I feel drained.

After playing Life is Strange 2 there is nothing left of me (in a bad way).

There were so many bad things happening to the main characters in this game (Sean and Daniel Diaz) ... one and then another and another... It became almost funny.

The story begins with a terrible accident, one of those things that...yes, it could happen to you... but chances are one in a million, and then, immediately followed by another improbable accident, and then, followed two seconds later by a stupid decision the main characters did that puts them on a snow ball trip to all kinds of misery no human being has ever experienced in probably… three life times.

The Diaz brothers are going to be bullied, discriminated, shot at, called racial slurs, tied to a post in a bath, having their pets threatened by wild life, having their heads shaved in outdated atrocious ways by religious cults, get robbed, conned, burned, loose one of their eye balls, and then get shot at again because bad timing when showing up at places, come to think of it, it's a miracle they didn't get food poisoning at one point, even though... they’ve met a truck driver that makes the best sandwiches! So you never know... and this is just the tip, there's much more tragedy! Oh joy!

This sounds like a bad joke but it is also true, all of it, in no particular order mind you.

I'm sorry to say this, but this game's story is a pain to experience for no other reason than pain itself to the point of being funny.

I do like dramas and sad stories, (not every story has to be positive) but after this story I was left empty with nothing left to do but ask myself, Why? Where did I go for the last 25 hs of my life playing this game?

The real question perhaps would be, besides all the terrible things that happened to the Diaz Brothers, was there something else?
All this is made worse by the fact that I don't feel empathy at all for the main characters. Sean wants to take care of his little brother, who in all honesty, at the end of the day is an ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥. He gets his brother thrown around, he doesn't care. And then the big brother makes the most stupid decisions which frankly makes you want to kill them both entirely by the end of the game.

I think this is the same problem I saw in other DONT NOD games I played this year. They build interesting worlds with endearing characters (like Life is Strange 1) the main character also has supernatural powers, but then the whole super power thing is never further explored in the story, it is just a one trick act for the gameplay, which is only used differently when and if it serves the story but otherwise left completely alone, and then the story turns into another thing.

In other previous games from Dont Nod we also see strong social message elements within the narrative, showing real world issues in big ways but they never get past the social issue in itself, only showing the horror again and again, never advancing further, going deeper into the narrative and doing something with it. Here, in Life is Strange 2, there's not much more story to tell besides seeing Sean and Daniel being treated like second class citizens, within their own country, for all the wrong reasons all the time.

One thing that it is done very well, I will admit, is the visual presentation, at least for the landscapes and light and shadow tones and colors. This game looks amazing almost as if it was done today (only the face expressions lacking)
There are some nice musical moments like in previous games, and a small arc connection with the first title, only for a moment.
There is some redemption story by the end (if you get the good ending) but it is too little too late.
At this point I have to say that after playing the first three Life is strange games (the two DONT NOD games and Before the Storm by Deck Nine) I don’t know what to think of this series anymore. So far I really enjoyed Before the storm but for something that maybe is not the main thing of this series? ( no super powers) Just the love story of Rachel Amber and Chloe price which was done in beautiful ways… but who knows, maybe that is the real power of this series, showing you those small fragments of life that only happen between everything else.

This review ©2024 Aleena.

This game developed my frontal lobe. Anyone who hates this game/only plays the first LIS dni. Absolute peak.

might be the best lis game