In 2016, the thought-provoking M-rated video game Life is Strange grabbed the gaming world’s attention. It was a compelling adventure involving an emotionally wounded teen who discovered that she had the ability to rewind time and change some terrible moments in her past.
Since then, people have wondered when the next installment might arrive. And The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit gives us the answer—or, at least it cracks the door open a bit so that gamers can get a hint of what’s coming. This free downloadable game is actually sort of a demo/intro of the forthcoming Life is Strange sequel. But it’s still a complete—if relatively short—adventure story in its own right.
What’s most important to focus on here, though, is that The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit includes stormy, emotional, and painful plot twists that go way beyond this game’s sunny-sounding title.
On the face of things, this is the story of a 9-year-old kid named Chris. He’s an imaginative tyke who immediately reminded me of an old friend of mine. As a boy, my friend used to tie a towel around his neck and leap off elevated areas in the hope of flying like a superhero through the pure force of his desire. In Chris’ case it’s all about mind power: As the indomitable Captain Spirit, he imagines bending time and space to his will.
This tyke imaginatively faces off with the dreaded Water Eater, otherwise known to mortals as a drippy water heater in the laundry-room closet. And while putting together just the right super-suit with which to defend humanity against the evil of Mantroid, Chris might just wander out to battle the wicked Snowmancer—that creature in the backyard that also looks a bit like a slightly misshapen snowman missing a button eye.
Sound cute? It is. By putting us in Chris’ shoes and homemade cape—and by having us interact with everything from action figures to crayon drawings to old stuff in a garage full of boxes—the gamemakers tug at our heartstrings and help us care for this optimistic, sincere, and creative-minded kid as he wanders around exploring his world.
It’s the less imagination-focused stuff of Chris’ world, however, that begins to have a different impact on us. It doesn’t take long to realize that Chris and his dad are dealing with the loss of a loving mom and wife. A terrible accident took her away and has since compelled Chris to cope through his make-believe narratives and a superhero’s code of honor.
His dad, on the other hand, has sought solace in fouler places.
Once we start dealing with Dad’s anguish, this unrated game bares a set of M-rated teeth. Dad drowns himself in self-pity and a steady slosh of booze—a combination that turns him from a likeable guy into a stumbling drunk who spews f-bombs and blasphemes at Chris or at the TV. And things grow darker from there.
At one point, Chris’ dad motions to the hand-shaped purple marks on his boy’s arm and wonders what others may have said about those obvious bruises. In those dialogue interactions, players’ conversational choices require a new level of caution. Do you answer honestly and potentially set your father off, or do you say the things he might want to hear?
That kind of realistically scripted moment could be an emotional trigger point for those who’ve dealt with similar abuse in their own lives. And even if such abuse isn’t an issue you’ve grappled with personally, it’s still a jarring narrative turn that makes you feel fiercely protective of this good-but-vulnerable boy who has no one to turn to.
Death, grief, child abuse, profanity, alcoholism and even brief nods toward pornography and drug abuse are all unexpected elements that gamers will encounter in Chris’ grief-cratered home. Yes, Captain Spirit’s adventures may be free to play. But even in this imaginative hero’s world, there’s still a potential price to pay.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
