After about four months of waiting, episode two of Life is Strange 2 has finally been released. I had been waiting patiently as I instantly wanted to continue the story after the hectic and wholesome first episode that hooked me. This new episode takes the pace down a little bit, and it allows for the player to spend some more time with the two brothers. It also allows us to listen to the brothers’ problems.
This episode is much more laid back and slower than the first, which isn’t particularly a bad thing. This episode titled “rules” revolves all around Daniel’s newly found powers, and, as the title suggests, the different rules Sean is placing to keep the two brothers safe. The game allows for the player to decide how Daniel develops, like usual with these choice based narratives. It allows multiple times to allow for the player to either enforce concealing Daniel’s powers, or allowing him to use them freely. Some of these decisions were truly difficult, with some being seemingly more drastic. I was always careful with decisions too as all choices you make influence what Daniel thinks is right and wrong.
For example, a small thing the game does is allow for you to either allow Daniel to continue swearing or to teach him not to. I took this seemingly small decision to heart though, and thought of possible repercussions for either telling him not to stop or allowing him to continue. I overall allowed him to, because the two brothers had been through so much and I felt that Daniel would possibly feel as though he was being babied if Sean had kept insisting he stopped. This resulted in less trust between the brothers. These decisions really resonate with me, and really feel as though they make a difference.
Although the episode was much slower, there was still plenty of times my heart sank and I got the so-called ‘feels.’ I didn’t expect most of the things to occur, and some things I personally felt like happened because of a choice I made previously. The game does a great job at making you think through your choices and makes you feel horrible about any poor decisions you make. This slower pace is also important because I feel that a lot of important decisions were made during this episode, and it was mainly used to construct Daniel’s character more. The episode was mostly used to set stones in place and allow for some twists and turns later in the game.
Overall, this episode may seem a little underwhelming on the surface, but it was most certainly important and gathered plenty of information on how the player wants Daniel to act. I’m sure that all of these decisions will return to either aid the player in the upcoming episodes, or to bite them in the back and I am excited to see where these two brothers end up next.
