The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit

[Sommertristesse]

A game set in the Life is Strange universe, coming free on June 26.

Edit I: Updated with additional information.
'The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit' is a game set in the Life is Strange universe that acts as a free standalone game connecting seasons one and two of Life is Strange. In it you will experience one saturday morning in the life of a ten year-old boy named Chris. Captain Spirit takes place 3 years after the original LiS and is set in Beaver Creek, Oregon.
The game contains a lot of secrets and hints for LiS 2 that we as players and a community can find and discuss. Some of the choices will even carry over into the proper Life is Strange 2 game.
The graphics style and set design is very reminiscent of LiS, but it's powered by the Unreal 4 engine, so expect to see some sharper textures and other good stuff!
The game will be released for free on June 26 on PC, XBOX one and PS 4.

Here are some of the available ressources if you want to find out more about Captain Spirit:

Announcement trailer

The Awesome Development of Captain Spirit

IGN interview

Eurogamer's 23 Things

Edit II:

The steampage for The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit is online.

[Firewalk]

I suspect this might be along the lines of the "400 Days" DLC from The Walking Dead Season 1. It will have minor impact on the actual season 2, which is kind of necessary because otherwise you would have to make playing it a requirement.

I'm not even entirely convinced as to whether or not Chris will end up being the new main character, even if they try to make it look that way. All characters in 400 days were reduced to cameos with the exception of one of them (Bonnie).

[Sommertristesse]

Messaggio originale di Firewalk:

I'm not even entirely convinced as to whether or not Chris will end up being the new main character, even if they try to make it look that way. All characters in 400 days were reduced to cameos with the exception of one of them (Bonnie).

Captain Spirit will take place three years after the original Life is Strange, which would place it roughly in 2016. If Chris was the protagonist in Life is Strange 2, we would either get to play a rather young character - about 12 years - if the game took place in the present or the game would have to be set several years in the future if we were to play a young adult again. Neither of those things seems really realistic to me, so I am pretty sure we won't see Chris as the main playable character in LiS 2.

[Ogami]

Messaggio originale di Firewalk:

I suspect this might be along the lines of the "400 Days" DLC from The Walking Dead Season 1. It will have minor impact on the actual season 2, which is kind of necessary because otherwise you would have to make playing it a requirement.

I'm not even entirely convinced as to whether or not Chris will end up being the new main character, even if they try to make it look that way. All characters in 400 days were reduced to cameos with the exception of one of them (Bonnie).

Very likely. We will see something in the game that has a meaning for LiS 2, and we may even see Chris again as a side character but i bet with 99% probabilty that he will not be the main character in Season 2.

[Firewalk]

Messaggio originale di Ogami:

Messaggio originale di Firewalk:

I suspect this might be along the lines of the "400 Days" DLC from The Walking Dead Season 1. It will have minor impact on the actual season 2, which is kind of necessary because otherwise you would have to make playing it a requirement.

I'm not even entirely convinced as to whether or not Chris will end up being the new main character, even if they try to make it look that way. All characters in 400 days were reduced to cameos with the exception of one of them (Bonnie).

Very likely. We will see something in the game that has a meaning for LiS 2, and we may even see Chris again as a side character but i bet with 99% probabilty that he will not be the main character in Season 2.

Maybe we end up playing his dad? That would most certainly be unexpected and definitely different from anything before.

[MorningLightMountain]

Messaggio originale di Bluejay:

Messaggio originale di MorningLightMountain:

Captain Spirit was announced during the Microsoft conference. The Square-Enix conference is happening right now which would be more likely to be where LIS2 gets more detail.

Unfortunately, Square Enix wasn't really in the mood to share much about their upcoming games, so no new infos on Life is Strange 2.

I watched the SE conference shortly after posting that and it was underwhelming. Apart from Babylon's Fall, Dragon Quest and cockteasing Keith David I think everything else had been shown already.

[AshHinton]

This came as totally amazing, surprise. It looks like Dontnod may have done stunning work again. I have a feeling Life is Strange will be extracting a few tears, again, on the 26th. I can't wait for so many things, including the LiS2 theories that will come from Captain Spirit.

So far I reckon Chris has a family connection to Arcadia Bay, maybe one of his parents lived there, and that we will meet an older version of him again in LiS2.

Only a few weeks to go, am hella excited.

[Riddler]

Messaggio originale di AshHinton:

So far I reckon Chris has a family connection to Arcadia Bay, maybe one of his parents lived there, and that we will meet an older version of him again in LiS2.

His mother was a student of Blackwell Academy, so there's at least one connection to Arcadia Bay. :)
Can't wait to play it and find all the little hints^^

[Sommertristesse]

Messaggio originale di Riddler:

His mother was a student of Blackwell Academy, so there's at least one connection to Arcadia Bay. :)
Can't wait to play it and find all the little hints^^

I got a feeling in my gut that Chris' mother will play a more important role in Captain Spirit and potentially Life is Strange 2. The fact that they chose Sufjan Stevens' "Death with Dignity" as a song for the trailer opens up so much room for speculation and makes the few hints we get about the mother even more important.

[Jeckenn]

Messaggio originale di AshHinton:

This came as totally amazing, surprise. It looks like Dontnod may have done stunning work again. I have a feeling Life is Strange will be extracting a few tears, again, on the 26th. I can't wait for so many things, including the LiS2 theories that will come from Captain Spirit.

So far I reckon Chris has a family connection to Arcadia Bay, maybe one of his parents lived there, and that we will meet an older version of him again in LiS2.

Only a few weeks to go, am hella excited.

Yeah I can hardly wait, I am really happy it is FREE too because I am so broke right now I wouldn't be able to afford it even if it was like less then a dollar...

The great thing about it too is that after playing it we come here or the forums for Captain Spirit and discuss it, trying to reveal the "clues" it has built into it for LiS 2... I can hardly wait for that! :D

[Jeckenn]

Messaggio originale di Bluejay:

Messaggio originale di Riddler:

His mother was a student of Blackwell Academy, so there's at least one connection to Arcadia Bay. :)
Can't wait to play it and find all the little hints^^

I got a feeling in my gut that Chris' mother will play a more important role in Captain Spirit and potentially Life is Strange 2. The fact that they chose Sufjan Stevens' "Death with Dignity" as a song for the trailer opens up so much room for speculation and makes the few hints we get about the mother even more important.

Yeah you might be right... I also saw a post about it on these forums that stated a French language website saying that she IS the protagonist and that they have played part of LiS 2. I can't read the website because I am not French and when I tried to translate it with my browser it didn't work so I am not 100% sure...

http://www.jeuxvideo.com/preview/859363/les-aventures-extraordinaires-de-captain-spirit-l-avant-life-is-strange-2-e3-2018.htm

[Riddler]

Here's a translation of the article. But they didn't have played LIS 2, but a 25 minute demo of Captain Spirit. Many game journalists could play it during E3.

We were able to go upstream from the E3 to an appointment with the DONTNOD studio in order to see Life is Strange 2. Surprise, once arrived, it is not Life is Strange 2 which is presented to us but The Extraordinary Adventures of Captain Spirit, a free spin off, diffused at the end of June in order to introduce the universe of this second season and to make fans wait...

IN THE HEAD OF A 10-YEAR-OLD CHILD

Thought of as a small episode "apart", this adventure places us in control of Chris, a young child of 10 years, who lives alone with his father, a bit carried on the bottle since the disappearance of his wife. So we start in the little blondie's room, in the middle of one of his many play sessions mixing toys and imagination. DONTNOD's talent for narration and staging immediately works wonders and one finds oneself propelled into childhood, in the heart of a calm, amusing and touching epic.

From a purely technical point of view, this pivotal adventure puts small dishes in the big ones and offers a rendering less "watercolour" than that of the first season, but still combines as effectively simplicity and beauty. The transition to the Unreal Engine 4 allows for greater flexibility and obvious elegance in the care taken with cameras and animations, especially facials (one of the black spots of LiS and LiS:BTS), while the overall graphic coating benefits from a wider range of effects. The choice of music is as perfect as ever and we were able to discover one of the three tracks that make up the OST, Death With Dignity and Sufjan Stevens, which will be accompanied by a French song during this adventure of about one to two hours.

A SMALL SANDBOX WHILE WAITING FOR THE SEQUEL

During the demo, lasting about 25 minutes, little Chris will interact with many objects, and will draw, according to your choices, his costume of "Captain Spirit", an imaginary superhero who helps him face his fears. He will also quickly recover a quest sheet, replacing the usual diaries and letters from Life is Strange. On this sheet, we will discover several objectives, such as going to defeat the "water drinking monster". It is the latter, among the half dozen available during this short adventure, that the developers chose to face for our demonstration. To do this, you had to go to the garage, plunged into darkness: one of Chris' biggest fears. Taking his courage with both hands, he enters the room, and lets his imagination speak...

It's at this moment that the title once again falls into the imagination of this 10-year-old child, who constantly invents epic stories and adventures to go beyond his limits, have fun with nothing, and face his deepest fears. So we find ourselves in a hallucinated level, in front of a deformed monster that we will check by pressing frantically on a key. Moreover, depending on the bosses, several "gameplay variants" are to be expected, without leaving the base of interactions established by Life is Strange. Once tamed, the monster turns out to be the house's cumulus, and Chris returns victorious from the garage, ready to face a new adventure or resume the normal course of his life, with his father. Moreover, this last will play an important part in the plot since it is possible to interact differently with him according to your choices.

THE CHOICES THAT MATTER

As in Life is Strange's first name, events within a scene take place in real time, and it's up to you to choose when to act. Here, even without powers, we could see different punctual events, like a phone call, to which we can answer or not. Chris' father also called us for dinner and it was possible to answer him or not, which will influence his speech towards us. The whole adventure is thought of as a small sandbox where players can test different things, read documents and obviously learn more about Chris' mother, Emily Eriksen, admitted to Blackwell in 2011. Be careful however, don't imagine that The Awesome adventure of Captain Spirit is a prologue to Life is Strange 2, it is part of the "Life is Strange Universe" without necessarily being the introduction of the second season. On the other hand, the developers promised us that our choices in this short free epic broadcast from June 26, will have a small link with the course of the second season. It is therefore assumed that Season 2 will somehow be related to the life of Chris' mother, Emily Eriksen.

Our impressions
Captain Spirit's Extraordinary Adventures is the "technical demo" of Life is Strange 2. This is a solo adventure, lasting about one to two hours, broadcast free of charge from June 26, which will introduce the new technologies and features developed for the rest of the saga. New engine, new tools, new D.A. Everything is done to offer the community a last breath while awaiting the continuation of the yet undisclosed adventure.

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator

[Protectron]

It is interesting that the creators chose the term "our universe", because the way I see it everything that happened in Life is Strange and Before the Storm took place in an alternate universe. One where life is indeed strange. One where the fabric of reality is "thinner".

The new story set in this "universe" may be happening 3+ years after the BAY ending or the BAE ending of LiS. The BAY ending re-set most of the tampering with Time, so reality is relatively stable and "normal" there. No double moons and whatnot. The question is if the World after the BAE ending is equally stable. The end cutscenes didn't tell us too much about that, so we are left to assume that the consequences of Max's tamperings were erased with the death of everyone who were affected by them. I am not so sure about that.


Another interesting thing is that Emily Eriksen is missing, presumably killed in the Dark Room. This is the link to LiS and the past, but I doubt that it is a link to the future (LiS2). We know we are not going back to Arcadia Bay, so I doubt that Emily is the protagonist of LiS2 - she's a mother; too old and too mature to experience teenage angst.

It is also unlikely that we will deal with yet another missing person case. That's a little bit too much "more of the same". No, I think the hidden hint is that our protagonist can jump between alternate realities, just like Chris is doing in his imagination. His escape into a fantasy world helps him deal with his fears, and I think that our protagonist will gain the ability to do much the same thing. Meaning that his/her (likely his) flights of fancy saves him and/or someone else from death in a traumatic moment.

Boys go through different trials during adolescence and early adulthood than girls do, generally speaking, but I would expect a rather clear progressive/liberal message dealing with this as well. If the protagonist is a boy/young man, you can be pretty certain that a strong friendship develops that you can play into homosexuality if you want.

[Negative Creep]

Messaggio originale di AshHinton:

This came as totally amazing, surprise. It looks like Dontnod may have done stunning work again. I have a feeling Life is Strange will be extracting a few tears, again, on the 26th. I can't wait for so many things, including the LiS2 theories that will come from Captain Spirit.

So far I reckon Chris has a family connection to Arcadia Bay, maybe one of his parents lived there, and that we will meet an older version of him again in LiS2.

Only a few weeks to go, am hella excited.

I almost screamed of joy when i saw the trailer pop up in youtube. I'm sure DontNod will tell another great story.

[Sommertristesse]

Messaggio originale di Riddler:

Here's a translation of the article. But they didn't have played LIS 2, but a 25 minute demo of Captain Spirit. Many game journalists could play it during E3.

Thanks for plugging it into the translator and sharing it with us, you are officially awesome.

I am not sure why the writer of the article believes that Life is Strange 2 will feature Emily as the protagonist though. To be fair, he has played Captain Spirit and I haven't, so maybe he has found some clues, but to me it seems like a bit of speculation on their part.

Messaggio originale di androtceran:

It is interesting that the creators chose the term "our universe", because the way I see it everything that happened in Life is Strange and Before the Storm took place in an alternate universe. One where life is indeed strange. One where the fabric of reality is "thinner".

We never get any hints or outright statements in Life is Strange that there are alternate universes, just some speculation on part of the characters, but I am certain that we will never get an official explanation on what the heckins was actually going on in Arcadia Bay.
I also believe that LiS 2 will not feature any hints as to the fate of Arcadia Bay or Chloe, since that would invalidate one of the endings in the first game.

Messaggio originale di androtceran:

Another interesting thing is that Emily Eriksen is missing, presumably killed in the Dark Room.

There's absolutely no reason to believe that. If the article is right, Emily would have been at Blackwell before Jefferson came there and we know for a fact that there are no more missing girls/women in Arcadia Bay. Additionally, it would be the most boring narrative thing to rehash Jefferson and the Dark Room.

[Jaxx]

But photography and time-travel stuff would be nice again.