Reviews from

in the past


sean is a pan furry thats hella relatable

begins with an EXCELLENT premise, mostly follows through on it. dialogue is a lot less life-is-strangey than the first two games (this is a double-edged sword - it means in turn that the majority of the cast is a lot less memorable) but the writing takes a step back in how addresses virtually all of its themes. there are some really poignant ideas at play in this story, but when you make every single antagonistic character more of a cartoon stereotype of a racist person than an actual character with bigoted beliefs, it starts getting frustrating. i especially started to notice that around episode 4. as somebody else on this site already said: the game is far too obvious when it needs to be complex, or at least a little more subtle.

despite that i think this MIGHT be the best life is strange game, for two reasons. as much as i love max and chloe in LiS1, sean and daniel's dynamic being both extremely lovable as well as very malleable to the choices that the player makes feels like such a natural progression for the series to go to. i never thought of my choices in LiS1 to "not matter" as some people put it, but i do feel like every bit of dialogue you choose matters significantly more in this game. apparently a lot of people really disagree with me on that one but building up to an ending based in part on how you raise your kid brother feels pretty noteworthy to me... again, though, that can feel like a double-edged sword because the game doesn't always know how to make its different options appear compelling; it can feel so extremely risky to do the "wrong" option that it's pretty easy to just straight up avoid certain options altogether. there are exceptions like the decision to steal from the gas station during episode 1, but by the time you reach a certain point the choices you face are just [AWFUL FUCKING IDEA/LET'S NOT DO THAT]. but still!!!!!!! pretty good. i think once i play true colors i'll have my preference between this and the arcadia bay story figured out

Well, it's a game!

On one hand, the fact that this game exists is amazing. Just some good, stern, gripping drama. It's not easy to make stories like this, especially in games, and especially with so many multiple choice variables. But Dontnod, to their credit, are awesome and pulled it off. The game is definitely a step up form its predecessor, and there is a lot to compliment here.

The script is consistently interesting. The music is consistently good. The cinematography is pretty solid all around. the story itself is interesting throughout. It's a complete package, and is brave enough to explore topics and ideas that basically can't be explored through any other form of media.

At the same time, this experience is so blemished by being a video game. You can definitely feel the stress of the devs to "get it right." Every compliment you can give to this game comes with an asterisk. The story is great, but it's also extremely flawed. The mechanics are fun, but also a bit grating. The choice system is unique, but also blasé.

And the social commentary... goddamn. I'm so happy that games can approach social commentary in meaningful ways. But this is like taking a sledgehammer to a sugar cube. We get it, people hate immigrants, the point was made clear in episode one. The fact that the game insists on wringing every drop of content out of the social commentary its game has is frustrating. On one hand, I'm just surprised a game was willing to try. On the other hand, I'm just watching like, "did you really need to do that?"

Which comes down to the biggest gripe with this game: it's narrative. It's just sloppy. It really felt like the team was just throwing ideas at a wall and went with whatever was "edgy" and "cool" enough. The fundamental concept of two young boys on the run from the law is awesome, and ep1 captures this perfectly. But it gets off the rails really fast beginning in ep3. You can hear the dev meetings. "What if... THEY WENT TO A POT FARM?! What if... THEY GOT CAPTURED BY GUNPOINT?! What if... THEY WENT TO THE BORDER WALL! What if... THEY GOT INTO AN EVIL CHRISTIAN CULT?! It's all so excessive, and while the political commentary is dumb and fun, it loses verisimilitude the longer it goes on. Our characters feel less real as time goes on, and they feel more like convenient caricatures for a narrative that has ideas.

Ep4 is particularly bad all around. It just loses the plot all together. Characters start acting against their base interests and their personalities, the whole narrative just doesn't really contribute to the core idea of the narrative, and irrationality reigns king. One of these is a problem, but the episode features ALL of these problems, and it really sours the taste of your epic rebel journey.

This game is good. Everyone should experience it. But everyone should experience it as a flawed product, and that's unfortunate. It's flawed because it has a fantastic idea, but missteps the entire way to its ending. It has beautiful and valuable things to say, but then throws in shock value racism and bullcrap hoping the good stuff didn't put you to sleep. It's unique and engaging, but then the screenplay's dynamism falls through, and it reminds you that you're playing a video game with minigames and cute exploration rather than a serious piece of media.

This game is so contradictory. I do like it, a lot. But I see the excellence this game could have had, and for whatever reason, it just didn't get there. I wish I could see what Dontnod could produce if they really gave it their all, and didn't let their desires to be "edgy" or "Hollywood" get in the way of their own good ideas.

I cried a lot with this game... like, a lot

Everyone's main complaint about the game is about how it's "woke" and "political" when the entire premise of the game is about fleeing back to Mexico in a post-Trump USA after your father becomes a police brutality victim... like why did you even boot up the game at that point...?


this is the type of game that's so bad that it almost makes u agree with the horrible losers that piss their pants every time they see a gay person in a game
but then they start talking and i become that gus fring meme
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you do not like this game because ur racist

I don't like this game because I am pretentious

Awful, unlikable characters who are thrust into ridiculous scenarios, terrible dialogue, poor line delivery from the VA's and a story where next to nothing happens. You'll find yourself screaming "DO SOMETHING" while playing the game as it drags on and on. The protagonists are two young boys who never take accountability for their actions and just whine and complain over and over again. Each beat the story takes is just so dull, the cast are such stereotypes or cliches that you know exactly what's going to happen next. I'll give it a 1 for just the laughs the game gave me especially at the ending, but I wouldn't recommend it for that alone.

Please... Just finish already...

História excelente
Narrativa ótima
Personagens carismáticos
Trilha sonora fantabulosa
Enredo muito bem escrito
Cenas memoráveis, impactantes, emocionantes e muito marcantes
Decisões e escolhas muito boas
Direção é o PEAK
Jogaço, masterpiece suprema e o melhor jogo com essa pegada de foco narrativo com escolhas que ja joguei na vida ate agora, obra prima e meu novo vice GOTY 2018, JOGUEM ESSA PEDRADA MÁXIMA DA SQUARE ENIX

Life is Strange 2

Where do I start, which point do I find contention with? It’s like you pull one corner of the bedsheet and the entire thing slips out of the bed frame, plot-ridden with so many holes that the game just oozes missed story beats, character stories that you wish wrapped the entire game in a neat little foil, but they become undone immediately as they are introduced.

There’s a story here that perseveres, it plays inside your head more than it does on your screen, a story of two brothers against all odds, making their way across a country, the game feels personal even if you don’t have familial bonds as you assume the role of a surrogate father figure while being the brother to a 9-year-old.

What I disagree about the popular criticism for the game:

-Right off the bat I want to say the game’s sense of time passing is captured well between each episode, people find issue with the fact that events feel disconnected when you’re usually experiencing a gap of multiple weeks or months between the ending of an episode and the transition to a new one, I think it works perfectly fine.

-Even though Daniel is an annoying kid, he is written as faithfully obnoxious as little kids are, their entire worldview is so fragile, and their sense of conflict is so lofty, they move the line that offends them back and forth, but they are also easier to make amends with. Daniel throwing a fit, being impatient or bratty, wanting to be an adult and being jealous of his brother finding new friends all make sense within a child’s worldview, you can criticize Daniel for being an obnoxious shithead, you can criticize the plot for writing contrived scenarios around him being the center of conflict, but he himself isn’t that poorly written in my opinion. Daniel’s biggest issue is that his character growth is all over the place, how much he matures is dictated by how much conflict he should be the ignition for, that’s why he seems like he is the same from the start all till the end with minor moments of levity and self-reflection.

-I don’t think the game is blissfully unaware of the fact that Sean running away from the crime scene with his brother is a little bit stupid if he’s truly innocent. I think it’s the other way around, the story is about a 16-year-old who makes a stupid decision out of fear of being implicated in a crime that he cannot reasonably explain or rationalize in any way whatsoever. He is just that scared, I feel like they could have played into this conflict way better instead of framing his entire adventure as morally good in the end.

-I don’t mind the grandparents being offended when the brothers visit their mother’s room, even though it feels childish of them to throw a fit about disobeying the house’s “rules” (thanks for making this the main theme of the episode and name it that guys!!!) what I did find more offensive was how you take the main road to escape at the end so the cops can make chase absolutely fucking blew my mind. What even.

Popular criticism I agree with:

-The game’s racism is too cartoonishly evil, in parts of the plot where it feels unnecessary and a juvenile attempt and chokes the plot up as a means to pad out the episode’s length, or an unnecessary addition altogether. Real life racism can be pretty baffling but in a plot that’s entirely fictional, you have got to be fucking kidding me, Sean can’t directly go to Nevada he has to be dragged out of his car and berated so you the audience can understand that this story is about racism. Oh, guess what? We’re finally at the border and instead of just having the police arrest you there’s 2 racists who get to you first inculcating the same “Mexicans bad … here to ruin country …. No work + come here give birth” racism anthem, it’s tired, and RUINS the game.

-Episode 4 is bad.

My criticism:

This is my biggest complaint; this story would work far better in a novel than it does in the game. Every scene feels like it’s too long, the points of interest for Sean to explore and comment on at any time are made completely insufferable by his lazy unimpressed voice, he seems like he never has energy or he doesn’t even care.

Speaking of slow, this game purposefully forces you to wait in so many moments that it was actually fucking insane. We just got done sightseeing in the canyon. It’s time to slowly pack up every object individually while Sean comments on everything so the audience can catch up to where they are since the episode just started!!! Oh joy we have to wash the clothes in the laundry as slow as the engine can allow, time to cook ravioli for my little brother…. The Agent just came in to question me she’s in the other room receiving a phone call I have to wait painstakingly for her to arrive, and the worst one, WEED TRIMMING, OH MY FUCKING GOD, WE GET IT YOU DON’T HAVE TO MAKE THE AUDIENCE FEEL THE WEIGHT OF TIME AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN AND AGAIN

-The part in episode 4 where you have to fetch a file on Sarah lee and Sean and the brother have a long conversation in the file room about gay conversion therapy fucking KILL ME

-Ending feels rushed and you must wallow in “its about the journey not the end” copium

The good:

-I like the licensed music LiS manages to have enough hippie music for you to add to your collection

-On paper, the story is very touching, even when it’s too misguided at a lot of times

-Episode 3 is the best and covers the found family trope the best but the ending is so fucking ??? why do they do the robbery anyway it makes no fucking sense to me that would’ve been a perfect point to majorly branch the plot

-I love the recollection of the events of the game up till the episode you’re playing as a sketched out storybook of the wolf brothers braving all the hardships they have gone through

-Karen basically saying the reason why she abandoned her kids is because she dgaf about being a mother and nothing deeper was funny as fuck and it was such a non-reason that it worked also her making amends makes somewhat sense and I feel like she manages to get redeemed in some weird way

Conclusion:

I want to say I outright hate this game, its characters that don’t stick around too long for you to care about them enough, its cartoonishly evil portrayal of racism, chores that make you want to jump into a pit of fire, attitudes that only exist to drive a sense of conflict…. But I can’t. I can’t say I hate this game, when you’re at some random park with your brother having to pretend like your father is alive, so he would think they are out in a trip, encouraging him to make traps while you prepare wood for a fire so you can barely spend the night, having to comfort him without having any hope yourself, the game feels hollow.

I internalized the story to a certain extent where I felt like it had meaning beyond what it did. The game felt personal at times, my mind was drawing up conversations happening off-screen, between episode moments that we don’t get to see.

I can’t promise that kind of experience for anyone.

I LOVE THIS GAME SM, i think it's very underrated in the lis community and a lot of people don't like it just bc they think daniel it's annoying or bc they don't like that the game it's political but i think its a very good game and a lor of people can relate to sean in a lot of different ways

Can't see why people praise this one, its such dragged on story, I couldn't wait for it to end. Good first act after that the game dragged on and on and on and on and it felt like it will never end. Worst game in the franchise! That's my opinion.

You had to make ethically questionable choices to be gay :(

I cried a lot. Beautiful game!

Emotionally powerful but politically it just doesn't have the range to really articulate the monstrosity but also the mundanity of this country's sin. Obvious where it needed to be complex.

Buy this game right now, like, what are you waiting for?!

was definitely more invested here than LiS 1 due to the dynamic between the two brothers (and being an oldest brother myself) and the well-paced story. the dumbass dialogue was certainly missed though.

played this with my wife, as is usually the case for this sort of game. she makes the choices and i press all the buttons

irredeemably boring for how excellent the premise of the central mechanic is. could've been great.

Children cannot be prosecuted + Kid with powers and no moral compass = Infinite get out of Jail Free cards

This game actually frustrates me because the story and it’s two lead characters had so much potential to be really emotionally investing but I forgot the Life is Strange games can’t write for shit. This isn’t good but could have been.

The voice acting is also some real hot dookie. The worst I’ve heard in a while.

Adorei este jogo e acho difícil haver outro LIS de que eu goste mais. Conectei-me muito com os personagens, adoro os wolf brothers e achei a sua jornada bastante interessante. É um jogo que dá muito que pensar. Apesar de ter adorado, nenhum final me satisfez, são todos, do meu ponto de vista, demasiado tristes. Mas este é um jogo memorável que fica para a vida.

every chapter somehow managed to be weaker than the last (except chapter 4 I did actually enjoy that one)
daniel and sean i just fundamentally disagree with how they're written
i feel like this could have been a really powerful story but i ended up just being so frustrated at the main character's decisions literally every chapter

I had hoped to play this with someone and replicate my experience with the first game, but it's fine without it. Paints an unexpected portrait of America through two brothers running from a crime perpetrated by systemic racism.

pas mal la poésie du jeu sur l'importance des choix et les représentations frictionnelles entre frères blablabla ouais remets moi du arthur morgan qui graille des cacahuètes là


This one’s problem is just being boring. It’s lost the powerful aesthetics and characterization that made the first game special and not replaced them with much of anything at all.

I honestly love this more than the first game. As a story and as a game, it really makes bold and necessary additions to make it the perfect sequel.

Good game, but just doesn’t hit quite like the first one does.

Life is Strange 2 é uma obra especial para mim; aqui se trata de muito mais do que um simples jogo. Após jogar 'The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit', eu tinha muitas expectativas para o que viria a ser LIS2.

Life is Strange 2 é emocionante do começo ao fim. Cada capítulo dessa jornada te faz sentir de verdade; ela é tão dolorosa em diversos momentos, e a história contada aqui é algo que sai da ficção e, infelizmente, está presente na vida de muitos de nós.

Ao longo do caminho, você cria laços reais com os protagonistas dessa trama — Sean e Daniel —, te fazendo sempre repensar sobre qual escolha você irá tomar. Você também encontra almas incríveis durante a campanha, personagens que não estão ali apenas por estar; cada pessoa introduzida aqui tem um papel importante e te marca de uma maneira diferente.

O jogo é marcado por cenários perfeitos, músicas lindas que ficam na playlist mesmo após você terminar o jogo. Além disso, são introduzidas mecânicas diferentes do que tínhamos nos LISs anteriores, sem contar com as referências aos antigos jogos da franquia.

Independente de qual final dentre os 7 você realizou, tenho certeza que ele te marcou de alguma forma e pode até tê-lo feito chorar. Life is Strange 2, como eu falei no início, se trata mais do que um jogo, mas uma obra de arte que critica problemas presentes no cerne da nossa sociedade. Mal posso esperar para jogar outras obras como essa.