The follow up to Dontnod’s breakout episodic game, Life Is Strange 2 is bringing the story of Sean and Daniel to a conclusion with the release of the fifth and final episode next month. Life Is Strange 2 Episode 5 is out for PS4, Xbox One and PC on 3rd December.
As they prepare for the end, Dontnod have peeled back just a little bit of the curtain to reveal how the character of younger brother Daniel grows and evolves through the story. Much like in Life Is Strange, the sequel throws a variety of decision points your way, both big and small, with the story growing and flowing around these points. However, for the sequel, as 16-year-old Sean and 9-year-old Daniel go on the run after the death of their father and a police officer. You play as Sean, having to take on the role as guardian to Daniel, and trying to teach him how to act and behave, especially as he discovers latent supernatural powers.
As you can learn in the above video, Daniel’s character and self-controlled actions aren’t determined simply by good and bad actions, but rather judged by two metrics of morality and brotherhood. You decisions can affect either one to varying degrees, and Daniel learns and then acts independently from those, deciding what his sense of justice is, and how much he trusts Sean. It’s this which goes into determining which of the game’s multiple endings you will see.
Life Is Strange 2 got off to a solid start back in September of 2018, my review saying “Sean and Daniel’s relationship, the tragedy that sends them on the run, the contrasting people that they meet and the supernatural twists on a modern day drama all come together in wonderful fashion.”
However, after this strong start, the game stuttered with achingly long waits between episodes. The second only followed in January, the third in May, fourth in August and now the conclusion in December, over a year and a quarter after it started. It’s practically unprecedented for an episodic story to take this long to finish, and on a personal level has sapped my interest in its continuation.
In fact, I’ve yet to play Episode 4, so I have some catching up to do!
Source: press release