3.5/5 ★ – DaysposableHero's review of The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit.

A large part of what draws me to video gaming is the ability to have agency within a fantastic narrative. I can be the hero; I can save the world; I can overcome the Big Bad. Video games provide an escape from the mundanity of the everyday world, in which I'm no different than the next person and there's no hero to drop in and save everyone. In the game, the fantastic is commonplace and opportunities for heroism abound. Thus, I felt a connection to Chris, the player character in The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit. A good kid with an active imagination and an alcoholic father, Chris takes on the persona of the titular Captain Spirit to act out his heroic fantasies. And, apparently, to process trauma in a way that is hopefully less destructive than his father's. Incredibly short, The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is classified as a "demo", and I can see why. It does a fine job demonstrating the mechanics and aesthetics of the Life Is Strange series. It packs a decent amount of emotional baggage into it's two-or-so hours, and I found myself unpleasantly surprised when the cliffhanger ending presented itself. The very trope-y message that "Chris will return in Life is Strange 2" (or words to that effect) caused about as much irritation as intrigue for the next game from Dontnod. I wanted to stay with Chris, and see where his discoveries take him. I wanted to help him fix his father, or at least see to it that his dad gets the help he obviously needs. But none of that is possible. The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit end just as they start to get really interesting. Which may be the point of a demo, I suppose, but that doesn't mean I was happy about it. Being free, it's hard to really complain about the game. I liked what was there and wished there was more. I'll be happy to pick up Life Is Strange 2, though I already know we'll say goodbye to Chris again sooner rather than later.