Life is Strange 2: Episode 3 - Wastelands

 PC
Metascore
78

Generally favorable reviews - based on 9 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 9
  2. Mixed: 2 out of 9
  3. Negative: 0 out of 9
  1. Gamer.nl
    May 15, 2019
    90
    After a pretty slow second episode Life is Strange 2 is back with a great middle piece. Circumstances force the two brothers to grow up in two different ways. Thanks to the interesting new characters, setting and tension this is the best episode to date.
  2. RPG Fan
    May 13, 2019
    83
    What we have here is a good tale. Maybe it's not great or to the standard that people expect, but it's well worth the time of anyone who enjoys a good story, despite its slower pace.
  3. Hooked Gamers
    May 28, 2019
    80
    Hearing the stories/getting to know the new characters who also work on the farm is nice, and there are a lot of parallels to Sean and Daniel’s situation. But it doesn’t feel like much happens, more that the episode is building for something that is going to happen later.
  5. Gameblog.fr
    May 22, 2019
    80
    A bit different from the previous episodes in terms of tone, Wasteland is a very pleasant crossroad for Life is Strange 2, with some very interesting characters, a good evolution of Sean and Daniel's relationship, heartbreaking choices to make and a shocking ending that promises a lot for what's coming next.
  6. Cultured Vultures
    May 13, 2019
    80
    Life is Strange 2's third episode is the shortest so far, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still pack a punch.
  7. GameSpot
    May 9, 2019
    80
    The environment is lovingly rendered down to the most minute details, and it paints a full and clear picture of what life is like with your makeshift community in the California forest.
  8. Jeuxvideo.com
    May 17, 2019
    75
    Life Is Strange 2 – Episode 3 won’t keep you busy that much. But you’ll have to make many decisions and all the choices really held shaping the two antagonists. A moving and well written piece.
  9. Critical Hit
    Jun 28, 2019
    70
    Life Is Strange 2: Episode 3 still has a problem with pacing and may put off players who aren’t diehard fans of this series. But for those willing to forgive some of its more mundane passages, this episode delivers a pretty compelling denouement and hints at better things to come.
  10. RPG Site
    May 21, 2019
    60
    I’m supposed to care about the drifters, which would make the ending of the episode all the more harrowing, but I never got enough time with them to care. Still, Episode 4 will be sure to strain some heartstrings, and in hindsight will probably make this episode a bit better, when it releases.
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  1. USgamer
    May 10, 2019
    It's the weakest episode yet, even with its cliffhanger ending.

User Reviews

All reviews »
User Score
6.1

Mixed or average reviews- based on 58 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 58
  2. Mixed: 13 out of 58
  3. Negative: 20 out of 58
  1. GrandGaming
    May 14, 2019
    1
    You know, when I started playing and got the first episode I was really disappointed, but at the same time I hoped, that developers wouldYou know, when I started playing and got the first episode I was really disappointed, but at the same time I hoped, that developers would remember what a wonderful experience they managed to give me with the first game. I mean, what can a person tell about the whole story after playing only one episode, right? Let's be positive about this! They have time, freedom and potential. Now, I'm 100% sure, that the first game was simply an accident. It seems that people, who created the first game didn't quite understand what was actually good about that game.
    Life is Strange 2 is tasteless. We find ourselves AGAIN god knows where. Who are these people around me? Why should I care about them?! Why should I care about their whining? Who are they to me? Why is it should be interesting? I want the story about brothers, not some random people I will totally forget about in 3,5 months! Do you know what accents are? I hope you do, because LiS had some STUNNING and BRILLIANT moments. Where did all of that go?!

    Developers try to use "narration through the environment" and they think that just throwing dozens of useless items on the levels with commentaries is enough to dive into the story. Guess what, it's not! The funny thing is that in the first game that thing worked extremely well because it was skillfully combined with...you know...THE PLOT! And it meant something there, we could find some extra information about people around us, especially in the second episode with Kate. Here, it's just useless garbage that doesn't bring anything to my understanding of the universe, characters or events. Nothing changes if you miss all this fluff.
    Daniel tells us that Shawn spends too much time with his new friends, but the game DOESN'T SHOW IT TO ME! In the second episode, Daniel says how much fun they had with Mushroom and DOESN'T SHOW IT TO ME. It's all somewhere there behind the curtain.

    That weed cutting...Seriously, who thought that it would be a great idea? You just sit and press two freaking buttons one after another for 5-10 minutes straight! AND EVEN IF YOU MISS you don't get any limits or penalty, IT JUST STARTS ALL OVER. Who decided to add this "extremely engaging and breathtaking gameplay" here? This scene could be easily replaced with a cutscene, but, apparently, developers noticed that gameplay in this 3-hour-long episode lasts like 30 minutes and desperately tried to add anything there. Anything at all. What a waste of resources and time, really.

    Daniel and Shawn are NOT characters I can sympathize with. You know why? Because they are DUMB! And we could clearly see that in the first two episodes. Partly including the third one.

    Okay, I understand that I'm not looking at English tea club members, but there is TOO much swearing here. Literally in a sentence that consists of 10 words 3 of them can be swearing. Are you ******* serious?

    Even cool music and great camera angles that were present in previous games are gone! I mean, yeah, music is a subjective topic, I get it.

    I could go on and on, really (I mean it). And maybe someday I'll make a direct comparison of LiS and LiS2, just to be shocked how an interesting and mysterious adventure turned into a story about idiotic characters who are digging their own grave over and over and after that moan about this unfair world. I'm really disappointed I can't return my money back. I wish only good luck to developers and hope that they understand that there is still a chance to make something better. All in all...what a WASTEland...    … Full Review »
  2. Gohax
    Jun 1, 2019
    6
    EPISODE 3:
    to be honest it took me some time to write this review because the episode was really bad but really good at the same time let me    EPISODE 3:
    to be honest it took me some time to write this review because the episode was really bad but really good at the same time let me explain why on one hand you got Daniel hitting the emo phase and being a real pain in the @#$ but you also got some character development with Shawn while Daniel is ruining everything and is not listening to you and basically made every bad thing happen in this episode Shawn is having fun with the new people he met and enjoying the little moments
    again i really had mixed feelings about this episode so it really took me some time to write it down in conclusion this mass of an episode deserves a 6 nothing more nothing less i really wish that Dontnod Entertainment will step up with the writing because they only got two episodes left and its not looking good for now    … Full Review »
  3. Jon_AMS
    May 16, 2019
    9
    This episode gave me hope for the series after finishing it.
    It was one of the best episodes of the entire franchise: the relationships, the    This episode gave me hope for the series after finishing it.
    It was one of the best episodes of the entire franchise: the relationships, the freedom, a lot of impactful decisions and an episode with different endings, something that we haven't seen since Life is Strange 1 Episode 2 with Kate.    … Full Review »
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