An episode of Life is Strange 2
Sean and Daniel have reached the end of the road. The border is close. One last, brutal gauntlet of challenges is all that stands between them and their goal. Caught between responsibility and freedom, surrounded on all sides, can Sean find a way out of an impossible situation? And more importantly, in this moment of crisis, will Daniel still follow his lead? Every decision Sean has made, every lesson Daniel has learned, every friend and foe they’ve met along the way: they've all been leading to this. Can Sean and Daniel survive together – or will the world tear them apart?
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This review contains spoilers
mal daniel ev hapsinde ve en iyi ending buydu btw
how did we get here? i truly did not anticipate pivoting this hard after episode 4. i'm not too proud to admit when i'm wrong, and i came into this episode with wrong expectations. this episode delivers. it gives satisfying narrative closure, with character arcs being given their catharsis based on player choice (maybe i'm just easy, but the "Thank you for being there, Mom." "Thanks for letting me." exchange had me in tears). overall this is exactly what i wanted as far as any kind of ending this game could've had. well, endingS. i haven't youtubed the other 3 possible endings, but, for context, my ending ended up being Redemption. as far as i can tell, only one of the four possible endings seems to really bad an overtly "bad" one, with all the others being bittersweet to a fairly even extent. compared to LIS1, this is miles of improvement.
i think part of what makes this episode work is that it comes in response to what did not work in episodes 3 and 4. daniel finally feels like a brother again, instead of a whiny and clingy edgelord. i didn't even necessarily mind daniel taking that turn as a character, but it wasn't telegraphed or executed well, so having him come back to being (at least in my playthrough) rightfully warm with sean was for the best. this episode is a bit on the leaner side, and it's definitely a wise decision. there's not much to bullshit around with and it'd have been frustrating had the boys been sidetracked by some act of god or something to that effect. sure, the border vigilantes feel a bit on the nose, but given how common these ghouls actually exist in real life, it's a natural element of the setting to consider.
i think as a whole this is a very odd game to consider. it's sandwiched by some really strong storytelling and character moments. oddly enough, it feels as though it has the opposite of BTS' problem in that 3 episodes actually would've fit this narrative decently well. you'd have to rearrange things and maybe the delayed gratification of karen and her backstory would be a cost you'd have to pay, but episodes 3 and 4 truly bring the entire experience down head to toe. whereas BTS didn't spend enough time developing intrigue in characters or giving much of a plot to work with, LIS2 seems to almost have too much plot at times when it could've done well enough settling down. it's a very unique conundrum, and i know both games were made by different studios, but there is similarity in the contrasts there.
ultimately, i'm glad i played this game. it's going to be very difficult to sum up how i feel about everything in this game, because for as much that worked wonderfully, a lot fell embarrassingly flat. it almost makes me grateful that i've reviewed the LIS games piecewise, because it's made it much easier for me to compartmentalize what about each episode worked and didn't work. and, again, i might've been harsher on the choice-based gameplay and mechanics than i should've been, maybe replays will unfold just how different this experience can be in both the broad and the minute.
as a complete package, i'm hesitant to give LIS2 anything higher than a 3.0/5.0. if you average out my scores for each episode you get a perfectly even 3.0/5.0, but i do feel that somewhat undersells some of the best parts of this game. i would not be shocked to find myself bumping this score up in the coming years. if nothing else, this has been a very challenging game while simultaneously being a pleasant surprise.
i think part of what makes this episode work is that it comes in response to what did not work in episodes 3 and 4. daniel finally feels like a brother again, instead of a whiny and clingy edgelord. i didn't even necessarily mind daniel taking that turn as a character, but it wasn't telegraphed or executed well, so having him come back to being (at least in my playthrough) rightfully warm with sean was for the best. this episode is a bit on the leaner side, and it's definitely a wise decision. there's not much to bullshit around with and it'd have been frustrating had the boys been sidetracked by some act of god or something to that effect. sure, the border vigilantes feel a bit on the nose, but given how common these ghouls actually exist in real life, it's a natural element of the setting to consider.
i think as a whole this is a very odd game to consider. it's sandwiched by some really strong storytelling and character moments. oddly enough, it feels as though it has the opposite of BTS' problem in that 3 episodes actually would've fit this narrative decently well. you'd have to rearrange things and maybe the delayed gratification of karen and her backstory would be a cost you'd have to pay, but episodes 3 and 4 truly bring the entire experience down head to toe. whereas BTS didn't spend enough time developing intrigue in characters or giving much of a plot to work with, LIS2 seems to almost have too much plot at times when it could've done well enough settling down. it's a very unique conundrum, and i know both games were made by different studios, but there is similarity in the contrasts there.
ultimately, i'm glad i played this game. it's going to be very difficult to sum up how i feel about everything in this game, because for as much that worked wonderfully, a lot fell embarrassingly flat. it almost makes me grateful that i've reviewed the LIS games piecewise, because it's made it much easier for me to compartmentalize what about each episode worked and didn't work. and, again, i might've been harsher on the choice-based gameplay and mechanics than i should've been, maybe replays will unfold just how different this experience can be in both the broad and the minute.
as a complete package, i'm hesitant to give LIS2 anything higher than a 3.0/5.0. if you average out my scores for each episode you get a perfectly even 3.0/5.0, but i do feel that somewhat undersells some of the best parts of this game. i would not be shocked to find myself bumping this score up in the coming years. if nothing else, this has been a very challenging game while simultaneously being a pleasant surprise.
Completed with 100% of achievements unlocked (240/240G). Another fairly short episode to close out the season, but overall a step up from episode 4's rather contrived events. Some very heartfelt scenes allow some final development to the relationship between the Diaz brothers and, while I'm not convinced that the events of the rest of the game alter the nuances of ending all that much aside from the two polar opposites from the final choice, overall it comes to a conclusion that feels fitting. That's about as much as I can say without going into spoilers, but I look forward to seeing what comes next from DONTNOD.
Capitulo 5: Lagrimas....