Why ‘Life is Strange 2’ is Struggling to Find its Footing
The original Life is Strange left an indelible impact on me and strengthened my conviction that videogames are perhaps the most powerful storytelling medium. Naturally, I’ve been jitteringly anticipating the sequel: Life is Strange 2. When the first episode of season two dropped at the end of September in 2018, I rushed home to install the game, even making the deliberate decision not to stream my playthrough because I wanted this experience to be as deeply personal as the original. I set down my controller feeling deeply underwhelmed by the episode. The current season of Life is Strange is struggling with its own identity.
Maybe it’s not fair to compare two games in the same franchise, two stories however vaguely connected in the game’s universe. But in this instance, I cannot help but juxtapose the two in comparison with each other because they are literally both called “Life is Strange.” The developers could have named it “The Wolf Brothers,” for instance, and then the game wouldn’t face the burden of matching the brilliance and idiosyncrasy of the original game. But that decision wouldn’t have sold nearly as many units as “Life is Strange 2.” Thus, there is an intrinsic promise being made by the developers that this game will build upon the already established universe involving Arcadia Bay and time travel.
Life is Strange 2 introduces us to two main characters, Sean and Daniel Diaz. Sean’s and Daniel’s relationship unfolds in typical brotherly fashion, where Sean takes on the role of the annoyed but protective older brother, and Daniel behaves as an annoying but gentle-hearted younger brother. Their juxtaposition as both companion and foil characters throughout the game is an anchor for all the narrative decisions you will have to make as the player throughout the game. We see two sides to these characters early on in Episode One: Sean acts as a mentor for Daniel, but clearly needs a mentor himself. Daniel lacks the maturity and experience to navigate the world on his own, but he saves Sean in a number of tense situations.
Sean and Daniel’s relationship carries the entire weight of Life is Strange 2, which is a surprising tone shift from the original game. In the original, Max and Chloe were very close, but there was always the indication that Max led a very separate life of her own. Sean and Daniel, by virtue of how the story unfolds, almost never have a moment apart. This is not an intrinsically bad narrative shift from the first game, but the sequel rarely allows for moments of individual characterization. Such moments would allow us to really flesh out the individual differences between the Diaz brothers’ personalities.
Given the fact that we’re only two episodes into season two, it’s too early to make judgment calls about Life is Strange 2 as a whole. But the narrative structure we have been handed in these first two episodes does not bode well for the season as a whole. From the game’s beginning, we learn that Sean and Daniel have to abandon their childhood home. Due to a tragic series of miscommunications and violent acts, they are on the run. There can be no permanent home for Sean and Daniel. And this makes the world-building and characterization suffer greatly.
Though Life is Strange 2 adheres to the ambient, grungy atmosphere of the northwestern United States, it lacks the life and charm of the original game. The primary reason for this feeling of lack is narratively based. Because Sean and Daniel can never linger anywhere for too long as they flee Seattle, it’s rare that we have reason to care about peripheral characters in the world. At its essence, this story is only about Sean and Daniel. In episode one, for instance, the opening scene leaves all supporting characters in the scene dead, so we don’t really need to care about those characters. Further on in the episode, there is a scene where a crotchety old man accuses the Diaz brothers of shoplifting from his store. This scene results in nothing more than a decision of whether to steal camping equipment from that man’s store. We never hear from or see this man again.
In episode one, such brief, one-off interactions with characters is forgivable. The story must be staged somehow, players must have believable motivations to choose what the characters do in tense situations, etc. We don’t need all the narrative threads given to us at once. But again, in episode two, there’s the sense that none of the characters you interact with will appear again – with the singular exception perhaps being Cassidy and Finn, two vagabonds who inspire the Diaz brothers with the idea of hitching a (free) ride on a moving train. I worry that the game is neglecting one of the greatest strengths of the original Life is Strange: the characters that inhabit the world, who respond to your choices in consequential, human ways.
None of the character interactions feel special outside of the immediacy of the Diaz brothers. Because of the singular narrative reliance on their relationship, any scene where either Daniel or Sean is missing feels incomplete and awkward.
The main exception to this trend of characters without consequence would be the unexpected but welcomed introduction of Chris in episode two, who we know as “Captain Spirit” from Dontnod’s free game from earlier last year. I’ll admit, I grinned till it hurt when I realized that episode two would feature interactions with a character we already know and love from the Life is Strange universe. Finally, I thought, Captain Spirit is going to join the Diaz brothers on this adventure and we’ll have a new dynamic added to this otherwise very bland relationship between the brothers.
Episode two only integrates Chris’ character into the second half of the narrative. Due to their status as wanted by the police, the brothers cannot regularly leave the house in which they are staying. So we have fewer interactions with Chris than I would have liked. But what was more frustrating was the way the episode ends. Regardless of your choices, Chris does not continue on the adventure with you. We know definitively that Chris’ character arc has been completed.
The episode ends with the brothers escaping the police, with three possible outcomes: Chris runs in the path of a police car with the intention of using his “powers” to stop it, leaving Daniel the responsibility to actually divert the car to save Chris. Or, if he fails to do so, Chris will get run over by the police car. In my playthrough, no police chase ensued. If you make the right sequence of choices, your grandmother will distract the police at the front door, leaving Sean and Daniel enough time to flee. In this ending, you wave goodbye to Chris as you enter the woods behind his house.
While I love the immense variance in how this final scene plays out in episode two, as well as how your choices really do affect this outcome, I confess that I was struck with dread as the credits rolled. The entirety of Life is Strange 2 so far has felt, contradictorily, paced both too slow and too fast. The game feels too slow because, unlike the original games, there is very little actual gameplay in between dialogue sequences that feel more like cutscenes than dialogue trees. The game feels too fast because, before we can truly develop a scene, character, or plot development, the game whisks you off somewhere else in the world, leaving very little time to absorb and appreciate the impact you have made on the game’s world.
There lies the fundamental difference between storytelling techniques in these Life is Strange games: The original game would whisk you off to other locations, as the sequel does, but then it would truly allow time to develop the scene. The world was filled with quirky characters, brilliantly peppered lore that the player could explore throughout each scene. The original Life is Strange developed every aspect of its world, and so far the sequel has not. Or, if it does develop the entirety of a scene in the world, we only briefly see that development before its time to move on.
Ultimately, I think the decision to omit time travel as a gameplay mechanic weakens the narrative potential in Life is Strange 2. One of the primary reasons that the original game succeeded in conveying a sense of consequence for player choice was the fact that, immediately upon making a big decision, you were able to literally rewind and replay the scene over to get a different or more desirable outcome. Often times, I didn’t actually change my decision, but the fact that I had the capacity and agency to change narrative outcomes was essential to my enjoyment of the gameplay.
Like the Before the Storm prequel, the sequel completely strips away time travel elements from the world. Luckily the sequel pays homage to the original. We see, for instance, a beautifully nostalgic moment during episode one of season two: the obliteration of Arcadia Bay. The Diaz brothers don’t have a lot of context for the storm that ravaged the town, but it’s a moving sight for us as the players that this world isn’t totally distant from Max Caulfield’s. It reminds us that time travel might come into the story after all.
To support this idea that time travel might come into play in season two, let’s explore a poignant, isolated scene with Sean from episode two. Sean decides to take their dog Mushroom for a walk outside at night. In the freezing woods, Sean sneaks a cigarette between his lips and gazes off ponderously into the distance. In a moment of absolute candor and vulnerability, Sean reaches out his hand towards an object, indicating to us that he’s envious of his brother Daniel’s telepathic abilities. He thinks to himself, maybe it’s not just Daniel, maybe I have powers as well.
Whether these are telepathic powers or otherwise (I.e. time travel) is not entirely clear, but I can’t help but read a sense of foreshadowing into this scene. No, Sean does not exhibit any psychic abilities, but I imagine that we might see some kind of power exhibited by him in later episodes. And it’s this promise of psychic potential that I think season two might deliver narrative closure along the way. All of these narrative possibilities are wordlessly conveyed in a single scene.
This scene reinforces my earlier lamentations that this story is better told when the game allows one of the brothers to go off and develop an arc of their own. We see a raw, transparent side of Sean that he never is able to reveal to Daniel. Sean always has to assume the role of protector, the older brother looking out for the younger one. When Sean is able to sneak away to smoke a cigarette, he is able to shrug off that role and behave like the 16 year old that he is. It’s easy to forget just how young the Diaz brothers are when they’re forced into situations that adults could barely handle.
With all of these nuanced considerations in mind, let’s turn to examining Daniel’s supernatural power: telekinesis. We first see Daniel’s power erupt uncontrollably when a police officer shoots and kills his father in front of him. Utterly devastated, and emotionally incomprehensible, Daniel’s power essentially explodes out of him, killing the police officer in the process. Hence the game’s insistence on the Diaz brothers continually running away.
Telekinesis is something completely out of Daniel’s control in episode one, but episode two begins with a more refined and deliberate relationship between Daniel and his telekinetic powers. Sean has assumed the role of “coach” for Daniel’s powers, and we can see Daniel has greatly improved since episode one – only, his grasp over his powers is still deeply tenuous and feeble. The game cleverly portrays Daniel as youthful and impulsive, so Sean has to often remind Daniel to keep his powers a secret. The magical realism we’re used to from the Life is Strange universe is much more toned down because, unlike time travel, when Daniel uses his power, everyone around can notice it.
Telekinesis, however, has very little consequence on the plot in episode two, with only two moments distinguishing themselves as jarring, impactful, and with consequence. The first instance in episode two takes place in the opening chapters, where the Diaz brothers still inhabit a cabin they have found deep in the woods. One morning, they let out their dog Mushroom for a walk. Rather than supervising the dog, Daniel simply opens the door and lets her out. After several minutes, the brothers realize that Mushroom should have returned by now. Daniel sets off into the woods to find him, leaving Sean to follow a few minutes behind.
Sean encounters Daniel, frozen in the face of a snarling cougar. The boys realize that this cougar has captured and killed their beloved dog, Mushroom. Torn apart by all the agonies of loss, Daniel instinctively uses his telekinetic powers to kill this cougar, the murderer of Mushroom. Sean has the ability to intervene, and you get a truly palpable sense of the consequences that this telekinetic capacity has for causing harm in the world. Is Daniel right to enragedly enact revenge on this cougar? Is it wrong for Daniel to kill an animal out of revenge, one that was merely an effective hunter? Sean decided in this instance, and we get the sense that, if uninhibited, Daniel’s power might be leading him down a dark path.
The second instance of telekinesis having major narrative consequence is at the episode’s end. As aforementioned, Chris (Captain Spirit) may rush into the path of oncoming police cars, thinking he can use his (imaginary) “powers” to save the day. Daniel’s telekinetic powers can, if the right path has been chosen, literally use his powers to save his friend’s life. Most players will have enough investment in Chris’ character at this point to be truly distraught if things go poorly in this scene. But, ultimately, I have to ask: does telekinesis have any unique capacity to “save the day” in this episode’s conclusion, or would time travel not bring about a similarly high stakes encounter in this scene?
Ultimately, these are the few salvageable moments from roughly three hours of gameplay in episode two. I can’t help but conclude that Life is Strange 2 is walking on stilts. Undoubtedly, the massive success of the original series towers above Dontnod’s initial expectations, and that shows in some of the narrative decisions throughout the first two episodes of season two. I worry that this game both has too much to live up to and is trying to live up to too much. I don’t think it’s the responsibility of gamers to artificially separate the sequel from the original. I think it’s the responsibility of Dontnod to tell a brave new story.
I still have faith that the final episodes of Life is Strange 2 will bring about narrative closure, but I don’t have a lot of confidence that the first two episodes that have been released thus far are a strong enough foundation for a truly powerful narrative. The world-building has diminished in essence – if not in scope. The supporting characters lack consistency and consequence for our main characters, leaving little reason to care about or cling to them. Even the supernatural powers, so brilliantly fleshed out in the first game, are lackluster and underutilized in these episodes. I am disappointed in the second season of Life is Strange so far, and I worry that this game will not be as memorable as its predecessor. Let’s hope our journey is leading somewhere great.
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