Life is Strange 2

 Xbox One
User Score
6.6

Mixed or average reviews- based on 182 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 100 out of 182
  2. Mixed: 31 out of 182
  3. Negative: 51 out of 182
Buy Now
Buy on

Review this game

  1. Your Score
    0 out of 10
    Rate this:
    • 10
    • 9
    • 8
    • 7
    • 6
    • 5
    • 4
    • 3
    • 2
    • 1
    • 0
    • 0
  1. Submit
  2. Check Spelling
view
per page
  1. Vektor0
    Sep 27, 2018
    0
    Prominent character freaks out in a text, "he's [Donald Trump] not going to win, is he?"
    A photo of Colin Kaepernick hangs in a gas station.
    Police officers are trigger-happy.
    Almost every interaction is with a racist white man.
    I could deal with the political diatribes if they weren't so frequent and so one-sided.
  2. Watching_horizo
    Sep 30, 2018
    3
    Weak story with plot twist that doesn't make any sense. Little or none character development and stupid actions that you just have to deal with it. Feels like stupid simulator in season 2 and game doesn't have LiS feel in it.

    I loved LiS season one with its dlc BFTS. This season 2 doesn't even feel like LiS game and episode 1 set tone for rest of this season 2. Top of that SJW    Weak story with plot twist that doesn't make any sense. Little or none character development and stupid actions that you just have to deal with it. Feels like stupid simulator in season 2 and game doesn't have LiS feel in it.

    I loved LiS season one with its dlc BFTS. This season 2 doesn't even feel like LiS game and episode 1 set tone for rest of this season 2.

    Top of that SJW propaganda and seems like dontnod got woke.... I regret that i bought this game and trusted them.    … Expand
  3. Elfen85
    Nov 23, 2018
    3
    Forest exploration + child raising simulator:

    LIS1 had some real mystery, detective storyline, teaser/flashforward of things to come at the end, cool super power gameplay mechanics, a number of interesting, multidimensional characters and strong narrative. Where's all of that in its sequel? Exploring the forest and a couple of other locations and taking care of your brother is not my    Forest exploration + child raising simulator:

    LIS1 had some real mystery, detective storyline, teaser/flashforward of things to come at the end, cool super power gameplay mechanics, a number of interesting, multidimensional characters and strong narrative. Where's all of that in its sequel?

    Exploring the forest and a couple of other locations and taking care of your brother is not my idea of LIS game. If I wanted to raise a child I'd play "Princess Maker". The plot leaves a lot to be desired and makes me raise my eyebrows at how unrealistic some character behavior is, I can't relate to such characters. That whole idea of being on the run isn't exciting at all. The story isn't working for me. The game feels boring and fails to make me feel emotional and connected.

    Some positive notes: the soundtrack is awesome as always in this franchise, the voice acting is very good as well.

    I bought only the first episode. Will I come back for more? I don't think so. It didn't even have a cliffhanger! I can't believe that even "Before the Storm" made by a different studio was so much better than this... I played LIS1 twice and loved it even more the second time, while LIS2 is a massive disappointment for me.

    P.S. Way too much swearing, slang, weed, booze, smoking, sex references. All that leaves pretty bad taste in my mouth. Are most teenagers in America really like that? Not to mention that it's a pretty bad influence and example for the audience.    … Expand
  4. Taronn93
    Nov 22, 2018
    0
    I'm seriously disappointed, but just to be fair i'm going to list pros as well first.

    Pros: -Graphics are awesome, fits the game really well. -Music is good as well. -The world overall is better than it was in the first game. Cons (going to talk about all of them below in more detail) -Weak Story -The character we play is not the main character of the story. -No controllable    I'm seriously disappointed, but just to be fair i'm going to list pros as well first.

    Pros:
    -Graphics are awesome, fits the game really well.
    -Music is good as well.
    -The world overall is better than it was in the first game.

    Cons (going to talk about all of them below in more detail)
    -Weak Story
    -The character we play is not the main character of the story.
    -No controllable special ability for the players.
    -None of the characters were interesting or likeable or relatable , because nothing in the story is
    interesting or likeable or relatable. The character we play is the worst. There are choices that made without the player, and he makes the most irrealistic, stupid choices ever. By the end of the story he will either get himself killed or goes to jail. His decision making is worse than Chloes, which is not an easy task but the writers managed to do it. But at least Chloe was a likeable rebelling teenager. Sean is just stupid.

    So... Why is the story weak? For multiple reasons. First of all, its forced on us, and the first major decision made it very obvious that all the choice in this game are going to be illusions of choice.

    Examples:
    -Dad gets shot no matter what you choose.
    -There is no option to stay or run away, its forced on us to run away.
    -Our character gets kidnapped no matter what we choose. There we don't even have a choice to explain properly that we didn't stole anything, the only choice we have is to try to go away as soon as possible which makes our character look bad.

    There is one thing in common with these choices: Racism. Racism thats also forced into the story and makes it much worse than it would've been originally. Its like rewriting the first Life is Strange where everyone around Max and Chloe are sexist and we have to listen to sexist remarks through 5 episodes.
    The dad gets shot because the cop is a scared racist, the kids got bullied on multiple occasion in the episode because everyone apparently are racist in this story, Sean gets kidnapped because the old man is a racist...

    So, there comes the second and the third con together. Our character is not the main character of the story (which already made it worse), its Daniel. Daniel, who also got the special ability. A special abiltiy that the player can't control like we did it with Max, which made awesome puzzles for the game possible. Our character is just a side character who is there to help Daniel get through his story. We can only control Daniel's power through cutscenes where our side character make the main character calm down.

    The first game brought up these things: Corruption, drog abuse, psycho teacher, friendship, time travel, choices that were meaningful enough to save a person's life in the story.

    The second game bring up this thing: Racism. That's it. All the things thats happening to our side character is because of racism. The bully kid was racist, that's why we knocked him out, the cop was racist thats why he was afraid of two mexican kids and that's why he shot the father for no good reason.We had to run away because all the other cops who arrived are assumably racist as well and we would've been accused of killing the cop (which is not wrong by the way, just not the way they think). The old man at the gas station is racist thats why we get tied up even if we don't steal anything,

    They just proved with this game that not continuing the story of Max and Chloe was a mistake. Majority of the people cared about them and we don't care about Daniel and Sean, and no, its not going to change if the first episode couldn't change our mind, because most of us are most likely not even going to buy the second episode. This game should be cancelled and make a game about the story of Max and Chloe as i said above.    … Expand
  5. Hallowsend666
    Oct 18, 2018
    0
    This is a terrible follow-up to Life is Strange, Before the Storm and even Captain Spirit.

    Basically nothing that made people fall in love with the previous games is left here. This is an empty shell that clearly has the name "Life is Strange" attached to it to make people pick something up they would not have bought otherwise. Instead of a great, engaging and lovingly told story you    This is a terrible follow-up to Life is Strange, Before the Storm and even Captain Spirit.

    Basically nothing that made people fall in love with the previous games is left here. This is an empty shell that clearly has the name "Life is Strange" attached to it to make people pick something up they would not have bought otherwise.

    Instead of a great, engaging and lovingly told story you are bombarded with political messages all the time (which I agree with, but that is not the point). Where Life is Strange drew it strength from subtlety to make you think this here offers nothing in comparison - you get told what is correct.

    Apart from the politics the characters are weak, the voice acting is sub par and not even the music can compare to the first season - it is a shame when a previous title in the series completely destroys the facial animations and lip sync in this one.

    The plot is you wandering around with your brother (not really a spoiler since that happens after 20 minutes) with forced interactions and "on the nose" tests on morality. I find it hard to believe that this is actually the same team that created Life is Strange - the story quality in this one is so far below the first one that it hurts. This is enforced by that not only the whole triggering event but also almost every single decision taken by the characters is stupid beyond belief and can´t be explained just by their age.

    Speaking of decisions, none here matter at all - I can live with narratives not branching wildly. But when I have the option to walk away from a fight and I choose to just leading to me being insulted again and then starting the fight away its just lazy. This is basically true for every major decision offered - there is not even a slight variation.

    I would have not expected Dontnod to fail so hard.    … Expand
  6. rexvonzombie
    Feb 17, 2019
    2
    Life is Strange 2 is a good narrative by most standards. It follows a clichéd story of two brothers whose father was wrongfully killed by a police officer, much unlike the originality of the prior entries into the series. The game stacks up well with other choice-based storytelling titles of the same nature. With that being said, it fails to get even remotely close to achieving the specialLife is Strange 2 is a good narrative by most standards. It follows a clichéd story of two brothers whose father was wrongfully killed by a police officer, much unlike the originality of the prior entries into the series. The game stacks up well with other choice-based storytelling titles of the same nature. With that being said, it fails to get even remotely close to achieving the special bond that is present in both Life is Strange and Life is Strange: Before the Storm. In the original Life is Strange, Chloe's need to find Rachel, the one person who was there for her in an intense time of desperation, re-sparks a bond that she and her childhood friend Max once had. Then in the prequel, we get to see something truly special develop between Chloe and Rachel. A friendship.. but more. The type of relationship most of us could only dream of having. While there were a few cringe-inducing dialogue lines in the original, it felt real. Like real interactions taking place between real people with real emotions. The saddest a piece of entertainment media has ever made me feel was the final scene of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. When Rachel's phone is ringing with a call from Chloe and an additional nineteen missed. The player can do nothing but watch as we hear the sound of a camera's shutter capturing a soon-to-be-dead Rachel. It gives us the same sense of hopelessness that Chloe must have felt calling Rachel. Life is Strange 2, on the other hand feels entirely scripted, and while it is a decent game, good at best, it fails to live up to the name and expectations of its incredible, emotionally-charged predecessors. This game makes me long for nothing more than another continuation of Chloe, Rachel and Max's stories. Maybe one day, DONTNOD will deliver to us Life is Strange: Beyond the Storm. But until then, we'll have to settle for this.… Expand
  7. Jason_CRT
    Dec 9, 2019
    0
    Just a terrible game with awful story.
    Everything good from life is strange 1 is gone, replaced by bad gameplay & boring story.
    The premise of the story is somewhat promising , but the developers don't really take much advantage of it. Don't bother with this game if you have expectations of a well made story , all of your choices are almost meaningless. Sure there are slight    Just a terrible game with awful story.
    Everything good from life is strange 1 is gone, replaced by bad gameplay & boring story.

    The premise of the story is somewhat promising , but the developers don't really take much advantage of it.

    Don't bother with this game if you have expectations of a well made story , all of your choices are almost meaningless. Sure there are slight variations but you'll quickly just end up back where the story wants you to be.
    The game also fails horribly at trying to be political propaganda with many logical gaps.
    The plot is boring and feels too railroaded. What little choices are left to the player have consequences that often make poor sense , giving a persistent sense of frustration. Topics are delivered in quite an heavy handed way and many plot holes are never covered.

    A large portion of the game consists of cutscenes and tons of meaningless dialogs combined with boring gameplay.

    I honestly do not think I have ever been more disappointed in a video game before. I really wish I could rewind the time and get my money back...
    This game should be renamed to "Don't Buy Me"

    The original "Life is Strange 1" and "Life is Strange: Before the Storm" were great games with decent amounts of content and gameplay which brought you into the game world and left you invested into the characters.
    But I totally do not recommend Life is Strange 2!    … Expand
  8. Tez555
    Jun 6, 2020
    2
    This has to be the most dissapointed i've been with a game in years. It's like they went out of their way to make everything the opposite of the first game.
    A bland soundtrack, bad plot direction, annoying characters, weird jumps of time between episodes, complete lack of subtlety, the "choices", esepcially the ending choice, hell even the achievements were worse (collecting backpack    This has to be the most dissapointed i've been with a game in years. It's like they went out of their way to make everything the opposite of the first game.
    A bland soundtrack, bad plot direction, annoying characters, weird jumps of time between episodes, complete lack of subtlety, the "choices", esepcially the ending choice, hell even the achievements were worse (collecting backpack charms... Give me a break!)
    Max and Chloe (and Rachel)'s story was beautiful, it made you cry, it made you shocked, it made you angry (for the right reasons) with bad guys. In this I just hated pretty much everything about it. Mainly Daniel to be honest, he was single handedly the most annoying character in a game for a long time.
    Also the ending (or at least the one I got) was just nothing.
    The only reason I gave this a 2 not a 0 was I enjoyed the bit with Sean and Cassidy, other than that... Just no. Biggest dissapointment of 2019 (that's when i played the whole thing anyway).    … Expand
  9. Broyax
    Sep 3, 2019
    0
    Après les deux petites connes, c'est au tour des deux **** cons dans la nouvelle "aventure" (?) démoulée par Dontknow le développeur français spécialisé désormais dans l'indé minable épisodique...

    Au sommaire donc, l'ado pas réveillé (trop de beuh encore, évidemment) et le petit frère de 9 ans, un demeuré tête à claques dans leur banlieue américaine typique qui déborde de clichés usés    Après les deux petites connes, c'est au tour des deux **** cons dans la nouvelle "aventure" (?) démoulée par Dontknow le développeur français spécialisé désormais dans l'indé minable épisodique...

    Au sommaire donc, l'ado pas réveillé (trop de beuh encore, évidemment) et le petit frère de 9 ans, un demeuré tête à claques dans leur banlieue américaine typique qui déborde de clichés usés jusqu'à la corde. On a jamais l'impression de jouer à un jeu mais de participer à une télénovéla vaguement interactive : c'est niais, très mal écrit et aussi palpitant qu'un épisode de Derrick.

    Techniquement, c'est très lisse et à peine acceptable, sans aucune évolution ni progrès depuis le premier qui remonte déjà à quelques années... immobilisme quand tu nous tiens ! l'interface est toujours mal foutue et les voix ne sont qu'en anglais.

    J'appelle pas ça un jeu mais un mauvais roman aux choix bidons et à l'eau de rose tout droit sorti de la collection Harlequin et de la bit-lit, la littérature pour ados dont on se sert pour s'essuyer le fion et les pieds mais pas nécessairement dans cet ordre.    … Expand
  10. Zumbie101
    Sep 17, 2021
    1
    Very poor game, almost comical at times. The game kept all of the problems of the first game while losing anything that made it great: boring power, road trip feel, unlikeable main two characters who are incredibly frustrating.

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
79

Generally favorable reviews - based on 5 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 1 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. Official Xbox Magazine UK
    Jan 28, 2020
    90
    An emotional and heartfelt tale of brotherhood that keeps you engaged throughout. [Issue#186, p.90]
  2. Washington Post
    Dec 12, 2019
    80
    Days after I completed Life is Strange 2, I found myself still emotionally stung by the ending that resulted from my decisions.
    Read full review
  3. VideoGamer
    Dec 6, 2019
    60
    It isn’t that we miss the mists of Arcadia Bay specifically, or that we long to retread old ground; it’s the slow etching of stories, scattered with care.
    Read full review
See all critic reviews »