At E3 2018 Square Enix & Dontnod Entertainment shocked fans of the Life is Strange franchise by announcing a second spinoff known as The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit that was completely off of everyone’s radar during a time full of leaks and spoilers. Taking place three years after season one, in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit you play as 10 year old Chris a very imaginative young man living with his father Charles who are dealing with the death of Chris’ mother. Featuring treasure hunts, imaginary planet explorations and more, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit promises to have a story and choices that will greatly effect Life is Strange season 2.

The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is a 2018 spinoff of Life is Strange, it is developed by Dontnod Entertainment and published by Square Enix. It is currently available on PC, Playstation 4, and Xbox One completely free.

Editor’s Note: This review contains near complete to complete spoilers for The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

Meet Chris, one of the new stars of Life is Strange.

Hot off the heels of Life is Strange: Before the Storm, Dontnod Entertainment is finally beginning to unravel the long-awaited Life is Strange 2, starting with a free episode that connects directly to the upcoming release. Set three years after Life is Strange, spinoff The Adventures of Captain Spirit leads Chris, a 10 year old who uses the power of his imagination to cope with his father’s drinking and the death of his mother. As Chris tries to help his father & himself through their emotional pain he discovers that at least one of his powers coming from his alter ego Captain Spirit may not be as imaginary as he thought.

Chris with his troubled father Charles.

THE GOOD: If you’ve played either of the previous entries in Life is Strange, then you’ll know that the series is all about choices and the consequences from making them. Captain Spirit isn’t too much different here, but it seems Dontnod may be testing the waters with a bit of difficulty as there’s certain events and responses that have a short window of time. Granted there were timed choices before, but here there’s not much warning and if you fail to act out on a choice or event then you’re going to have your story effected. Not only in The Adventures of Captain Spirit, but some of what you do will also have small to large impacts on the event of Life is Strange 2. And with that being said that leaves a near endless amount of possibilities as to how everyone’s game is going to play individually upon release.

Don’t let this imagery fool you. It’s gonna get really dark, really fast from here.

It wouldn’t be Life is Strange if the initial appearance of the light-hearted, teen drama story turned incredibly grim now would it? On the surface, Charles; Chris’ father seems like a stable guy who enjoys a taste of beer like most dads do, but in reality he’s actually an easily angered & ill-tempered man with tendencies for violence, as we get an early look at (Chris’ arm). Most of Charles’ rage is a direct consequence due to a timed event being missed, and a number of those being followed, so in a way you could say his anger can be tamed by the player. But on the other hand, Charles can be, let’s face it: just a plain old dick. Yeah he’s emotionally distraught over the death of his wife and that’s fine, but there are just small insignificant things that Chris can do and he’ll lash out on him. Just to give an example there’s a moment when you actually have to wake him up to look for a Christmas tree and he just berates Chris, even though Charles asked Chris to wake him if he had fallen asleep.

Chris’ Captain Spirit costume can be customized by the player.

Writing, as cheesy as it can be at times, is Life is Strange’s strongest element next to character development, so it’s good seeing the high quality writing you should expect from an in-universe Life is Strange project is still present. Another element central to Life is Strange is the music and while there is some licensed music in ‘Captain Spirit’, it’s only a small bit, keep in mind that this is a demo/prequel/spinoff leading to the full release of season two. Even with the non-licensed in heavy use, the tracks never fail to draw out the necessary emotion for Chris whether he’s alone playing superhero, thinking of his mom, or interacting with Charles. The unique and beautiful art style and graphical design that Life is Strange is known for also remains as such in ‘Captain Spirit’ as well. Something that really impressed me was the voice acting provided throughout most of the episode, specifically for Chris. Performed by Chandler Mantione (an actual child actor), the amount of range and detail per necessary emotion was incredibly believable. Acting wasn’t always Life is Strange’s strong suit, so hearing some good voice acting from the lead of this episode was a nice surprise. Other performances are pretty solid in comparison. Chris having the power to fly is revealed at the episode’s end. I think it’ll be interesting to see how Dontnod work that type of power into the Life is Strange world, but going by the wording used in regards to the future of the character, he may not be the main protagonist once season two begins.

A solid opening act to the long-awaited second season.

THE BAD: It’s only about two hours to complete the demo, and it keeps you begging for more after completion. Controls felt a bit off compared to the previous games. There were times when controlling Chris just seemed very stiff and felt weird. This is coming from being nearly six months removed from the final episode of Before the Storm, so the stiffness was awkward.

Use hero actions to perform certain tasks in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

OVERALL THOUGHTS: While one could perceive The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit as “just another free demo”, in reality it goes much deeper than that. Dontnod Entertainment takes special care in making Captain Spirit feel like not only an entry point into the second season, but a game well worth it’s price to play. Had this been for $5 or $10 I’d still say it was money well spent.