 10 June 2018. It was initially announced to be released for free on 26 June 2018, but was later stated to release earlier; on 25 June in North America and Europe, and in Australia on the following day.
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Featured Music
- “Death with Dignity” – Sufjan Stevens
- “Moon and Moon” – Bat For Lashes
- “Parade” – Rone
Like for the original Life is Strange, the use of music was a key element of the development. Co-Director Michel Koch explained in the developer’s diary on Captain Spirit, “It’s not just about having some decent strikes in particular music, it’s also how you’re going to use it within the story.”
System Requirements
| Minimum: | Recommended: |
|---|---|
| OS: Windows 7 or above (64-bit) | OS: Windows 10 (64-bit) |
| Processor: Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1GHz) or AMD Phenom X4 945 (3.0GHz) | Processor: Intel Core i5 3470, (3.20 Ghz) or AMD FX-8350, (4.00 Ghz) |
| Memory: 4GB RAM | Memory: 6GB RAM |
| Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 2GB or AMD Radeon HD 7770 2GB | Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB or AMD Radeon R9 280X 3GB |
| DirectX: Version 11 | DirectX: Version 11 |
| Hard Drive: 5 GB available space | Hard Drive: 5 GB available space |
Note: 32-bit operating systems will not be supported.
| Minimum System Requirements | Recommended System Requirements | |
| CPU | Intel Core i3-2100 3.1GHz / AMD Phenom II X4 945 | Intel Core i5-3470 3.2GHz / AMD FX-8350 |
| VRAM | 1 GB | 3 GB |
| RAM | 4 GB | 6 GB |
| OS | Win 7 64 | Win 10 64 |
| Graphics Card | nVidia GeForce GTX 650 1GB / AMD Radeon HD 7770 2GB GHz Edition | nVidia GeForce GTX 970 4GB / AMD Radeon R9 280X |
| Direct X | DX 11 | DX 11 |
| HDD Space | 5 GB | 5 GB |
| Game Analysis | Have you ever dreamt of being a superhero? Meet Chris, a creative and imaginative 9 year old boy who escapes reality with fantastical adventures as his alter ego, the Awesome Captain Spirit! Captain Spirit is a free demo set in the Life is Strange universe. | |
| High FPS | 98 FPS ( GTX 1060 ) | |
| Note | Minimum: Please note that 32-bit operating systems will not be supported 720p Low at 30+ FPS / Recommended: Please note that 32-bit operating systems will not be supported 1080p High at 60+ FPS | |
| Optimization Score | 10 | |
