While some gamers and critics said Beyond: Two Souls was a step back when compared to Quantic Dream’s earlier accomplishment, Heavy Rain, the studio’s latest PlayStation 3 exclusive still sold quite well.
As seen at a special website highlighting the sales total, Beyond managed to sell 1 million copies in 2013. The millionth copy was just sold before Christmas, and that’s a nice holiday present for the developer and Sony.
The game launched on October 8, which means it hit the 1 million plateau in only two and a half months. To date, though, Heavy Rain has sold over 3 million copies; given the less glowing critical reception for Beyond, it doesn’t seem likely that it’ll sell that many. But who knows?
Featuring professional actors like Ellen Page and Willem Dafoe, the story in Beyond focuses on a young girl who was born with a mysterious otherworldly attachment. This mystical persona, Aiden, could be both mischievous and helpful. If you haven’t tried it yet and you appreciate ambitious narratives, you should definitely give it a whirl.
Falling just shy of expectations
In my estimation, Quantic Dream tried to do too much with the QTE (Quick Time Event) concept. It works fine for straight-up dramas like Heavy Rain, but when you try and implement action sequences and have them revolve entirely around QTE, you start to take the player out of the experience. Also, the jumping around of the story–one minute Jodie is in the CIA and the next, she’s a child–made the plot feel a little disjointed.
That being said, Beyond: Two Souls is worthy of recognition, and I hope Quantic Dream continues to blaze new trails in the realm of interactive storytelling.
