There is no Game Over in Beyond: Two Souls

Creative Director David Cage has confirmed there will be no game over state in Quantic Dream's upcoming story-driven epic Beyond: Two Souls.

"I've always felt that 'game over' is a state of failure more for the game designer than from the player," Cage told Joystiq. "It's like creating an artificial loop saying, 'You didn't play the game the way I wanted you to play, so now you're punished and you're going to come back and play it again until you do what I want you to do.' In an action game, I can get that – why not? It's all about skills. But in a story-driven experience it doesn't make any sense."

Considering Beyond Two: Souls' premise is far from conventional, it's unsurprising that selective video game mechanics are being discarded. Like Heavy Rain before it, consequences of decisions the player makes in Beyond: Two Souls will not be black and white; if the player 'fails' at something, another narrative path will open up to them, rather than an insistence that they do-over their attempt. This still begs the question: what happens if protagonist Jodie, uh, dies?

"It's a game about death, so you can imagine that death plays a role in all of this. Actually, it's one of the big discoveries – one of the big mysteries in the game is to discover what's on the other side. And it's definitely not a black screen."

Cage recently outlined Beyond: Two Souls' co-op mode at Gamescom. The game is scheduled for release in the USA October 8.

Lucy O'Brien is Entertainment Editor at IGN AU. Follow her ramblings on IGN or @Luceobrien on Twitter.

Source : ign[dot]com