Developer DONTNOD drew eyes back in 2015 with most notable title “Life is Strange”. Late last week, DONTNOD launched the first episode of the long awaited sequel “Life is Strange 2”.
Set in the same universe, “Life is Strange 2” begins in a Seattle suburb. 16-year-old Sean Diaz gets off the bus and is talking about a party later that night with a friend. It’s normal teenage stuff. Players are tasked with fetching provisions for the party: money, snacks and etc. Sean walks around the Diaz home interacting with his father and little brother while completing his tasks. At the end of the first hour, Sean’s little brother Daniel spills fake blood for his Halloween costume on a neighbor and Sean steps in to break up the fight. Sean ends up shoving the neighbor to the ground as a police officer arrives at the scene. The officer orders the brothers to get on the ground and when the father comes out to see what is going on end up being shot dead. Some kind of blast destroys the area and upon regaining consciousness Sean grabs his brother and goes on the run. Within the first hour of the game it’s clear that “Life is Strange 2” takes a much darker tone than the original. The first game had problems deciding its genre and took to many episodes to really decide on what the game was about. It took multiple running storylines and it was never clear exactly how they all tied together. The sequel, on the other hand, knows exactly what kind of story it’s telling. It’s a story of loss and brothers trying to stick together in extreme circumstances. The game is not set in one town, so it opens up the possibility for many different environments for the game to take place. This episode alone takes place in the woods, at a gas station along the highway and a roadside motel. Everything flows perfectly with the only issue being the lack of characters. This makes when the entire second hour takes place in the woods with both of the brothers. It’s a scene that drives home the point that these two are alone now and need to rely on each other. In the coming episodes there needs to be more lasting character interactions, as opposed to just these two brothers. These games exist on a small recurring cast and their relationships to the main character that is affected by player choice. Granted the ways that players’ choices affect the way Daniel acts is fairly unique, but if this continues going forward the game will start to feel sparse. From a gameplay perspective “Life is Strange 2” is extremely thin. Beyond occasionally walking around in certain areas and making dialogue options, there is very little here. Some games add quick time events or puzzles, “Life is Strange 2” only adds money management. This is interesting, trying live within what Sean has on his person or result to stealing. Sadly, this is not enough to propel this game through five episodes. The previous game had a main character with the ability to rewind time and remake important choice and the prequel had a mechanic in which the main character would argue with people putting players through a word puzzle. “Life is Strange 2” as a stand-alone four hour experience is great, but to continue on for another four episodes there needs to be more gameplay. The biggest flaw of “Life is Strange 2” is how it handles the issue of racism. Politics in video games is a hot button issue right. Multiple games and developers have handled this and political/social issues in varying ways. DONTNOD’s decision was to handle it in the most ham fisted way possible. They create a character to interact with Sean that is a caricature that even Rockstar Games wouldn’t put in one of their games. Rockstar being famous for their “Grand Theft Auto” series that is a satirization of American culture. Is one of the most cartoonishly racist and even at one point mentions building the wall to really beat a dead horse. This isn’t satire or a joke, this is blatant political messaging within a piece of entertainment. It drags the player out of the stakes of the moment, which without this particular character is a great scene. Despite its issues, “Life is Strange 2” takes steps forward from its predecessors. Better writing, delivery and the music is on point. This is a good opening to a larger story. It’s up to DONTNOD to continue to build off of this strong foundation and deliver a truly unique experience. Score 8/10 “Life is Strange 2” is a good start, but multiple games of this style have fallen apart after a strong first episode.
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AuthorI am A.J. Goelz. I'm a gamer first and a writer second. I hope you enjoy the content on this page and check out the rest of my content on YouTube. Archives
April 2019
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