Videogame Releases: Week of October 6th, 2013

This week belongs to story-laden videogames. If those don’t do it for you, two Game of the Year collections might keep you engaged.

Beyond: Two Souls (PS3)

For the uninitiated, ‘Beyond: Two Souls‘ melds a massive amount of motion-capture acting with a dramatic storyline that, at times, skews towards being a real-time point-and-click game, a “Choose Your Own Adventure” book, or an anthology of third-person gameplay segments. Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe headline the small cast.

The game is very focused on a fifteen year span in the life of Jodie (Page). Jodie lives with a unique link to an invisible entity that she describes as being like a caged lion. She also lives with a glimpse of “what lies beyond.” This is definitely the kind of game where story spoilers and plot details can have a big effect on a player’s experience. Few games can offer the production value and narrative mix of ‘Beyond: Two Souls’. Those interested should check out the High-Def Digest review.

https://youtu.be/cCoM9qDrK_I

Note: ‘Beyond: Two Souls’ offers both optional co-op play (Duo Mode) and alternative touchscreen control for iOS and Android devices.

The Wolf Among Us (PC)

All the talent and design direction that brought us Telltale’s excellent ‘The Walking Dead’ have returned with a new episodic game series based on the DC Comics/Vertigo title ‘Fables’. The game occurs prior to the comics, and Telltale promises that players new to ‘Fables’ will not be lost. The first of five episodes, ‘The Wolf Among Us, Episode 1: Faith‘ will be available this week with options to purchase the whole season, which will be released over the next six months. 360, PS3, and Mac versions will come later.

Borderlands 2: Game of the Year Edition (360, PS3, PC)

There are still lots of people who have not yet played the shooting/looting ‘Borderlands 2’ who will wind up pouring 100+ hours into it. For them, ‘Borderland 2: Game of the Year Edition‘ is a perfect way to get all the content released up to now in a convenient package. That said, more DLC is coming.

Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition (360, PS3, PC)

The excellent new first-person stealth/steampunk title ‘Dishonored’ has completed its enjoyable DLC cycle, and now yields the ‘Dishonored: Game of the Year Edition‘, which includes both the base game and three DLC episodes, as well as vastly superior-looking box art and a double-sided poster.

2 comments

  1. Julian

    Just played the first 30 minutes of ‘Beyond: Two Souls’ and I’m very impressed so far. Gorgeous game with interesting ideas. Curious how it will evolve. First minor niggle: you’re pretty much forced to follow a path and can’t stray. Totally understandable, though, seeing as they filmed 20,000 shots already and having multiple options would have made the game even more massive.

    • When the game was introduced, I really had my doubts, but I was happily entertained by the game with one or two exceptions. It’s funny that Telltale picked this week to start ‘The Wolf Among Us’ considering that their new games are the only games that directly compare with the two recent Quantic Dream games.

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