Beyond: Two Souls. Hands down one of the most incredible pieces of entertainment I've ever experienced. Yeah, it's not quite a movie and not quite a traditional game but whatever it is, I enjoyed the ride more than any movie I've seen this year and more than 90% of the games I've played this year. It's truly amazing how engaging it manages to be despite requiring so little input from the player; the character animations/performances and story really can carry a video game. Your input still matters ofcourse, and although it's essentially just walking, running, and quick time events, it's made exciting because of the unrivaled cinematic presentation and more importantly, the emotional investment you have in the main character, Jodie.
The story is epic, it features so many elements of so many great things but puts them together in such a unique way that it really stands on its own. What also keeps it compelling enough to breeze through in one 10 hour sitting is the way the "levels" are all super interesting "scenes" in Jodie's life played out of sequence; and they aren't given a standard time limit, they're as brief or long as the story calls for and rarely overstay their welcome. You might go from playing as Jodie as a kid in the snow to adult in the desert back to back which keeps things interesting and varied and gets you to know the character inside and out. The great thing is, since Jodie's powers cause people to exploit her and treat her horribly, much of the game plays out like an epic revenge fantasy, paying back everyone who screwed her over. Every aspect of the presentation pulls you in and after a while it goes from feeling like a limited game to its own natural thing. Many have made fun of the creator David Cage for trying to make his crazy interactive movie games, but this one is proof that they have their place and can be really really awesome. 10/10
TLOU definitely was the peak of this generation.
