Not too long ago, I did a review of Life Is Strange, accompanied by my thoughts on Life Is Strange: Before The Storm. I'd recommend you read that first before this post, because I'll be referring back to my thoughts there a couple of times.
After my experience with the previous two games, I knew that I'd have to try Life Is Strange 2. From what I saw in advance, it looked to be quite a different storyline, but with some similar ideas - a person with powers (though not the same powers!). Spoilers will probably be coming up here, so be warned!
First, a rundown of what the game is. Life Is Strange 2 is a story-driven RPG, told mostly from the perspective of two young brothers, Sean and Daniel Diaz, and particularly the older brother. It's broken into five distinct episodes, each a mini-story in their own right (much more so, I'd say, than the original two - which can be a positive or a negative), in which you'll journey to many different places, and meet many different people. All the while, though, you're on the run from the police, because of an accident involving your father and a policeman that you've been blamed for - and so you're trying to get to Mexico and Puerto Lobos, your father's hometown. You have to look after your brother, help shape and guide his decisions and who he will become - and even more so as you discover that he has the power of telekinesis; moving objects with his mind. Similarly to the two previous games in the series, you'll be presented with many different choices - some a clear dichotomy, whereas others will be more nuanced. But your choices will have a direct affect on the story, and also on your brother. If you start stealing things to get food or money - then perhaps he will as well. Uphold what is right and true - and he'll be more likely to do the same.
On the technical side of things, there are many familiar notes here for Life Is Strange players - the way that you make choices and interact with the world is very similar to what is was in previous games, as is the inventory (though there's some nice art and commentary there that's done well). New for this time round is the drawing mechanic, as Sean is a budding artist/sketcher. In each episode, usually a couple of times, you'll have the opportunity to sit down and sketch the scene before you. It's a fairly simple mechanic, and you'll have the option to keep either a lower-quality version or go over it again for a more detailed one (and occasionally add extra things to the sketch afterwards) - but it's a nice break from the drama of the story. You also have a few collectibles to try and find in each episode, which you can hang on your backpack as you're walking around.
The art is again, amazing. Contrasting to the previous games, this game has you constantly going to different places, never really in the same spot twice - so you really experience a lot of different environments, and some really beautiful ones. I particularly enjoyed the way the canyons were portrayed in the final episode. Sean again keeps a journal, but it's more of a sketchbook with some brief notes here and there - you also have an inventory, as does Daniel (assuming he's with you), and various maps through the game.
The music is less directly used than in the previous games, but still really nice, and matching well with the themes and feel as you go. The ending song of each episode, again, will always shake you a bit.
This time, I didn't encounter any real technical issues, which was nice! I had a couple of times when things in-game were colliding in ways they probably shouldn't have, but it was quite minor and didn't affect gameplay at all.
Again, though, the story is king here. And again, it pulls you in quickly. I think I might have been pulled in more deeply to the original games, but they were quite different in the notes they were hitting. (Spoilers now abounding from hereon!)
Here, you have a death almost straight away in the game - your father. He's shot by a police officer, in what should have been a minor altercation, but ended up going badly because of racism (your father is Mexican), and this results in Daniel basically exploding with his power and knocking everyone out. When you wake up, you don't understand what's happened, but quickly run off with Daniel in panic.
The first episode quickly gives you both amazing and terrible experiences with other people, regardless of the choices that you make. (Heads up - you're going to be at the butt-end of a lot of racism this game. This game coming out around a similar time as Trump was coming into power is no accident - there are certainly a few direct references to that, as well as implicit ones.) You start off not really having any idea of what you're doing, with almost no supplies (keep in mind, Sean is 16, and Daniel is 9), just making it up as you go - but, after one very bad experience with one group of people, you're then rescued by another guy that's very generous and helps you out. You end the episode by finding out that Daniel has powers.
Episode two is all about training Daniel. You start off trying to build up his powers, practicing with him, having found this cabin in the woods that you're living in - but he gets sick, and so you start heading towards civilisation. Specifically, to your grandparents - that is, your mum's parents. Up until this point, we've had very little idea of who the mum (Karen) is; just that she left quite a while back, and that she's not exactly a welcome topic of conversation. The grandparents take them in hesitantly, but with care. But, they can't go anywhere. Then, of course, Daniel makes friends with the kid next door (who is also into superheroes), they happen to travel to the Christmas market, and get spotted there, and have to run off again.
They hop on a train, and a bit of time passes before the beginning of the third episode - apparently, they bump into a couple of people (good ones) that they met at the Christmas market, who are kinda travelling hippies (not meant as a derogatory, just helps people get an idea of what I'm talking about). They hook up with them, and all end up camping out in a forest and employed at a marijuana farm (illegal - in this state, anyway). Yes, even the nine-year-old. (Questionable ethics/morality, agreed - but then, I've never been on the run from the police with a nine-year-old brother.) They stick it out for a while, with the idea that they'll get enough money to help them get to Mexico. So you start up the episode in the middle of all that. On the side, you can also become romantically involved with either Cassidy, a guitarist/singer in the group, or Finn, the ringleader (or troublemaker). But, of course, things happen - Daniel sneaks in to the owner's house, the owner (Merrill) gets angry and says no pay for them fortnight, and Daniel will get punished. Of course, that results in the muscle getting knocked on the head by Daniel's powers (which, by the way, have grown to absurd levels at this point, and he's getting quite independent), and some of the team discovering Daniel's secret. This results in Finn suggesting a heist, where they steal money from Merrill, using Daniel's abilities to get in. Regardless of what you choose, this will happen (Finn and Daniel are thick as thieves), and they will again be confronted by Merrill, resulting in an altercation, and Daniel doing another explosion and knocking everyone out - this time, running off by himself.
In between the third and fourth episode, the police arrive, and you're taken to the hospital - one of your eyes isn't doing so well. You do get a neat eye patch later, though! Max would be jealous. There, you're questioned frequently by an FBI agent, who is also trying to find Daniel - with no luck. In the fourth episode, the night before you're released from hospital, you figure out where Daniel is (with one of the guys from the farm), and break out from the hospital, stealing a car (the place they are is pretty far away). You drive for quite a ways, but you have no money and the fuel runs out (though not before encountering more fun racists). You start walking there, though do have the opportunity to get a lift. The place that Daniel's at is a church, where it turns out the preacher, Lisbeth, has taken Daniel to be a sign from God and an angel, and is basically using him to build her own cult. Eventually, with help from your friend from before Jacob, and also your mother Karen (who shows up out of nowhere - you can react to her as you decide), you manage to get Daniel out, but the church burns down in the process. You wish Jacob well, and you and Daniel take off with Karen.
Apparently, Karen lives in the desert. As you do. There's a small community there, which is pretty independent, that she's a part of. You spend some good time with her (or at least, I did - I'm not sure how different it is depending on how you reacted to her in the previous episode), but you did burn down a church - the police are hot on your tail. The community sends you off well, and you get to the border wall - where you're promptly stopped by local racists who make it their job to stop immigrants. Thankfully, before they get too crazy, they're stopped by actual border police (who are still police, so they're angry at you, but thankfully not racist this time). You're taken to the police station and separated from Daniel, who's in the infirmary. You talk to another Mexican couple who are on their third time attempting to get into America - the wife is pregnant. They try and discourage you from going to Mexico. You're then interrogated by the police, but not for too long before Daniel breaks in and helps you escape. When you get to the border again, though, there's a line of police cars and police with guns aimed at you - and you have to make the final choice. Apparently there's four different ways it can end, depending on some choices you've made along the way. But I'll go into that a bit more later.
Phew. That took a while! I didn't mean to do a blow-by-blow, but the narrative of this one is a bit different to the original - while there is an overarching narrative (the boys running away), it's much more episodic in nature, and doesn't really have a Big Bad as such, other than perhaps the police themselves (and even then not really). Again, like the previous two games, it deals with a lot of serious issues - as you might have picked up, racism is one of the big ones! I think it's really interesting playing this as a white guy, because it helps me experience a bit of what's happening there, and be more empathetic to those situations (though it's very much something I was already aware of and care about - this just helps give me more specific experience with it).
Another big note the story hits on is family. Obviously, the big part here is the two brothers; but also their relationship with their Dad, Esteban; later on, their relationship with their mother, Karen; their grandparents; and even the "family" of sorts with the hippies in the forest. Beyond that, there's also the family dynamic that Jacob has with his sister; that Lisbeth attempts to have with Daniel; that the desert community have. You get to see a lot of different sorts of families, and different ideas of what it means or looks like for people; and, to some degree, make your own, and come up with your own conclusions.
Beyond these big two, it also looks at drug use, violence, drinking, religion/cult dynamics, homophobia, and death. You don't have the outright scheming villains that you do in the original game; but you do have a few people that will certainly look at you and try to take advantage of you.
There are a lot of emotional moments, and a lot of difficult choices. Often, you won't really know all the impacts of your choices, and sometimes you'll want to go back and change them - sorry, you can't rewind time in this game. You can reload a save, but that's about it. The dynamic of not being the one with the power actually made this game feel very different - if Daniel is around, you can ask him to interact with specific things using his power at particular times, but that's not always an option. You're the "normal" person this time, trying to make the best decisions you can with the limited information you have.
Again, it's an emotional rollercoaster, but again, it's very much worth travelling. I think this one is perhaps more directly educational (if that makes sense) than the previous one - there were a lot of direct lessons I could pull from this game without having to read into it at all, and although I think there are many lessons in the previous game as well - I don't know. Perhaps just different sorts of lessons, or less obvious? Difficult to tell.
Parents - this one probably isn't for kids so much. Even though it features a kid as one of the main characters! I think you'd need to be at least 16 to play this. There can be a decent amount of swearing, and there is some nudity as well (brief and not too in-your-face, but clearly present), and some serious violence on occasion, as well as many racial slurs aimed at the main characters. Again, this game could definitely be used to teach kids some great lessons - but this one would be more for your older teens. Again - have a go of it yourself, and decide if it's right for your child. Keep in mind that making different choices in-game will affect their experience!
Before I wrap up, though, I do want to talk for a bit about the ending. Super-duper spoilers here, folks!
Right at the end, you are presented with a choice - to surrender to the police, or to try and get through the blockade using Daniel's powers. Your choices throughout the game will affect Daniel's morality, which will decide whether he will agree with your decision. This results in four possible endings. I'm not really going to speak to the other three - but in my playthrough, I kept a fairly good level of morality with Daniel, and so he agreed to surrender when I said that.
You then have an extended cutscene that shows you the outcome of that decision - Daniel is too young to be prosecuted, so he grows up with his grandparents. Sean is imprisoned, however, for fifteen years, for his crimes (this is regardless of your choices). You get shown some key moments that happen for Daniel during that time, including him graduating and getting a job, and then you get to see Sean being released. Daniel is obviously there to welcome him, as well as a couple of others - an old school friend and one of the grandparents. There's some more cutscene, where Daniel and Sean go for a hike together down to the spot where they spent their first night together after their Dad died, and share stories. But then - and this is what I don't get - they each get in their own cars, and drive in opposite directions.
What the heck? After everything, all that they've been through, and waiting fifteen years to see each other, they don't stay together. We're not given any explanation of why this happens in-game, and I can't find any thoughts elsewhere on the interwebs as yet. But, from my experience of the characters and story, this makes literal zero sense to me. But there you go!
Anyway, I really loved this game (despite the confusing ending), and think it's definitely worth playing for those who love games rich in story, in character, in choices, or all of the above. It will probably get you crying at some point - but that's not a bad thing.
