Review for Life is Strange 2. Game for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 27/09/2018
Thousands of kilometers milled together, and the journey comes to an end. Sean and Daniel are finally in Arizona, a few steps from Mexico, and we are there with them. We have followed them in their wanderings through a thousand vicissitudes through the States and now, with a shred of magone that distinguishes the awareness of approaching the end credits, we are preparing to witness the epilogue of their adventure.
Away
In name and in fact, the town that is the theater for much of the last chapter, entitled Life is Strange 2 episode 5: Wolves, is far from everything and everyone, rising as a metaphor for the solitude of the two protagonists who, albeit together and reunited with their mother, find themselves forced to face the cruel world around them alone. The themes of racial hatred and distrust of others are masterfully resumed here by Dontnod, who manages to deal with these thorny topics with disarming simplicity, throwing reality in our face without falling into stereotype or giving the feeling that when it happens it is forced from a plot that must be fulfilled.
It is equally fascinating to see how all the knots come to a head: the choices, the actions performed, the words spoken (or unspoken) in the previous four episodes recompose a narrative fresco that in Life is Strange 2 episode 5: Wolves takes the player to one of the seven available endings. And this is the greatest strength of DontNod's work: as in the previous Life is Strange - or in the Telltale and Quantic Dream games - it leaves amazed, satisfied (or sometimes even angry) to see how the developers managed to give the feeling that some minor choices, even dating back to the first episode, have impacted so heavily on the outcome of our adventure.
We immediately take the opportunity to remove a few pebbles from our shoes, which cannot but bother us after having walked a lot with Sean and Daniel: the choice to dilute the experience in five episodes was certainly dictated by the desire to replicate what was done with the previous ones. iterations of the series. Too bad that the timing was not, in our opinion, the best: between one episode and the next, too much time has passed and, if on the one hand we were pleased to find the protagonists months later, episode after episode, it is also true that in the long run we have the feeling of having lost some steps along the way. In short, certainly with a more compressed release timeline, Life is Strange 2 would have benefited in empathy and would have been able to keep the attention higher. This, added to the fact that the central chapters are a little shorter and boring than the very powerful opening and the interesting ending, prompts us to recommend buying all the episodes at once and enjoying the adventure by playing one episode a week, with the same frequency that you would have in watching a TV series.
Second neo, but here we ask you to take criticism as a less objective consideration: Sean and Daniel are two exceptional characters, very well characterized and who in this last episode convey perfectly their being grown up with courage despite the fact that life has forced them to face adulthood early. Despite this praise, as far as we are concerned, the two new protagonists are unable to match the great charisma of Max and Chloe, who as far as we are concerned remain the best protagonists that the universe of Life is Strange has ever had.
Without unnecessary spoilers and leaving you the charm of the pleasant discovery, we finally point out that the plot of this fifth episode of Life is Strange 2 will also give you a gem that, if you are a fan of the series, you cannot fail to appreciate.
Between game and film, once again
Apart from the first hour of the game, in which it is possible to explore the environment and interact with the various elements, in the second hour - Wolves has a longevity of just over two hours - there is mostly a series of events during which the The player's intervention will be limited to the choices of dialogue or actions to be taken. It was probably the only solution available to not dilute the experience too much and to bring the story back on the tracks which, net of the obvious crossroads necessary to build the branch towards the different endings, must converge towards the end credits.
This solution allows the game to hit us in the face an adult story, complete and strong, light years away from the (at least apparent) simplicity of the first Life is Strange and his video game race through the storm that was to destroy Arcadia Bay. It cannot be said that one way is better than another to conclude the narrative climax, but surely we are facing two very different choices, almost diametrically opposite. Where the first LIS was more videogame, Life is Strange 2 is more TV series, with the playful part that at the end moves aside to leave room for the story. Whether this is good or bad, we leave it to your taste. As far as we are concerned, on this genre of works constantly poised between game and film, sacrificing control over the character is in part always necessary.
Torrid Mexican sun
If there is one aspect in which Life is Strange 2 surpasses the first LIS it is undoubtedly the technical sector. We've pointed this out over and over in previous episode reviews, and this Wolves is no exception: graphically LIS 2 is confirmed as a joy for the eyes, with American landscapes represented with that unique style halfway between photorealism and cartoon, together with some goodies (the sketches on Sean's notepad above all) that denote an obsessive attention to the smallest of details.
The same goes for the soundtrack, which is confirmed as minimal as it is impact: more adult, reflective and simple than one would expect to find in a video game. But in the end Life is Strange 2 is first a story, classifying it with the label of "simple" video game would be offensive and, certainly, an understatement.
Life is Strange 2 comes to an end, and so we accompany Sean and Daniel towards the conclusion of their adventure. There is everything we expected: the climax, the twists and seven different endings that recall (and make us regret the) choices made in the previous episodes. Hardly comparable, for arguments and maturity of the narrative, to the first Life is Strange, this Life is Strange 2 is a work with an adult narrative capable of dealing with uncomfortable themes in a sincere and captivating way, without ever falling for granted. If you are predisposed to tackle this particular genre and have loved the previous Life is Strange, don't miss it. If you are not used to titles where you play little, but are interested in an empathic and customizable story, give it a chance anyway: the story of the two wolves who become adults is an experience that deserves to be lived.
► Life is Strange 2 is an Adventure-type game developed by Dontnod and published by Square Enix for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 27/09/2018
