Beyond: Two Souls Message Board older than one year ago
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Today we’re very pleased to unveil our packshot for BEYOND: Two Souls, due for release in October for PlayStation 3.
We worked together with the team at Quantic Dream to choose an image that we felt was both cinematic and in keeping with the emotional journey that the final game will take you on. We hope you like it.
Developing the pack front for a game like BEYOND is always an exciting challenge. BEYOND is so unique in the sense that it spans a character’s entire lifetime and takes place in such a vast array of locations and situations, that picking a singular image to represent the game effectively really does feel like digging for a needle in a haystack. What age do we want Jodie to be in the image? Do we include co-star Willem Dafoe? Do you show Jodie doing something dynamic or do we show her more at peace? These are all questions we had to ask ourselves throughout the process (among a great deal of other questions!).
Ultimately, we decided on the packshot you see above because it felt sophisticated, mature and different from most traditional game packaging, and it really captures the emotion Ellen Page conveyed in her performance as Jodie. The image of Jodie at peace in the eye of the storm really speaks to her constant battle with the incredible gift she’s been given.
Next week, on Saturday 27th April, BEYOND will be screened at the Tribeca Film Festival, followed by a panel featuring writer/director David Cage and actress Ellen Page. Stay tuned next week on PlayStation Blog for details of how you can watch this event via a live stream.
Any questions, please just ask away below.
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Two weeks ago, Oscar-nominee Willem Dafoe was added to the cast of BEYOND: Two Souls, and we announced pre-order bonuses for North America. Today, we’re talking about how BEYOND is blurring the lines between film and gaming – BEYOND has been chosen as an Official Selection by Tribeca Film Festival, the first such selection of this kind for a video game.
On April 27th, we will be hosting a screening at the festival where we’ll show a new one-hour scene from the game, debuting a major trailer and a new behind-the-scenes look, alongside a Q&A panel with Ellen Page and director David Cage discussing the way BEYOND is pushing the boundaries of storytelling. The entire team here is hugely excited that Tribeca is recognizing the powerful story of BEYOND, its star-studded cast, and the stunning visual technology that have contributed to the game’s uniquely cinematic experience. We’ll also be live-streaming the event right here on PlayStation.Blog.
Earlier this week, 100 journalists from around the world visited Quantic Dream’s studio in Paris for an exclusive BEYOND event. In the surrounds of the very motion capture room where Ellen’s and Willem’s performances were recorded, writer and director David Cage showcased several new scenes from the game, featuring both the Jodie and entity gameplay.
Press were shown the Aiden entity gameplay in a scene featuring a young Jodie taking part in a scientific experiment under the watchful eye of her mentor Nathan Dawkins (Willem Dafoe). And then they were treated to a full playthrough of what promises to be one of the most powerful scenes in gaming, which sees Jodie living on the streets, fighting for her life and those of the homeless people around her. David Cage also unveiled the brand new in-game user interface, which provides an even more immersive and seamless experience than the game’s predecessor Heavy Rain.
The new user interface allows for promptless contextual control in both general navigation and action sequence controls, while increasing the level of direct control the user has and opening the door for far more exploration than players experienced in Heavy Rain. To end the day, press were invited to be the first to play the game, and try out the new UI and gameplay for themselves.
All of the press write-ups should be going live, so keep an eye on the web for their reactions to Beyond’s new gameplay from this event.
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Beyond: Two Souls, Quantic Dream's PS3 game about a superpowered Ellen Page, will be out October 8, Sony announced today. Joining the stable of actors to have their faces Uncanny Valleyed into the game is Willem Dafoe, who will play scientist Nathan Dawkins.
Dawkins works with Page's character Jodie, studying her strange supernatural abilities for the government. While details of his role in the story have yet to be fully revealed - like whether his interests lie in helping Jodie or in capturing her - we'd venture to guess that Willem is da bad guy.
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Last year at E3 we announced the much anticipated title from Heavy Rain creators Quantic Dream and the mind of visionary director David Cage. BEYOND: Two Souls is a psychological action thriller starring Oscar nominee Ellen Page (Inception, Juno) in the lead role of Jodie Holmes and featuring Quantic Dream’s unique brand of gameplay.
BEYOND tells the story of Jodie, a young woman who’s known since birth that she is different from everyone else. She possesses supernatural powers through her psychic link to an invisible entity she calls Aiden, and this gift has changed her life forever. Playing through 15 years of Jodie’s life promises to deliver one of the most thrilling and powerfully emotional experiences on PS3.
Today, we’re pleased to announce that Ellen will be joined by another Oscar nominee in Willem Dafoe (Platoon, Spider-Man) who will star as Nathan Dawkins, a government scientist who works with Jodie to analyse her powers. At a later stage we’ll have lots more to reveal on the interplay between Nathan and Jodie in the game (no spoilers today!), but suffice to say they form a compelling bond and together deliver some of the most unique and powerful scenes yet seen in gaming.
We’ve got a gameplay trailer for you today showcasing an early scene from the game in which Nathan first meets a young Jodie (played by a child actress, not Ellen), and including some sneak peeks at other scenes from the game. Check it out at the top of the post, or right here.
And we’ve got an interview with Willem talking about his role in the game:
Willem’s exciting inclusion in the cast is just the tip of the iceberg for our announcements today though, as we are also pleased to announce that BEYOND will be coming to PS3 on October 8th, 2013.
Additionally, everyone who pre-orders BEYOND at GameStop (or EB games for our Canadian friends) will receive an exclusive 30-minute playable additional scene DLC. We’ll be announcing more details on what that scene entails in the coming months.
And while supplies last, everyone who pre-orders will also receive a free upgrade to the Special Edition of BEYOND, which includes:
- Exclusive Steelbook Premium Packaging
- Extensive Behind The Scenes Video Features
- Soundtrack
- PS3 Dynamic Theme
- PSN Avatar Bundle
*Steelbook art not final
Hopefully you’re as excited about BEYOND as we are, and remember to run out and pre-order early. We’ll have much, much more content coming down the line in the coming months, so stay tuned! Any questions, just add them below.
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"We're just crazy people," Cage mused. "We don't do this for money or fame. We want to take risks because we enjoy trying to push the envelope," he told us. "Does it make sense from a company point of view? Not really, to be honest. Being the CEO of the company, I can tell you that it's totally absurd. But we enjoy it so much. We're a team of passionate people. This is 'what we should have done,' but we've done something else."
Cage spoke to the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences in our Hit List feature last month, noting Apocalypse Now and the works of Kubrick as the two greatest filmic influences on his creative process. Whether or not the creative channels he's chosen are Paths of Glory for Beyond remains to be seen.
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In 2012, Cage launched a new tech demo called KARA, featuring an android girl with an actress who delivered a stunning acting performance. Quantic Dream is currently in production of Beyond, a game written and directed by David Cage, starring actress Ellen Page. The game, produced by Sony exclusively on PlayStation 3, will be released in 2013.
In his forthcoming 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit session, Cage will be speaking on "The Peter Pan Syndrome: The Industry that Refused to Grow Up." In a significantly changing landscape dominated by franchises, where new devices with 89c games get more and more of consumers' attention, the video game industry is confronted with a massive challenge. A new console cycle is about to start, new business models and platforms appear while creativity and risk taking has never been lower.
The game industry, having always refused to grow up, is now confronted with a new dilemma: evolve or stagnate. The first and most important revolution to start is about content. Based on his experience and fifteen years in the industry developing original content, David Cage will explain in a passionate, thought-provoking presentation (with a French accent) his vision for content in the future and why he believes it is the key to expanding our market and finally become a mature industry.
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There are few forthcoming PlayStation 3 titles that are quite so keenly anticipated as Beyond: Two Souls, the latest project from Quantic Dream – the idiosyncratic French developer behind acclaimed 2010 adventure Heavy Rain. Following the story of young Jodie Holmes (played by Hollywood starlet Ellen Page) and her mysterious supernatural companion, Aiden, it lit up E3 earlier this year with its stunning reveal trailer.
We’ve not heard too much since, so we caught up with Quantic’s founder, David Cage, at Paris Games Week for a quick progress update.
We’ve not heard too much about Beyond since its E3 reveal back in June. Is development going well?
David Cage: Development is going very well. Indeed, it’s nice to go to all these shows but we also have to make the game! We’re advancing – we’re now a few weeks off the alpha version. It’s always a very critical moment in the development of a game since it’s the first time all the game data is assembled in a complete version. This first version is often not very playable, but it’s the first time you can see the “complete” game as a whole. After that we’ll move onto the beta version, which is when the game really starts to look like the final version.
Just how different is the gameplay and user interface from your last title, Heavy Rain?
David Cage: The game is very different from Heavy Rain, probably much more than people can imagine. The first obvious difference is that there will be two characters to control: Jodie and this entity that is Aiden. We can do some really interesting things with Aiden: fly, walk through walls and interact with matter or characters in a rather peculiar way. What we showed at E3 was in fact a working version based on the same interface as Heavy Rain, but it is not the final interface of the game.
The first elements of gameplay shown were focused on action. What else can we expect?
David Cage: It’s a balance that will be a little different from Heavy Rain, where we really aiming for the atmosphere of a psychological thriller. Beyond, of course, will also have these components of emotion, depth of characters, strong moments, but there will also be a more epic, dramatic dimension.
All this will be part of a story with a logical narrative following the philosophy that each scene must be unique and different. Take the forest scene for example. This is the only scene like this in the game. We will have more epic scenes and other action scenes, but they will be radically different and have nothing to do with each other in terms of environment and the type of action involved.
Our goal is not to release a game that will just please the fans of Heavy Rain and that we could say, “Ah, yes, it’s like Heavy Rain but a little better”. The idea is really to surprise players and show them that we can actually go much further with the concept of Heavy Rain.
Do any elements of Beyond: Two Souls echo your personal life?
David Cage: Absolutely. It’s a phenomenon that I’ve had with Heavy Rain when I became a father and I discovered the unique relationship one can have with their child. On Beyond, I’m drawing on another experience – one that’s less pleasant – because I lost someone very close in my family. This is what started it all – the desire to imagine that there may be an “after”.
Beyond is, of course, about death. But it is also about more positive things, like growth, change and learning to accept ourselves as we are. With Beyond, I really wanted to create a trip – something epic, emotional, and strong that the player will remember long after the end of the game.
Have you had much time to keep an eye on the competition? What games have you been playing recently?
David Cage: I loved a game that has not been discussed much – for anyone who loved Heavy Rain and is seeking different games made by authors trying to express something that goes beyond bam-bam-boom-boom, it really is a game to try. I found it amazing, surprising and deeply moving. You can feel that there is a real author behind it – someone who has something to say. It is a game that really touched me.
Have you ever considered tackling something like this – a smaller scale PSN title?
David Cage: I have a huge problem. Every time I start writing… everything I do turns into an incredible historical epic. It depresses the team – they say they will finally be able to make an “easy” game and at the end they don’t! I dream of being able to make a PSN game, but I couldn’t do it even if I really want to.
Are you ever tempted to try your hand at shooting a movie?
David Cage: Quite honestly this is something that I do not feel capable of, and it’s not something I’m looking for right now, despite the few opportunities I have had. I’m happy to do what I do in video games. I’m not here by chance – it’s been 15 years since I chose to be in this environment. And even after 15 years, I do it with great pleasure, happiness and passion. To get up, go to work and to be with my extraordinarily talented team – year after year it still amazes me!
Do you have a message for prospective players of Beyond? How would you like them to approach the game?
David Cage: I think there should be no preparation for Beyond. You must go into the game trying to learn as little as possible!
Like other game creators, I wish I could say nothing and show nothing, and put a plain black cover on the shelves so that players start the game completely blank, with no information from trailers. This is something that is obviously not possible, unfortunately!
For people who trust us and who loved Heavy Rain – we will surprise you, we will give you something you expect without even knowing that you were expecting it! I think it will be a real experience. We believe in it and we’re working hard for it. We are really surprised every day to see the game being born on the screens; it’s a real treat and a real surprise. I hope it has the same effect on the players.
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There was a lengthy panel on Beyond: Two Souls back at SDCC, which revealed Kadeem Hardison will also play a starring role in the game. Immediately following the panel, both David Cage and Ellen Page sat down with the PlayStation Blog for the video interview above.
Within, Page discusses her own relationship with games and how Heavy Rain really got her on board with what Cage is trying to do in Beyond: Two Souls. There's also a good deal of mo-cap footage, giving us a glimpse at some of the more physical acting Page has done so far for the game.
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PlayStation always strives to deliver engaging performances for its titles by utilizing incredible talent. Who can forget Nolan North’s performance as UNCHARTED’s Nathan Drake? BEYOND: Two Souls pushes immersion to the next level by pairing top Hollywood talent with the latest in full performance capture technology.
At last week’s San Diego Comic-Con, I sat down with Academy Award nominee Ellen Page, who’s playing the lead role of Jodie Holmes, and Quantic Dream writer/director David Cage. How did the star of films like Juno and Inception come to work with Quantic Dream in BEYOND: Two Souls? And what does this level of talent mean for the game? Let them tell you:
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To see more from BEYOND: Two Souls, and meet some of the game’s other talent (including Kadeem Hardison), catch highlights from the Comic-Con panel here.
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Greetings! Yesterday was my first time at San Diego Comic-Con and I was amazed at the people I saw! What costumes! It’s great to see so many people embracing their passion.
After such an amazing E3, I was lucky enough to come here to speak to some incredible supporters of the game in a panel hosted by IGN’s Greg Miller. Joining me was the lovely and talented Ellen Page, who we are very lucky to have playing BEYOND‘s main character, Jodie Holmes. We had a great discussion about how we are combining the latest in performance capture technology and amazing acting talent in the hopes of creating a truly unique and emotional experience for all of you to enjoy. We were also happy to reveal additional talented cast members, Kadeem Hardison and Eric Winter, experienced actors who you may have seen both on TV and film.
Please enjoy a recap of our Comic-Con panel above. And on behalf of the team at Quantic Dream, thank you so much for your support so far. We are hard at work and look forward to sharing more about BEYOND soon.
‘Til then… Adieu!
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You can get a behind-the-scenes look at the complicated process of turning Ellen Page into virtual Ellen Page for Beyond: Two Souls, in this footage from yesterday's Comic-Con panel. It involves prop suitcases! And prop supine bodies!
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Quantic Dream founder David Cage laughed off the flub and Page continued to describe her experience with Beyond as "incredible" and "completely fulfilling."
"My brain didn't even know how to process this opportunity," Page said. Once she met Cage at a bar in L.A. to read his script, however, her mind was made up, and filming turned out to be an incredible experience, she said. "It completely exceeded my expectations and was completely fulfilling as an actor."
Beyond took 10 months and 160 actors to film, and that's after Cage spent one year writing the script. During that year, he referenced a photograph of Page with a shaved head from Mouth to Mouth, a movie she did when she was 16, for the main character, Jodie Holmes. He ended up using Page in later movies as models for Jodie as she aged through the game. By the time he finished writing he said he couldn't picture another actress in Page's place.
Page seemed satisfied with Cage's decision as well: "What David has written is so powerful and so beautiful," she said. Beyond: Two Souls is due out in 2013 for PS3.
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Dafoe was previously rumored to be co-starring in Beyond alongside Inception's Ellen Page, who made an appearance at the Quantic Dream panel. Kadeem Hardison, best known for playing Dwayne Wayne on A Different World, was also at the panel to reveal his own role: a paranormal investigator who "raises" Jodie Holmes, Page's character.
Video at the panel showed off Page with another actor, Eric Winter, both in full performance-capture suits and in a range of scenarios, from conversing around a dinner table to maneuvering in what appeared to be an earthquake. The identity of Winter's character has not been disclosed.
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It’s that time of year again — Comic-Con International 2012, and we’re here to give you an early look at everything PlayStation this year.
Throughout Comic-Con, the PlayStation booth will be offering demos of the latest content from our upcoming titles for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. Come over and check out PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale (and make sure to pay attention at the panel for the game on Sunday, where two new combatants will be revealed!), Sports Champions 2, The Unfinished Swan, LittleBigPlanet Karting, Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time, Papo Y Yo, Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and The Expendables 2. Attendees will also be treated to hands-on opportunities with new and upcoming PlayStation Vita titles like Sound Shapes, Retro City Rampage, LittleBigPlanet, Jet Set Radio, Guacamelee, Gravity Rush, Ragnarok Odyssey, and Sly Cooper: Thieves in Time. There will also be chances to check out cross-play features for PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale and Street Fighter X Tekken.
A limited number of The Last of Us shirts also will be given out at the PlayStation booth throughout the week. Stay tuned for details on dates and times as we get closer to the show.
For anyone unable to get hands-on with PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale at our booth, we will also have two gaming stations featured in the SPIKE TV booth (BOOTH#3729) for another shot to get your hands on one of the most exciting new upcoming PS3 games.
Excited for Comic-Con yet? Well, hang tight, there’s more. Below is a full schedule of our panel sessions that will be taking place for some of our highly anticipated titles, including Beyond: Two Souls, The Last of Us and PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.
Thursday, July 12 (12pm to 1pm) – Room 25ABC
Beyond: Two Souls
A New Breed of Interactive Storytelling from Writer/Director David Cage of Quantic Dream
Meet David Cage, the co-CEO of Quantic Dream and writer/director of the 2010 hit Heavy Rain, as he discusses his latest project — Beyond: Two Souls. David will focus on the concept of creating innovative gameplay experiences that are woven together with emotion and story. Beyond: Two Souls is prepared to deliver an immersive interactive and cinematic experience based on emotional involvement and interactive storytelling. In developing a unique “interactive drama” to engross the audience, David and his team have introduced the concept of Virtual Performance Capture to videogames, where actors play the entire role in development of the game (from motion capture to dialogue). The session will focus on techniques used to create an emotional and compelling experience, focusing on their award winning titles as well as provide a deeper look into their brand new project, Beyond: Two Souls. Join IGN.com‘s Greg Miller as he moderates with writer/director and co-CEO of Quantic Dream David Cage, and actress and academy award nominee Ellen Page as they explore the uncanny valley of bringing realism and emotion to this project.
Friday, July 13 (5pm to 6pm) – Room 25ABC
The Last of Us
Behind the Scenes with Naughty Dog
Join Creative Director Neil Druckmann and Game Director Bruce Straley of Naughty Dog, along with actors Troy Baker (Fullmetal Alchemist, Batman: Arkham City) and Ashley Johnson (Marvel’s The Avengers, The Killing, Ben-10: Alien Force) in a discussion about the upcoming post-pandemic, survival-action PlayStation 3 game The Last of Us, from the developers of the critically-acclaimed UNCHARTED series. Panelists will provide an exclusive reveal of a new in-game cinematic featuring a special guest in this Q&A session moderated by Adam Sessler (veteran videogame industry journalist). Guests will also receive a limited edition The Last of Us poster.
Saturday, July 14 (11am to 12pm) – Room 7AB
The Unfinished Swan
An Art-Infused Adventure: Giant Sparrow Talks Art and the Inspiration Behind One of the Most Unique and Anticipated PlayStation 3 Titles
The Unfinished Swan presents an art game like no other before it. For many years, a debate has raged over whether or not videogames can be considered art. In 2012, The Unfinished Swan will address the issue head on, both in terms of its experimental nature and its focus on the art of painting. Attendees will have the opportunity to get an up-close look at the art within the game, discuss games as art, and chat with Giant Sparrow about the creative inspiration behind developing one of the most beautiful and intriguing games on the PlayStation 3.
Sunday, July 15 (11am to 12pm) – Room 24ABC
PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale
Tapping into PlayStation History: The Emergence of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale
Chan Park, President of SuperBot Entertainment, provides a look into the creation and development of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale, where the team has tapped into 17 years of PlayStation history to create a brawler with top PlayStation characters and environments. Learn about decisions faced in selecting characters, how the team implemented the idea of mash-ups, and how players can engage in cross play to challenge one another, regardless of whether they’re playing on PS3 or PS Vita. The team will also unveil the two newest characters in the series at the panel. Q&A session to follow. IGN.com’s Greg Miller will moderate a panel featuring Chan Park, President of SuperBot Games and Omar Kendall, Game Director of PlayStation All-Stars: Battle Royale.
Looking to become a professional race car driver and the next GT Academy winner? Phase 1 of the GT Academy National Finals is coming to Comic-Con!
This year’s GT Academy National Finals will be taking place on Friday and Saturday, July 13 and 14, at Jolt’n Joe’s in the Gaslamp Quarter, a short distance away from the San Diego Convention Center. The nation’s top 32 drivers will take part in a live head-to-head competition, battling it out for the opportunity to move on to the next phase and get one step closer to becoming the winner of Season 2’s GT Academy.
NEW TWIST ADDED: This year, everyone at Comic-Con has a chance to secure a spot in the National Final. This “wildcard” will compete with the 32 finalists, fighting for the chance to move on to the final phase of the competition. Anyone (pending eligibility) can register at the Oasis Bar inside the Hard Rock Hotel in downtown San Diego on Thursday, July 12th from 10am to 4pm Pacific time and compete for top lap time in Gran Turismo 5. The top competitor of the day will walk away with a one-of-a-kind GT Academy 2012-designed HumanRacing® GT Chassis equipped with the Thrustmaster T500RS wheel and pedal set. Additionally, the winner will earn a 33rd spot in the Finals competition, becoming “Racer X” and earning a chance Friday morning July 13th to knock out and replace any of the top 32 finalists.
So for those who didn’t make the top 32 within the online competition, this is your second chance to fight for a spot in the National Finals! Just be sure to show up early as the competition will be first come first serve, and will only be running from 10am to 4pm.
Once within the National Finals Event, the 33 contestants will be divided into individual groups and race in a series of live head-to-head races in Gran Turismo 5. Racing Nissan vehicles, each contestant will earn points based on the place they finish in. As race difficulty increases, the contestants with the fewest points at the end of each round will be eliminated until only 16 remain. These final 16 contestants will move on to Phase Two in GT Academy, taking the racers away from their PS3 consoles and onto the track, behind the wheel of real race cars, for a chance to become a professional race car driver and the official GT Academy winner for the U.S. The winner will have the opportunity to train with an elite racing team and will work towards a debut as part of a professional team. The competitors’ road to victory will be documented in an innovative new series airing exclusively on Spike TV in late 2012.
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We reached out to Sony for clarification, and received the following response: "We don't typically comment on rumors or speculation about our products so nothing to share at this time."
Quantic Dream announced Page's leading role at E3 this year and showed us an action-packed demo that highlighted the studio's performance-capture technology. During the demo, Quantic Dream's David Cage didn't hint at Dafoe making an appearance, though he did recall fondly his first experience in snagging a high-profile celebrity for one of his games:
"I was fortunate enough to have worked with David Bowie on my first game," Cage said. "When you've done that in your career, you say, 'I can get anyone.'"
Cage also confirmed that the police officer in Beyond's E3 trailer is portrayed by the same actor who played Paco, "the man with the strange jacket in the club," in Heavy Rain.
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Last week at the PlayStation’s E3 Press Conference, one of the highlights of the night was Quantic Dream’s David Cage stepping into the stage finally reveal his team’s next masterpiece. BEYOND: Two Souls for the PS3 impressed the crowd with its extremely detailed graphics and convincing performances of motion actors, including Hollywood talent Ellen Page. By now, you must have seem the debut trailer dozens of times and may have even checked David Cage himself coming to our stage live at E3, but unfortunately the game was not available on the show floor for the general audience to try. Luckily for us, we were able to witness the power of this interactive psychological action-thriller in a private session where Producer Ray Khalastchi from SCEE’s XDev Studio walked us through a 20-plus-minute demo running on a PS3 – in case we had any doubts that the game was high-tech smoke and mirrors.
The demo consisted of five areas connected by a gripping narrative, all of which showed off the game’s new graphics technology in all its glory, including the startlingly lifelike performances of actors achieved through full performance capture. Of course, many details of the story are being kept secret, but we managed to pull some tidbits from Khalastchi. “At this point in the game, Jodie is about 23 years old and has been on the run for two or three weeks from the authorities,” he explains, setting the tone for the demo we’re about to see.
Inside a train, Jodie Holmes is trying to get some sleep, wrapped in a hoodie to avoid attracting unwanted attention. We’re soon in control of Aiden, the ethereal entity she’s tied to – and you can immediately notice that spiritual connection, which is represented by a blue light thread linking the two. In first person (you never get to see Aiden’s appearance), you can wander the place with Sixaxis movements. Taking advantage of the fact you’re invisible to the other passengers, you can startle them by interacting with objects indicated by an orange glow. You can even cross the walls of the train to look at the heavy rain out there, but you can’t stray too far from Jodie – your view starts to blur and eventually go black and white. Aiden is bound to Jodie. “[Your view as Aiden] will also change based on what situation Jodie is in,” Khalastchi explains. “If she’s scared or in danger, it will impact your view.”
The train eventually stops at a station full of cops. You can go outside and try to listen to their conversation to find out what is happening, or you can just go wherever you want to – by the way, the police lights on a rainy night give an idea of the visual tricks the team at Quantic Dream is wringing out of the PS3. Anyway, it’s interesting to notice how you don’t “trigger” events with your presence, everything just happens in real time. People will carry on their conversation or whatever they are doing whether you are there or not, so you have to pick carefully what you’ll be doing.
Eventually, two cops board the train and it’s immediately obvious that they are looking for Jodie. You have to warn her somehow, and you do so by interacting with the bottle near her to wake her up. Noticing the girl tries to avoid them, the officers realize it’s Jodie, and a chase scene ensues. You’re now in direct control of Jodie trying to make your way through the corridors. This direct control of the action sequence is something Khalastchi emphasizes, contrasting with Heavy Rain, where you would simply follow command prompts in action scenes. Not that you don’t have the usual on-screen commands to follow, and here they can also determine the outcome of a scene. “If I was to be caught, I would be arrested and I would be put in one of these rooms. I would have to find a way outside the train”, explains Ray. “You cannot get a ‘Game Over’ screen, the game always moves forward.”
Cornered inside a toilet, Jodie comes up with a plan: open the latch to the rooftop. But she’s not strong enough, so it’s up to Aiden to crack it open. On the rooftop, we’re again controlling Jodie directly, and we’re once more overwhelmed by the scene before our eyes: Jodie moves carefully through the wet floor, her clothes soaked by the pouring rain, swinging with the strong wind, the lights of signposts occasionally remembering you of how fast the train is moving, and Ellen Page’s expression of anxiety giving an unsettling sense of danger.
The girl tries to get around the police officers who are also climbing to the rooftop, but is surrounded by three of them. A brutal fight follows, but despite getting hit by some blows, Jodie seems to know how to get rid of them. “For this part we had a martial artists group that came to do the choreography and motion capture session”, adds Khalastchi. “Then we took that data and applied to the characters in the scene.”
Noticing the cops are still coming at her, Jodie jumps out of the train and, upon successful command inputs, Aiden protects her with an ethereal shield so she can land safely.
At the Forest“Are you telling why she’s so skilled?”, we ask. Khalastchi just smiles and shakes his head negatively, probably happy to leave us with this piercing question. Jodie is now in a forest area, rising from the ground with an expression that mixes relief and fatigue. But soon after she begins moving away from there, a helicopter lights the area and searchlights comes in her direction. Furious with their tenacity, the girl curses and darts into the forest.
While dogs bay in the background, Jodie tries to overcome trunks and branches – again, under a combination of direct control plus Quick Time Events. “If you fail repeatedly”, I insist, “can Jodie die?” It’s something that kept hammering my mind, because in Heavy Rain you would sometimes have to live with the tragic (and permanent) consequences of your actions. “No, she can’t die”, assures Ray. “But the story still continues in the context of all that happens. She can get arrested or get knocked down and wake up later.”
Jodie builds some distance between her and the cops, but still can hear them not very far from her. With direct control over her, you begin running in every different direction in search of a way out, and it soon becomes a desperate hunt for an exit. “Jodie is lost. You are lost. You don’t know where to go, so you’re trying to find your way around. We really wanted to make you feel like you’re lost.” Yeah, it definitely works.
The dogs catch up with her and a battle between Jodie and nature takes place. “Did you guys motion capture dogs too?”, I jokingly ask, trying to alleviate me from the tension caused by the ferocious scene. “Actually, yes,” answers Khalastchi with that confident smile of someone who means it.
After getting rid of the dogs, Jodie manages to climb a rock wall and hide from the cops bellow. Then, while they are pointing their lanterns around in search of her, comes my favorite scene: the camera closes in on Jodie’s face and you can clearly see the benefits of marrying the latest in motion capture and graphics technology with an Oscar nominee of the caliber of Ellen Page, as you can see the expression of fear in her excited eyes, while raindrops stream down her bruised skin, her hair plastered around her still panting face. “Are her bruises dynamic?”, I ask after seeing how she gets injured after so many brushes with danger. “Yes. For example, when I jumped out of the train before, if I failed to shield her properly, she would be in a much worse state.” Poor Jodie.
Jodie escapes the guards and is now by the side of a road, where there’s a barricade. Controlling Aiden again, you check the situation: there are three cops, two cars and a motorbike. The producer explains the meaning of the colored auras surrounding every people: white is neutral, orange means the person can be possessed and red indicates someone who can be choked. And it’s all contextual.
Khalastchi goes to the officer by the bike and possesses him, gaining direct control over him. Our guide them makes the possessed guard mess with one of the cars to distract the other two. I noticed from a previous play session that he made something different to pass through this area. “Yes, in this very instance, you have two options”, explains Khalastchi. “After possessing the guard, I can enter the car and drive it back and forth, or I can get the shotgun in the back of the car and keep shooting to the air. Either way, the other cops get distracted and give Jodie the opportunity to go around and get the bike.”
“Even in the small sections, we’d like to give you a little bit of choice. It may have no difference in the outcome, but if you choose what to do, it feels more like it’s your story.”
“Here we are in control of the bike, whereas in Heavy Rain it would have been like ‘hit R2 and watch her drive away’.” And again, the PS3 hardware easily handles the kind of lighting and effects on the screen as Jodie drives the bike at a rainy night. And we’re curious as to how they’re balancing between giving you control and telling you an authorial story. “We’re still trying to give you as much control as possible while still keeping it cinematic, keeping control tightly and, you know, keeping story intact.”
Being chased by a helicopter, Jodie is trapped when she reaches a bridge guarded by a S.W.A.T. squad. With Aiden’s help, she breaks through the blockade and reaches a nearby town.
At the TownThe chase comes to its climax at the front of a theater. “In this final part of the demo, it’s almost a sandbox of Aiden gameplay. There are lots of different things you can do,” explains Khalastchi. And he’s not kidding: while Jodie is cornered behind a car, you control Aiden and search for people to possess or choke, or explore various environmental interactions. You can control a sniper and kill his teammates, take over another soldier on the ground and command him to shoot nearby officers and himself, throw a grenade with yet another officer and cause a massive explosion, flip cars and… blow the fire hydrant? “Some things you can do are not useful.” Reminds me of drinking milk in Heavy Rain…But then, it’s all in the name of interactivity.
As time goes on, the S.W.A.T. team is closing in on Jodie, which means they get in range of some hazards and in Aiden’s range as well. You can make a clock tower crumble upon some soldiers, which highlighted a curious detail in the game: you can actually see their spirits coming out of their bodies and rising into the air.
After helping Jodie get inside the theater, you can possess the helicopter pilot and cause the ultimate destruction, which leads to the closing scene of the debut trailer: Jodie walks to the S.W.A.T. leader and menacingly yells: “Tell them to leave me effin’ alone, because next time… I’ll kill everyone”. And, walking away, she calls Aiden and says “I think they got the message”.
By the end of the demo, we were totally blown away by the graphical and narrative qualities of BEYOND: Two Souls, and also looking forward to going hands-on with the game at a later date. There are still plenty of details we don’t know (PS Move support? “It’s something we’re looking into,” says Khalastchi), but it’s exciting to see how Quantic Dream is ahead of the technological race. After this brief demonstration, we can’t wait to find out what lies beyond.
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The demo Quantic Dream mastermind David Cage showed the press the following day went a long way to demonstrate Page's proficiency in a video game world, though it still didn't highlight any deep dialogue or empathetic scenes.
Executive Producer Guillaume de Fondaumière played a half-hour action sequence filled with train-top rain battles, stealing motorcycles from cops and exploding helicopters -- but Beyond is much more than a single demo can contain.
"There is also emotion," Cage said. "We just showed you one walkthrough. But you could have played it in many different ways. In the entire scene, there are scenes inside the scenes that we didn't show you."
Sceneception.
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I am one of those people that tends to think, or at least associate, in quotes. Be it from movies, books, television, or even games, memorable lines from other works constanty pop into my head, even in only the most tangentially relevant scenarios. Following the end of the E3 press demo shown for Beyond: Two Souls, the latest game from Heavy Rain developer Quantic Dream, a quote from the movie Doubt began playing over and over in my head. At the very end of the film, the character played by Meryl Streep slowly says "I have doubts...I have such doubts!" with increasing levels of volume and distress. By the end of the demo, I was practically mouthing those exact words.
Ellen Page stars as Jodie Holmes, both in voice and in likeness.It's not that I don't trust Quantic Dream to make a good game. Even at their worst moments, both Indigo Prophecy and Heavy Rain still showed at least a modicum of unrealized promise. My issue is that I don't entirely trust David Cage. Cage, who is simultaneously Quantic Dream's creative lead and designated mouthpiece, is a man who talks a very good game. He speaks in grandiose terms, talking of creating unprecedented emotional resonance, of truly cinematic gameplay, of creating wholly unique connections to the characters you play as, and play alongside. At times, flashes of those grandiose claims have appeared in Quantic Dream's games, though it's impossible to say that they have been wholly successful. It is, in some respects, similar to the situation one often faces when listening to Peter Molyneux talking about his various projects. He speaks with such clarity of vision that you sometimes don't realize that the things he says are kind of insane, and potentially impossible to deliver on. David Cage said a lot of things when demoing Beyond: Two Souls for me. I don't know how many of them I actually, earnestly believe.
I'll say this: if Quantic Dream actually does deliver on what Cage says Beyond will be, then it's going to be something pretty special.
If you haven't seen the demo from the PlayStation press conference, I've embedded the truncated trailer version below. You ought to give it a look before we go any further.
Having seen that video, you now have the basics of the game's concept. Jodie (Ellen Page) is a troubled young girl who has a connection to an otherworldly force she has named Aiden. Cage was unsurprisingly unwilling to divulge too much info regarding the nature of Aiden's existence, save but to say that Aiden has been with Jodie for much of her life. Players will actually see that relationship evolve over time, as the game takes place over the course of 15 years of Jodie's life, as she matures and finds herself in increasingly perilous situations.
Based on the single chapter Cage showed, much of that peril will come in the form of shadowy government forces that seem keen on capturing or killing Jodie for as-yet-unrevealed reasons. The S.W.A.T. cop you see in the above video is the central antagonist of this chapter, though Cage stopped short of calling him the game's primary villain. One gets the impression that there may be some additional antagonistic forces at work here.
Interestingly, the chapter sequence we began with played not from Jodie's perspective, but rather Aiden's. At various points throughout the game, you'll be able to take control of Aiden, who is not able to take corporeal form but does have the ability to interact with the environment in limited fashion. The scene opened on a train traveling through some unidentified corner of America. Jodie sat fast asleep in her seat, hood pulled tightly over her head so as to both shut out the light and perhaps avoid anyone seeing her face. As Aiden, you are effectively left to your own devices for a time. You can float through the train car, knock objects around, drop the temperature around people to make them shiver, or even bug Jodie, who generally admonishes you for bothering her. Interestingly, you can even float outside of the train car, watching the rainy, darkened world speed by from a closer perspective. However, you are limited to a certain distance of movement, as Aiden is "tethered" to Jodie. It can only travel within range of that tether, which only Aiden can see in the form of a glowing blue rope of pure energy.
It's not long before things start to go wrong. The train makes an unscheduled stop, and, while still controlling Aiden, you can wander outside to discover a number of cops surrounding the train. You can overhear their, frankly, kind of hammy dialogue regarding what's going on--one of them actually says "These orders come from THE TOP, man," with stone-faced seriousness. Curiously, the train then starts up again, but now there are cops on the train looking for Jodie. It's up to you to warn her, which you can do multiple ways. Cage chose to show Aiden knocking her stowed backpack onto her head, which she wasn't appreciative of. However, once she saw the law was approaching, she began frantically searching for an exit.
Jodie's connection to the entity known as Aiden appears to have gotten her into a lot of trouble with some nefarious forces.This was the moment where Beyond morphed into an actual game. Control switched to Jodie, and she began running through the train car, away from the cops. Periodically other cops or other obstacles would pop up, and in order to get past them, button prompts would pop up, requiring specifically timed presses, movements of the Sixaxis controller, or the old "mash the buttons until that really strenuous thing you're seeing on screen is over with" mechanic.
So, yes, in this regard, Beyond does appear to bear some strong resemblance to Quantic Dream's previous games, in that action is based heavily around contextual mechanics. However, Cage noted that in any situation where contextual actions weren't appearing, the player would be in total control of Jodie. Later during a chase through a wooded area, Jodie had the ability to wander just about anywhere in the area, only finding a few obstacles that couldn't be traversed. Cage stated that while there was really only one way out, there were different paths to take in order to get there, and varying challenges to overcome to escape.
Though not necessarily the case in the previously mentioned scene, player choice will have consequences on how the story plays out. Cage said that Beyond probably wouldn't feature the frankly ridiculous number of endings available in Heavy Rain, but that there were alternate paths that the story could take, depending on how you play. He was also quick to point out his general disdain for the idea of a "fail state," or "game over." He explained that he believes such a condition just creates an awkward loop in the story, so to counteract that, the team has simply created situations where less-than-ideal scenarios can play out if you fail a specific sequence, and not in a "I chose wrong or performed poorly, so now I'm dead" kind of way. To use the example he gave, he said that were you to unsuccessfully avoid the police anywhere along the way in this chapter, you could be arrested and taken into custody. You would then have to escape police custody in an entirely different sequence than what we were shown, though if you were successful there, the conclusion would more or less play out the same.
Cage also took great pains to emphasize that in Beyond, no two chapters would play precisely alike. He was reticent to extrapolate on that point, save but to say that the goal is to make each chapter feel "unique." He doubly emphasized that the chapter we were seeing was a much more action-oriented chapter than many of the others in the game would be. He explained the regrettable need to emphasize action over introspection when demoing a game to a public audience, given the desire to not lose the audience's attention.
The action was most certainly on display. Rather than just give you a blow-by-blow of every event, I will simply truncate things by saying that Jodie goes through some severely awful shit. At various times, she is chased by cops, chased by angry police dogs, knocked about by men twice her size, is forced to jump off a moving train, blows through a police barricade, and is repeatedly shot at by what looks like the majority of a metropolitan police force's S.W.A.T. unit.
Aiden has the ability to capture, or even kill other people when Jodie is in trouble.Of course, all of this plays out with numerous contextual quick-time events, as opposed to standard action game mechanics. Much like Heavy Rain, Quantic Dream has framed every scene with an eye toward the cinematic, often pulling back and making quick cuts between individual QT events. There's also a preponderance of shaky cam during some of the chapter's more hectic moments that is, to put it bluntly, more than a little nauseating. Dear video games: we don't even like shaky cam in movies, so we extra don't want it in our games. Thanks.
Still, even with the questionable camera shaking, there's no denying that Beyond looks pretty phenomenal, even in its relatively early development state. Much ballyhoo was made about the use of Ellen Page as both the voice and likeness of the lead character, and it's clear that Quantic Dream has taken great pains to make Jodie's facial expressions subtle and believable. There were a few moments where things looked perhaps a bit "uncanny," but by and large the work they've done on her character is extremely impressive. Cage explained that all of the game's actors, including Page, were given the full motion-capture treatment. Heavy Rain used some facial capture effects, but the bodies were animated by the developers, which sometimes led to unnatural looking movements. Cage believes the motion-capture action has solved that problem, and based on what was shown, the animation has definitely come a long way. Some of the non-central characters still looked a little rough in spots, and the sheer visual fidelity of the game seemed to be dragging the framerate down in spots, but this being early code, that's perhaps to be expected.
The action really started flying fast and furious in the scene's climax, wherein Jodie finds herself surrounded by S.W.A.T. cops after arriving in a small town. Once again, control shifted to Aiden, as Jodie became pinned down behind a parked car. Aiden's task was to get rid of the army of cops milling about, periodically firing at the car she was sitting behind. This involved a variety of different interactions with both the environment and the enemies themselves. In some cases, Aiden could simply knock a car over, or even crush a nearby clock tower, causing it to fall on a bunch of cops' heads. However, Aiden also has the ability to take possession, and in some cases even kill other people. Possessing them allows Aiden to completely control their bodies, so it can, say, use a sniper to kill other cops, or have a helicopter pilot crash straight into a bunch of S.W.A.T. vans. Those who can be possessed glow orange, while those who can be outright killed appear to glow red. When Aiden kills them, you can see a glowing, body-shaped energy cloud float upward, which one can assume means they have died.
Some of these different concepts appeared earlier in the level, but the final sequence combined many of them into a flurry of action. The pacing of this scene was certainly frantic, though given the sheer volume of enemies around, it was a little weird just how long they stood around more or less waiting for Aiden to come over and kill them. It's also maybe a little bit hokey just how the determination between who you can possess and who you can't is made. Obviously those who can be possessed glow orange because there is a very specific thing you can do with them in order to kill them, but in the context of Aiden's powers, it just strikes as strange that he can only possess these very specific people.
As with all Quantic Dream games, your enjoyment will likely depend on how much you buy into the writing and characterizations.I mean, it's video games we're dealing with here, so of course there's going to be some fudging of logic for the sake of mechanics and functional gameplay. However, when I'm faced with the lofty aspirations Cage talked up regarding the game, namely his desire to explore his own ideas about the nature of life and death (the game was partially inspired by the loss of someone close to him), and the various stabs at bridging the gap between cinema and game that the studio has made previously, I can't help but nitpick details that seem decidedly gamey, and even a little hokey.
I might be skeptical, but that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy what I saw of Beyond. It's a sharp looking game with some really intriguing-looking story elements, but I can't say that what I saw seemed overwhelmingly better than what the writing and mechanics of Heavy Rain offered. For some, that will be an exciting enough statement to get them interested. For me, as someone who enjoyed parts of Heavy Rain but not the greater whole of it, I can't quite bring myself to buy in whole hog.
My tack from here on out with all things Quantic Dream is to simply ignore the hyperbolic language and keep my expectations grounded. With a David Cage game, I know that there will be strong visuals, a story that will, at the very least, offer some intriguing twists and turns, and that my personal engagement with the action will largely revolve around simple contextual actions. If Quantic Dream can successfully push these elements beyond what the studio has done in its previous works in the ways Cage seemingly aspires to, then that will be a truly exciting thing. From what I've seen of Beyond so far, I believe that to be, at the very least, possible. Like I said, I have my doubts, but I'd love for them to be wrong.
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The gameplay clip shown off has the characteristic look of Quantic Dream's past work, except the gameplay seems to be far more action-heavy than past titles. We'll have the first look up as soon as its available, so keep an eye out!
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