love can take a lot of different shapes and forms. it's interesting because love is a universally understood word yet it's meaning can be unclear depending on who you talk to. you don't just feel one type of love, you feel all sorts of types of love.

life is strange 1 focuses on a love between the truest friends you could possibly find, sometimes blossoming into something more real, more tangible. and it deals in all the heartbreak and pain that such a love can bring.

before the storm focuses on a lover's affection. two people, troubled in different ways, drawn together by the ebb and flow of the universe, and feeling this heart pounding, stomach churning, head dizzying adoration for one another, and having that love burn the whole place to the ground.

but life is strange 2 focuses on a much different kind of love, the bond between brothers. family tied together by something so much greater than the individuals, and not just the consequences and pitfalls of that love, but the power it gives you.

daniel discovers his power from loss of a loved one, sean discovers his inner strength and willpower from the desperation to keep a loved one safe, karen finally discovers who she truly is by throwing away her life to save a loved one. it bleeds in every part of the narrative. and yeah, that love causes sean and daniel to make some missteps and mistakes, fall apart at the seams, and maybe just hate each other a bit.

but it also inspires their courage, their independence, their worldview, their art. everything in the game stems from that one single thing, sean's devotion to daniel, and daniel's admiration for sean. there's something inherent to feeling this kind of love and being, not just a human being, but a living, breathing creature on this planet. it's a feeling created by nature itself, forged in the fires of creation, and no amount of bigotry or fear or whatever else could tear it down.

i think some things are handled a bit clunkily, i think the pacing is all over the place, the music is less prominent and less powerful than the last 2 games, and not everyone is bringing their A game voice performance wise, but this is undoubtedly a really great story being told with some absolutely stunning visuals, and definitely an experience i would recommend.

This review contains spoilers for EP1-5.


I remember highly praising the first Life is Strange and thinking it was really good. As time flew by, I started to find it to be a bit of a decent video game at best. While it has some flaws such as some questionable writing choices and the times, I wanted to fucking strangle Chloe Price to death. I did find some moments to be fun and pleasant though it’s certainly not the worst thing I’ve played. As it could’ve been worse.

Life is Strange 2; however I did found it to be a little better than the first game but it’s not the masterpiece I was looking for. Unlike most sequels, this one is very standalone but it does incorporate a few choices from the game if you decide to sacrifice or don’t sacrifice Arcadia Bay. It really doesn’t have a lot of strong impact on the game. As it focuses on two characters, Daniel and Sean. Two Mexican brothers who after witnessing the killing of their father by the hands of a police officer become runaways and wanted fugitives. The game has a ton of sensitive subject matters such as racism, religious cults, drugs, police brutality and homelessness. The handling of these topics is up for debate and I’m certainly not the right kind of person to judge this as how hard it is to convey about it. Though I’ll talk about some latter.

The choices I made throughout the game had been a mixture of unpopular and popular choices. Some I never realized were a thing and some that I never knew were unpopular. I don’t try and strive for all the wise decisions as it certainly adds to a lot of conflict between the two brothers and the characters around them. In contrast to Max and Chloe which I found to be a little more memorable thanks to Chloe’s toxicity and Max trying to handle her shit. Sean and Daniel, I found to be more favorable compared to them. Not because they’re complex or healthier, it’s because they’re just simply brothers. Bickering, Sean trying to be the better adult and trying his hardest to raise Daniel.

Like the first game, it does have a supernatural element to it. This time the little brother has the “quirk” than the character you play as. It’s never explained to how Daniel has this power nor does it need to be. The game is Life is Strange not Life is Explained. Outside of Sean and Daniel, some of the characters in this game are a little uninteresting to me nor standout. I did liked some like Finn, Cassidy, Brodi, and Joey. But none of the other characters compelled me in contrast to the main cast of the first game. From the devout Christian Kate, the film buff Warren, the snobby prep-girl Victoria, the egotistical rich guy Prescott, the teacher Mark Jefferson, Chloe’s drug dealer Frank and his little doggy companion and the over-protective David. I was very surprised that he appears in the last episode for a short while but hardly has anything to contribute or say to the plot which disappointed me.
David’s appearance felt out of place and weird to me because I had no idea what the heck, he was doing most of the time after the first game. The rest of the side characters felt like a footnote and I didn’t have a strong feeling when their father was killed by the police because it was just the move onto the plot for motivation. During the first episode when Daniel finds out about his father’s killing on TV this led to huge protest from people which draws parallels in real life with the injustice of marginalized groups of people. Its handling of these topics is up for debate and can be polarizing to a lot of people, especially to the very sensitive. I felt like they had the right intentions but some of it came across as a little laughable. In the first episode, Sean gets captured by an old man who arrests them thinking they stole the food despite the fact that in my playthrough I bought all of the necessities with the money I had. If only had a “receipt” to defend myself. After the old man kicks the shit out of me and ties me up. He winds up saying IN HIS OWN WORDS “We need to build that wall.” In hindsight its clear commentary but it felt so unnecessary to me and came across as more funny than serious. The one moment I did found to be upsetting was in EP4 where Sean gets pulled over by a couple of random white dudes who had no business outside of just adding conflict.

I mostly stood up for myself, got my ass kicked and smashed a toy that barely has any significance to the plot and just drove off. These kinds of subject matter and their handling can be very divisive but it’s more the lines of. “At least they tried”.

I could say it’s better handled than in stuff like Bioshock: Infinite but that’s being too generous. The gameplay is pretty standard fair, you walk around read and observe a few things and find optional collectables. Engage in conversations with people and Sean’s very “fascinating” observations. Later on, you get to utilize Daniel’s power such as levitating and smashing things.
I didn’t use a lot of his powers because I feared it might have repercussions to people finding out about his power. Which is why I didn’t utilize it in EP2 hardly. Though in EP3 it seems a few people are exposed to his power and is kept a secret. I scolded him for it and nothing came out of it, for this you’d expect to be like widespread news about a telekinetic Mexican kid but that never happens. In EP4 how the religious cult sees him as something tantamount to like an idol which would give some kind of public press about it but that never happens.
Some key aspects of the gameplay I did enjoy was sketching surprisingly. I didn’t do all of the sketches but I did found it relaxing. I’ve always admired Life is Strange’s art direction which is why the visuals are so appealing to me. The music as per-usually is really good. Outside of my complaints, it is a pretty good entry and I do recommend this game overall.
Life is Strange and its sequel is not everyone’s cup of coffee. It does have its moments that shine for me. If you liked the first game, you’re going to like this game but if you’re looking for more Max and Chloe you’re going to be veeeeery disappointed.

Overall, it was a great experience. Different from the first game, or Before the Storm, which I usually appreciate from sequels. The visuals and animation improved, that's notable. The soundtrack remains as great as the other Life is Strange games. Although I didn't get attached to the characters as I got to the first games (except Cassidy, Brody, [and David! I was happy that he made an appearance!] I found the story quite interesting, and a bit sad when it comes to some matters that might touch the reality cases, especially something such as racism in the USA.