Note: This thread will undoubtedly feature numerous people telling me to wait until all five episodes are released before making an opinion. I recognize that it's possible for the game to change my opinion and I will happily make a different thread in the event that it does. However, given the enormous gaps between episodes, I feel it is appropriate to offer at least some opinion on the two episodes currently released, which have provided a decent overview of the characters, concepts, story, gameplay, and overall vision of the game.
A brief history of the Life Is Strange fandom
In January 2015, Dontnod Entertainment released the first episode of Life Is Strange, a largely overlooked little graphic adventure game published by Square Enix. The game's graphics and facial animations weren't exactly amazing, the dialogue was more than a little corny at times, the gameplay largely consisted of slowly walking around areas clicking on objects of interest, and the early reviews were lukewarm at best. But the quiet Pacific Northwest setting, relaxing indie soundtrack, central gameplay conceit of rewinding time to solve puzzles or redo your conversations with other characters, and the genuine, relatable bond between Max and Chloe led Life Is Strange to slowly build goodwill among those who played it. By the time the third episode was released in May 2015, Life Is Strange had become something of a phenomenon, attracting a growing fanbase that was riveted to see where the adventure would go. People saw something of themselves in the characters, the world, and the story, and it captivated them. And at the height of "LISmania," Dontnod confirmed that while they did have plans for a sequel or second "season" of episodes, it would star different characters in a different storyline.
At the time, people were cautiously optimistic. Dontnod had struck gold, and people were generally excited both for the conclusion to Max and Chloe's story, and for whatever came next. What new world of ideas would Dontnod throw us into? But then Life Is Strange's fifth and final episode was released in October, and things quickly fell apart. The endings to the game were...controversial, to put it mildly. After leaving most of the game's mysteries and storylines unresolved, players are suddenly forced into a binary choice, unrelated to any decision made earlier in the game, that many cynical fans had predicted months ahead of time; a choice between two brutally tragic endings full of death and destruction. Worse, one of those endings was clearly left completely unfinished, a product of a rushed development cycle that resulted in much of Dontnod's original plans for the fifth episode being thrown out and replaced with an extended and elaborate dream sequence.
Much of the goodwill Dontnod had cultivated over the last ten months disappeared. Some people who were previously excited for a new game with new characters now found themselves angry and frustrated at what they felt was an anticlimactic end to Max and Chloe's story. A schism formed within the community, between those eager to move on to something new and those who were hoping that Dontnod might reverse course and try to fix the mess they had left behind. In their absence, a gigantic cottage industry of fanfiction and fanart sprung up to create a happier and more pleasant ending for the two characters fans had become so attached to.
When something is popular, it only makes business sense to capitalize on it. Such is the way of the entertainment industry, or any industry, and inevitably Square Enix noticed that there was a huge groundswell of support for the characters of Max and Chloe and the little town of Arcadia Bay. Thus, to the surprise of many, in the spring of 2017 Square Enix announced that a new Life Is Strange game would be released, a prequel starring Chloe and Rachel Amber, and that it would not be developed by Dontnod who, they reiterated, were hard at work on the mysterious and unrelated sequel. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm had some uphill battles of its own to overcome -- being developed by an untested studio, being set as a prequel to a story we already know, shedding light on mysteries and backstories fans had previously invented for themselves, the lack of a time travel gameplay gimmick, and an ongoing voice actor strike that prevented Ashly Burch from reprising her acclaimed role as Chloe -- but ultimately the game received a generally positive reception from the fanbase. At worst, people found it to be unnecessary or boring; at best, they enjoyed the new content and character moments and welcomed it into the family. A bonus episode released in 2018 let us play as Max one more time and, with the strike concluded, even brought back the original voice actors.
Now, all eyes were on Dontnod to see what the long-awaited and mythical sequel to Life Is Strange would look like.
Life Is Strange 2
At E3 2018, Dontnod revealed a short demo game called "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit," which they (somewhat confusingly) explained was a free prequel to the still-unrevealed Life Is Strange 2. The game let you play as a young kid named Chris who wants to be a superhero, and it was generally well-received. The cliffhanger ending and extensive datamining of the files confirmed a rumor that had been floating around for some time: that Life Is Strange 2 would star two brothers. In the coming months, the game was fully unveiled. Life Is Strange 2 would star 16-year-old Sean and his 9-year-old brother Daniel, who go on the run from their home in Seattle following a confrontation that leaves their dad and a police officer dead. The fanbase expressed some tentative excitement. Some people expressed early concerns about how different the game seemed from the first installment, while others said that everyone should wait and see before passing judgment, which was a fair statement. Some of these arguments (including those on this forum) turned a bit ugly at times. Further controversy occurred when Square Enix asked for a $40 up-front price tag for all five episodes, without the ability to buy them individually. Eventually, episode 1 was released in September 2018, to quite positive reviews from critics and a mostly positive reception from fans, who felt the story was off to a decent start even if many hadn't quite connected with the characters yet.
And then we waited. And waited. And waited. By the time episode 2 was released in January, people had grown impatient. And after playing episode 2, they began to lose their cool a bit. It became clear that many of the concerns expressed months earlier were coming to pass.
Life Is Strange 2 is an ambitious game. I want to make that clear. Dontnod could have chosen the "easy" way out (although that's debatable) and simply made another game with the same characters and rolled in the dough. Instead, they chose to make a game that in almost every way is the complete opposite of the first game. Creatively, this is a strong choice that shows ambition and desire to do new things. Financially, it's a huge gamble. It quickly became apparent that LIS2 was not setting the sales charts on fire. An expensive, full-price episodic game, starring completely different characters, released right as Telltale Games catastrophically imploded was a recipe for bad things. But in my opinion, the game also has a number of other creative issues that stem from Dontnod's controversial decision to distance themselves as far as possible from the original story:
The small-town feel. Arcadia Bay is a great place. I mean, it's actually a dump and it sucks, but it's great in the sense that it felt like a place you could really live. That homey, small-town feel contributed greatly to the game's aesthetics and story. But LIS2 is a road trip story that takes place across many locations, none of which are distinct or memorable because we don't spend enough time there. Worse, this contributes to the game's release timing issue: by essentially forcing the developers to create an entirely new set of environments and characters for every episode, the development time is increased significantly.
The supporting cast: Everyone remembers Max and Chloe, but we also know Victoria and Warren and Frank and Nathan and Jefferson and Kate and Joyce and David. Even minor characters like Brooke and Dana have fans. This ensemble cast fleshes out the world and contributes to the coming-of-age feel of the game. In contrast, because LIS2 takes place across many locations, there isn't really a supporting cast. Each episode introduces two or three characters who encounter Sean and Daniel, change their story in some way, and then disappear, putting us back with the two brothers.
The gameplay gimmick. Life Is Strange is a narrative graphic adventure game, but what differentiates itself from other games where you walk around and click on stuff is the rewind, Max's mysterious ability to reverse time and do things differently. This ingenious mechanic serves both as an interesting gameplay feature and as a strong metaphor for the young adult, who wishes they could undo their mistakes and avoid commitment. Life Is Strange 2 also features a supernatural component, but it's just generic telepathy powers that are possessed not by the player character but by his brother. You have some limited "control" over these powers, in that you can ask Daniel to do things with them, but this is not nearly as interesting, either from a gameplay or story perspective. Instead, the real gimmick of the game appears to be more subtle: that your actions will influence Daniel's behavior and his future choices, which are otherwise out of your control. On paper, this sounds very interesting and has the potential for a lot of branching storylines and strong commentary on the influence of a young man on his kid brother. But in practice, it remains to be seen to what extent this gameplay gimmick will actually pan out. Dontnod's track record of actions having consequences in the first game leaves a lot to be desired.
Relatability. This is a very subjective thing, but I think the original Life Is Strange resonated with a lot of people because either Max or Chloe's story (or even both) were very relatable. Max is a shy, anxious girl who comes back to her hometown after a while away. She runs into an old friend that she hasn't spoken to in many years. Chloe has suffered loss and withdrawn inward, becoming jaded and angry at everyone, blaming herself for things that are out of her control. They reconnect and begin to grow up very quickly as things around them are changing rapidly. School, relationships, fear of change, fear of the future -- these are all universally relatable parts of the teenage and young adult experience. LIS2 starts out similarly but quickly thrusts the protagonists into a totally unrelatable fugitive storyline that, so far, hasn't really gone to any of these same places. The only truly relatable part of the game is the bond between Sean and Daniel, something that I'm sure many people with siblings understand. The game's biggest strength is the idea that players will become attached to Daniel and want to protect and care for him. It remains to be seen exactly how they will follow through on this.
The protagonists. This is ultimately where things become entirely a matter of opinion, but it's not unfair to say that a simple perusal of any Life Is Strange fan community makes it clear that Sean and Daniel just haven't clicked with people the same way that Max and Chloe did. There are many different reasons for this, and some of them have devolved into ugly "oppression Olympics" garbage about marginalized groups and representation, but I think ultimately the reason is more simple: Sean isn't a super interesting protagonist, and Daniel is too young for him to bounce off of. Max was a pretty blank slate too, but she was always paired and contrasted with Chloe, a very vibrant and colorful character who is always very "present" in every scene she's in. Sean is very much an "ordinary teenager" without much interesting about him, but he has no Chloe to play with, no colorful sidekick to flesh out his personality. Daniel is a cute little kid, but he's kind of just...there. As I noted above, the biggest possible strength that the game has is the ability to make players care for Daniel as their own brother and want to help and protect him. After two episodes, some players truly feel that way, while others don't just yet. There are three episodes left for Dontnod to make that happen.
There are three episodes of Life Is Strange 2 left to release, and they could go in any number of directions. It's entirely possible that Dontnod will totally turn things around and wow everyone, recapturing the magic. But after two episodes, I don't currently believe that the big, ambitious gamble they took paid off. I think that a smaller, more intimate story set in a single location with a cast of supporting characters would have gone a long way towards solving some of these problems, both in terms of story and in terms of the unacceptable, momentum-killing gaps in episode releases.
A brief history of the Life Is Strange fandom
In January 2015, Dontnod Entertainment released the first episode of Life Is Strange, a largely overlooked little graphic adventure game published by Square Enix. The game's graphics and facial animations weren't exactly amazing, the dialogue was more than a little corny at times, the gameplay largely consisted of slowly walking around areas clicking on objects of interest, and the early reviews were lukewarm at best. But the quiet Pacific Northwest setting, relaxing indie soundtrack, central gameplay conceit of rewinding time to solve puzzles or redo your conversations with other characters, and the genuine, relatable bond between Max and Chloe led Life Is Strange to slowly build goodwill among those who played it. By the time the third episode was released in May 2015, Life Is Strange had become something of a phenomenon, attracting a growing fanbase that was riveted to see where the adventure would go. People saw something of themselves in the characters, the world, and the story, and it captivated them. And at the height of "LISmania," Dontnod confirmed that while they did have plans for a sequel or second "season" of episodes, it would star different characters in a different storyline.
At the time, people were cautiously optimistic. Dontnod had struck gold, and people were generally excited both for the conclusion to Max and Chloe's story, and for whatever came next. What new world of ideas would Dontnod throw us into? But then Life Is Strange's fifth and final episode was released in October, and things quickly fell apart. The endings to the game were...controversial, to put it mildly. After leaving most of the game's mysteries and storylines unresolved, players are suddenly forced into a binary choice, unrelated to any decision made earlier in the game, that many cynical fans had predicted months ahead of time; a choice between two brutally tragic endings full of death and destruction. Worse, one of those endings was clearly left completely unfinished, a product of a rushed development cycle that resulted in much of Dontnod's original plans for the fifth episode being thrown out and replaced with an extended and elaborate dream sequence.
Much of the goodwill Dontnod had cultivated over the last ten months disappeared. Some people who were previously excited for a new game with new characters now found themselves angry and frustrated at what they felt was an anticlimactic end to Max and Chloe's story. A schism formed within the community, between those eager to move on to something new and those who were hoping that Dontnod might reverse course and try to fix the mess they had left behind. In their absence, a gigantic cottage industry of fanfiction and fanart sprung up to create a happier and more pleasant ending for the two characters fans had become so attached to.
When something is popular, it only makes business sense to capitalize on it. Such is the way of the entertainment industry, or any industry, and inevitably Square Enix noticed that there was a huge groundswell of support for the characters of Max and Chloe and the little town of Arcadia Bay. Thus, to the surprise of many, in the spring of 2017 Square Enix announced that a new Life Is Strange game would be released, a prequel starring Chloe and Rachel Amber, and that it would not be developed by Dontnod who, they reiterated, were hard at work on the mysterious and unrelated sequel. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm had some uphill battles of its own to overcome -- being developed by an untested studio, being set as a prequel to a story we already know, shedding light on mysteries and backstories fans had previously invented for themselves, the lack of a time travel gameplay gimmick, and an ongoing voice actor strike that prevented Ashly Burch from reprising her acclaimed role as Chloe -- but ultimately the game received a generally positive reception from the fanbase. At worst, people found it to be unnecessary or boring; at best, they enjoyed the new content and character moments and welcomed it into the family. A bonus episode released in 2018 let us play as Max one more time and, with the strike concluded, even brought back the original voice actors.
Now, all eyes were on Dontnod to see what the long-awaited and mythical sequel to Life Is Strange would look like.
Life Is Strange 2
At E3 2018, Dontnod revealed a short demo game called "The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit," which they (somewhat confusingly) explained was a free prequel to the still-unrevealed Life Is Strange 2. The game let you play as a young kid named Chris who wants to be a superhero, and it was generally well-received. The cliffhanger ending and extensive datamining of the files confirmed a rumor that had been floating around for some time: that Life Is Strange 2 would star two brothers. In the coming months, the game was fully unveiled. Life Is Strange 2 would star 16-year-old Sean and his 9-year-old brother Daniel, who go on the run from their home in Seattle following a confrontation that leaves their dad and a police officer dead. The fanbase expressed some tentative excitement. Some people expressed early concerns about how different the game seemed from the first installment, while others said that everyone should wait and see before passing judgment, which was a fair statement. Some of these arguments (including those on this forum) turned a bit ugly at times. Further controversy occurred when Square Enix asked for a $40 up-front price tag for all five episodes, without the ability to buy them individually. Eventually, episode 1 was released in September 2018, to quite positive reviews from critics and a mostly positive reception from fans, who felt the story was off to a decent start even if many hadn't quite connected with the characters yet.
And then we waited. And waited. And waited. By the time episode 2 was released in January, people had grown impatient. And after playing episode 2, they began to lose their cool a bit. It became clear that many of the concerns expressed months earlier were coming to pass.
Life Is Strange 2 is an ambitious game. I want to make that clear. Dontnod could have chosen the "easy" way out (although that's debatable) and simply made another game with the same characters and rolled in the dough. Instead, they chose to make a game that in almost every way is the complete opposite of the first game. Creatively, this is a strong choice that shows ambition and desire to do new things. Financially, it's a huge gamble. It quickly became apparent that LIS2 was not setting the sales charts on fire. An expensive, full-price episodic game, starring completely different characters, released right as Telltale Games catastrophically imploded was a recipe for bad things. But in my opinion, the game also has a number of other creative issues that stem from Dontnod's controversial decision to distance themselves as far as possible from the original story:
The small-town feel. Arcadia Bay is a great place. I mean, it's actually a dump and it sucks, but it's great in the sense that it felt like a place you could really live. That homey, small-town feel contributed greatly to the game's aesthetics and story. But LIS2 is a road trip story that takes place across many locations, none of which are distinct or memorable because we don't spend enough time there. Worse, this contributes to the game's release timing issue: by essentially forcing the developers to create an entirely new set of environments and characters for every episode, the development time is increased significantly.
The supporting cast: Everyone remembers Max and Chloe, but we also know Victoria and Warren and Frank and Nathan and Jefferson and Kate and Joyce and David. Even minor characters like Brooke and Dana have fans. This ensemble cast fleshes out the world and contributes to the coming-of-age feel of the game. In contrast, because LIS2 takes place across many locations, there isn't really a supporting cast. Each episode introduces two or three characters who encounter Sean and Daniel, change their story in some way, and then disappear, putting us back with the two brothers.
The gameplay gimmick. Life Is Strange is a narrative graphic adventure game, but what differentiates itself from other games where you walk around and click on stuff is the rewind, Max's mysterious ability to reverse time and do things differently. This ingenious mechanic serves both as an interesting gameplay feature and as a strong metaphor for the young adult, who wishes they could undo their mistakes and avoid commitment. Life Is Strange 2 also features a supernatural component, but it's just generic telepathy powers that are possessed not by the player character but by his brother. You have some limited "control" over these powers, in that you can ask Daniel to do things with them, but this is not nearly as interesting, either from a gameplay or story perspective. Instead, the real gimmick of the game appears to be more subtle: that your actions will influence Daniel's behavior and his future choices, which are otherwise out of your control. On paper, this sounds very interesting and has the potential for a lot of branching storylines and strong commentary on the influence of a young man on his kid brother. But in practice, it remains to be seen to what extent this gameplay gimmick will actually pan out. Dontnod's track record of actions having consequences in the first game leaves a lot to be desired.
Relatability. This is a very subjective thing, but I think the original Life Is Strange resonated with a lot of people because either Max or Chloe's story (or even both) were very relatable. Max is a shy, anxious girl who comes back to her hometown after a while away. She runs into an old friend that she hasn't spoken to in many years. Chloe has suffered loss and withdrawn inward, becoming jaded and angry at everyone, blaming herself for things that are out of her control. They reconnect and begin to grow up very quickly as things around them are changing rapidly. School, relationships, fear of change, fear of the future -- these are all universally relatable parts of the teenage and young adult experience. LIS2 starts out similarly but quickly thrusts the protagonists into a totally unrelatable fugitive storyline that, so far, hasn't really gone to any of these same places. The only truly relatable part of the game is the bond between Sean and Daniel, something that I'm sure many people with siblings understand. The game's biggest strength is the idea that players will become attached to Daniel and want to protect and care for him. It remains to be seen exactly how they will follow through on this.
The protagonists. This is ultimately where things become entirely a matter of opinion, but it's not unfair to say that a simple perusal of any Life Is Strange fan community makes it clear that Sean and Daniel just haven't clicked with people the same way that Max and Chloe did. There are many different reasons for this, and some of them have devolved into ugly "oppression Olympics" garbage about marginalized groups and representation, but I think ultimately the reason is more simple: Sean isn't a super interesting protagonist, and Daniel is too young for him to bounce off of. Max was a pretty blank slate too, but she was always paired and contrasted with Chloe, a very vibrant and colorful character who is always very "present" in every scene she's in. Sean is very much an "ordinary teenager" without much interesting about him, but he has no Chloe to play with, no colorful sidekick to flesh out his personality. Daniel is a cute little kid, but he's kind of just...there. As I noted above, the biggest possible strength that the game has is the ability to make players care for Daniel as their own brother and want to help and protect him. After two episodes, some players truly feel that way, while others don't just yet. There are three episodes left for Dontnod to make that happen.
There are three episodes of Life Is Strange 2 left to release, and they could go in any number of directions. It's entirely possible that Dontnod will totally turn things around and wow everyone, recapturing the magic. But after two episodes, I don't currently believe that the big, ambitious gamble they took paid off. I think that a smaller, more intimate story set in a single location with a cast of supporting characters would have gone a long way towards solving some of these problems, both in terms of story and in terms of the unacceptable, momentum-killing gaps in episode releases.
