This is the first time I’ve gone through since 2016. Why sin – then this simple interactive drama about teenagers led me to real delight. Cozy and melancholy, emotional and mystical. Don’t Nod managed to create such an attractive and realistic, but absolutely unreal world in which I would like to stay longer. Memorable characters, attention to the details of the environment and beautiful music – all this made Life is Strange 2 for me one of the best games in the genre. At least at that point. It is clear that a considerable role in such a vivid perception was played by my age – 16 years – the most to play games designed for a teenage audience.
Of course, after such an effect, I passionately wanted to continue. The prequel – seemed faded to me and did not block my desire to get a full-fledged sequel. And when the sequel,was announced, it turned out that he will tell a completely different story, which, although it will take place in the universe of the original LiS, will not be directly related to the original, except in the form of references. This, almost, disappointed me – I loved the heroes of the original game too much. Yes, it was so disappointing that I, in fact, forgot about the LiS universe, only occasionally indulging in pleasant memories of my time spent in the very first game. And so, 4 years after the release of the sequel, after the carriage of recommendations and statements that many liked the sequel more than the original, I still decided to try to pass . And I didn’t even regret it. But let’s understand more.
Life is strange at night
At the concept level, the sequel is practically no different from its ancestor – it’s still the same interactive movie, adventure, performed in the already familiar games from and series format of 5 episodes. For the most part, the player is only,observes events, periodically getting the opportunity to wander around small locations, interact with various objects and make important or not very elections on which the further narrative will depend. The differences lie in the filing.
If the original LiS was enough of a chamber story about a small town and a girl, who tried to learn how to correctly direct her superpower, then the sequel turned into a road movie the narrative of growing up and taking responsibility not only for himself, but also for the younger ones.
The player will be in the role of older brother Sean to get with his younger brother Daniel to Mexico, having overcome a huge number of obstacles that will stand in their way. A fundamental difference from the original LiS is the fact that from now on the player does not control the super power, since… Sean doesn’t have one. But his brother Daniel has it. As the story progresses, the player will have to influence the character,Daniel, raising him himself and developing his moral compass, on which Daniel’s behavior in certain situations requiring him to use force will depend. And it’s… really catchy. Sean, and with him the player, would like to take the situation under their own control, and not count on the strength of a 10-year-old child, but this is impossible, because Sean is the most ordinary person. Then you have to act differently – let the growing Daniel understand how and when you can use your power, what is right and what is inhuman.
A lot of dialogues and choices in the game affect how Daniel will do in the future. Thanks to this, unlike the original LiS, the player sees the consequences of his elections, and these consequences are much more serious than cosmetic ones. Hence the increased number of endings to 4, which for some time depend not on the choice of two options, as in the final of the first LiS, but primarily on what you taught Daniel and how you brought him up. Progression is becoming,noticeable, which increases involvement in the process, and makes elections more difficult with the awareness of their significance later. Of course, meaningless elections are still present, but they have become much smaller in the overall standings.
Increased involvement is also facilitated by a constant change in locations and environments. Do we have a road movie here or what? Each episode takes place in a new location, with new characters, and in fact represent a story in a story where there are their own antagonists and their own conflict. In the first episode, the confrontation between the heroes and the racist refueling officer is despondently vulgar in its straightforwardness, and in the second, there is already a more interesting and subtle conflict between two generations. At the same time, the environment causes real delight every time. Endless forests and mountains, a snowy town, Arizona rocks, northern California sequoia forests. The locations are not repeated and are well remembered thanks to Don’t Nod’s attention to the smallest details of the environment and interiors – to look around and grind in the rooms on,still fun and interesting.
It will be important to mention the interaction of the brothers as the story progresses. Despite the fact that we always control one character – Sean, the story in LiS 2 tells the story of two heroes, each of whom goes through his own personal path. As I mentioned, the hero at the expense of his elections affects the character of Daniel, gradually “raising” him. However, the notorious “chemistry” between the brothers, as for me, is not enough. Daniel often behaves as annoying as possible ( which is not surprising, given his age ), to which sometimes the player can react in his own way when he is given a choice, but in some plot moments the main character regularly turns into a kind of terpila who is ready to forgive his younger brother any sin. And this could be attributed to Sean’s cowardice, or to “responsibility,” if this had not happened so often and in a row.
Game characters
However, the characters are in general, a rather ambiguous topic in the context of the conversation about Life is Strange 2. There are some really interesting characters in the game that evoke conflicting emotions and feelings, however, unfortunately, most turn into lopsided feature characters: good goodies and evil evils. “Kind” characters are always people of the “new generation”: free, bright, non-binary, protesters and in every possible way speaking out for everything good and against everything bad. But the “evil” are almost always racists,
“stuck in the last century.”
main character of game Life is Strange 2
Even despite the presence of really interesting characters, such as the grandparents of the main characters, a strong contrast is constantly striking, which the game does not even try to cover with something. Because of this, the world of the game turns into some kind of subjective reality of a teenager who divides everything into black and white.
The story of the two Diaz brothers – serves primarily as a means of political and social utterance about internal problems,United States. What can we say if the game about the Mexican brothers begins with the unjustified murder of their father by a white police officer, with the subsequent accusation of the brothers themselves of the murder of this very officer.
Throughout almost the entire game, various questions about LGBT rights, white racism, feminism and the like regularly appear against the background. And despite the fact that all this, in general, can be passed by the ears and try not to notice during the passage of the game, it will still callow the eyes, since the story itself is concentrated on these problems. How else to tell the story of the escape from the United States to Mexico without touching upon the problem of the ubiquitous “Wall on the Border.” Fortunately, the scriptwriters still knew the measure, and therefore the main focus is on the interaction between two brothers who learn to coexist with each other.
Dialogues also suffer from this. During the passage of the game, it is mainly interesting to watch the events taking place, and not listen to,dialogues. For the simple reason that the semantic load in them usually comes down to discussing how bad someone is, how someone suffers, is infringed and how sorry the hero is to hear it. Of course, not all dialogues are such, but many. As a result, there is a feeling that everyone apologizes to everyone and sympathizes with each other, periodically conflicting and arguing about something. This makes it corny boring, and the desire to replay the game while listening to all these dialogues is definitely not added.
But what the creators of Life is Strange do well times every time is to choose an excellent and fit into the mood soundtrack . Yes, he is an amateur. Very much on the amateur. Always getting in the mood perfectly, though, and turning the game into a clip with a nice and bouncy edit cut – the perfect solution for a road movie. The original soundtrack also did not disappoint, although the first Life is Strange in this regard was remembered much more, although the same one, familiar from the first, worked on the sequel,game, Jonathan Morally .
Framed by a nice picture. In comparison with the first part, great progress is noticeable – nevertheless, money has been added, and experience. The textures have become clearer, the faces are more lively ( although the eyes periodically still seem quite “dead” ), while maintaining a general near-minimalistic style. Well, it is always very cinematic. The camera very often likes to choose the most picturesque angles, to enable the player to enjoy the landscape or decoration of a particular room. With the aesthetics of the game, as always, everything is fine.
In general, the entire series of Life is Strange games is an ode to freedom. Freedom in all manifestations. What attracts teenagers the most? Freedom. Freedom of expression, self-determination, and most importantly, in the context of the game in question, freedom of creativity. No wonder, in all games of the series, the main character ( or his closest friend ) is a man of culture.,Max is a photographer, Sean is an artist. Why, say, not a mathematician or historian? Yes, because is boring . The target audience does not want to see “boring,” she wants to see rebellion, colors, emotions. And this, in fact, is not that bad. Rather… infantile. Each game of the series echoes the behavior of an ordinary teenager by its nature – it strives to be as free, beautiful, bright and attractive as possible. And if it seems something to an adult… not serious, then for a teenager it will be a beautiful, emotional adventure.
Conclusion
Life is Strange 2 is a game that should be perceived primarily with the help of feelings and emotions, and not thoughts and thoughts. That is why it is more suitable for passage at a younger age. An older person is already getting a few… it is problematic to give up the emotional impulse that is inherent in a teenager. However, who am I to judge who should play it and who should not. To try,always worth it. So try!
Questions about LiS2 game:
Unfortunately no. It often happens that there was not enough imagination for a more interesting continuation. But everyone will find their pros and cons, so it’s still worth playing.
16 hours or more — each episode in LiS 2 takes about 3 hours, except the last one/ It is shorter – about 2 hour.