Life is Strange 2 Full Season Review

Pros:

- A more interesting, nuanced story compared to LiS1.

In the LiS2, the story between the Diaz brothers is stronger, more intimate and nuanced. It definitely shows the ambition of the developer Dontnod to tell a more mature and grounded story as compared to LiS1.

The game placed you in the role of Sean Diaz, a teenager thrust into the role of a substitute parent overnight after the death of his father. On top of that, Sean is forced to deal with the fact that he and his brother are both fugitives. What's more, the little brother, Daniel turns out to have superpower. It's a such a big triple whammy for even an adult to deal with let alone a 16 years old kid. By virtue of this setting alone, Sean is already immediately a more sympathetic, if not more likeable character. 

 With each episode, the game brings you to a new place, with a new set of character, in true road trip movie fashion, and asking the player to adapt to different situation, walking the tight rope balancing act between protecting your physical safety and building Daniel's moral compass by setting a good example with your action.

 

- Interesting gameplay mechanic

What's interesting is that, in this game you don't have any superpower, but instead you play the role of the mentor, where you have to nurture Daniel's moral compass, in order to make sure he won't grow up to become a supervillain. 

I think this is a vastly more interesting gameplay mechanic than Max's time rewind power, which doesn't really involved much thought from the player. Chose an option you don't like, just rewind and make another choice with no consequence. Or even Chloe's talkback ability, I mean what the hell was that. I firmly believe to this day that Before the Storm is the entry I like the least, with a plot and story that goes nowhere, but I digress. 

Back to LiS2, at almost every turn, the conflict is always practicality vs idealism. You must consider the consequence of your action and the impression it will have on young Daniel. Should you steal the camping gear from the horrible racist gas station store owner? Of course he deserved it, but what message would that be sending to the young impressionable Daniel? 

Another example can be seen in Episode 2, should you encourage or discourage Daniel to use his power to save someone? How do you explain the difference between when is the right time to use superpower to a naive 9 years old? Should you allow Daniel to continue to lie to Chris about having superpower? Of course, keep lying to Chris will keep Daniel's power hidden, which means the Diazs will be safer, but it comes with a very tragic result later in the episode.

 

- Three dimensional characters with very relatable and interesting characteristic.

While it's up to the gamer to decide on how Sean would behave, the writers made sure supporting characters are also well written. For example, kudos to the writers for making Daniel a fully realized character. While at times, he can be annoying similar to how a real 9 years old would behave, but you can see at it's core, young Daniel would love nothing more than to be able to help out Sean in whatever way he can. He wants to be treated as an adult fully capable of contributing to the situation rather than a child that needs to be sheltered. But he just doesn't understand how his action, compounded by the fact that he has superpower, can have unintended consequence. This adds to Sean's dilemma and making the relationship between the two brother that much more complicated and interesting. 

Also, despite having only limited appearance relative to the entire season, side characters like Lyla, Cassidy, Brody and Karen are also very well written. Especially Lyla who is instantly likable despite only having less than 15 minutes of screen time in the total game. (This is injustice, I know.) Same goes to Cassidy and to a lesser extend Brody, who acts as a moral compass character that gives Sean some well needed backup, a glimpse of light to hold on to in the vast darkness that is their situation so to speak. Overall, every characters is well balanced, even Karen, who can very easily become a very hate-able character. You will soon come to realize that she is just another flawed human being, struggling with her decision and failing in life, yet still trying to do her best for her sons.

Cons:

- Wider scope means side characters suffers  

However, with the ambition to feature a story wider in scope than it's predecessor, LiS 2 suffers from a too much filler character issue. Because they are going to different places in every episode, screen time is given to way too many characters who we absolutely care nothing about. For example, Finn the asshole heist guy, Penny the token black kid, the Norwegian couple (or is it Finnish, doesn't matter), the pot farm boss slash Giancarlo Esposito lookalike, the bland FBI lady, the nice but forgettable cool doctor, the random roadside racist whiskey tango twins, the crazy church pastor and her violent boyfriend etc. 

Personally, I would prefer if the screen time dedicated to these filler characters are used to tell us more about the characters we actually care about like Cassidy, Lyla, Brody and Karen. Maybe give us a scene where Lyla visits Sean in the hospital in Episode 4, or when escaping the hospital, we run into Cassidy instead of Finn (seriously who care about Finn after the shit he pulls). Or better yet, let Lyla instead of David to be the one who tells Sean that his Puerto Lobos plan is fantasy bullshit. Clearly, her words would mean more to Sean than David's anyway.

 

- Pacing Issue:

Compared to the first game, LiS2 also feel much slower in it's pacing. For example, it wasn't until the last scene of Episode 1 that Daniel's superpower is brought to the forefront. In the first half of Episode 2, so little is actually happening that it felt kinda meandering. It wasn't until Episode 3 that the pacing starts to pick up. For an episodic game, this can be quite problematic. Just think about how frustrated it would be for the players who played episode one to wait three to four months, just to get such a meandering second episode. They would have stop playing, not knowing that they are missing out on such an incredible story. Thankfully, this problem can be alleviated if you buy the full collection and play it all within the spans of a few days. 

Free Pass:

- Collectables are very forgettable.

The drawing and the collecting souvenirs are pretty run of the mills. It doesn't really add or subtract much to the overall storytelling, which makes it pretty miss-able. At least, the game is not in your face about it. But at the end of the day, who plays Life is Strange for the collectibles anyway? So, this gets a free pass. 

 

Final Verdict: 5 Mushrooms out of 2 Karens