The Road to Life is Strange 2

In my last blog post, I wrote an essay about the ending of the 2015 video game Life is Strange. In this post, I'm going to be talking about the catalyst that caused me to finally write about my thoughts on that game's ending - namely the next installment in the series, Life is Strange 2.

From the moment I finished my first playthrough of Life is Strange last year, I did a little bit of homework regarding a sequel. Long before the next game was formally announced, I was aware of DontNod's intentions of treating Life is Strange as an anthology series, i.e. different characters for each installment. Being a fan of the Assassin's Creed games and the Dragon Age series, I'm already acquainted with the notion of changing protagonists and settings for each game. With this fact already in mind, I braced myself for a new Life is Strange game that did not involve Max Caulfield as the protagonist. But what I didn't count on to affect me personally was how this new game was marketed.

The first thing that Square Enix officially revealed about DontNod's new Life is Strange game was this announcement trailer:

Personally, the one thing I found intriguing about it was when one fan said the next game would somehow involve string theory. Anyway, what was probably the most notable thing about the trailer was the fact it all but confirmed that this new game would officially be called Life is Strange 2. And, in my opinion, this is where the problems started....

I was surprised at the fact that Square Enix and DontNod decided to push through with calling this next installment as Life is Strange 2, despite DontNod's aim to have new characters in this game. We'll get back to this point later.

Then on August 2, 2018, a real teaser trailer was released:

Being a teaser trailer, it didn't show much. At the end of the trailer was this promise:

Like any fan who was curious to see what would be shown next, I marked my calendar down for the reveal.

Then came that fateful day. What did Square Enix reveal? This:

And this:

After watching both videos, I was underwhelmed with the material presented. "All will be revealed, and this is what we get?" was my initial reaction. It felt bad that I had to rely on a video made by a dedicated fan of the series to get a good summary of what Life is Strange 2 had to offer instead of the official reveal.

But I wasn't the only one who was underwhelmed. Turns out, a sizable portion of the fanbase felt the same way, with some expressing their disillusion with the question "Where's Max and Chloe?" And we'll talk about that in a bit.

Weeks later, a behind the scenes video was released, followed by two character spots. Then finally came the launch trailer on September 20, 2018:

By default, this was the best trailer presented for the game thus far. The first episode rolled out days later, on September 27, 2018.

With that little trip down memory lane out of the way, time to talk about...

How not to treat your sequels

In an age where hype culture has become an art form, it was rather odd seeing the reactions to Life is Strange 2's marketing. 

In theory, given how critically acclaimed and beloved the first game was to most gamers who experienced it, people should have been swooning over the moment the game was officially announced. Instead, the reception varied. Of course you have folks that were hyped for the game. But there were people who, while opened minded about the game, weren't all that ecstatic. Then there were fans who, after seeing the trailers for the first time, asked whether or not this second installment would involved Max and Chloe. Some even dismissed this game outright, stating "No Max and/or Chloe = no sale." Such reactions provoked some fans to come into Life is Strange 2's defense, parroting Dontnod's excuse that Max and Chloe's story is over, that the first game was a "whole story, a complete story", that everyone should embrace these new characters and trust in DontNod. But how did it came this?

My two cents on the matter revolves around a couple of factors. The first is that this installment costs $40. A part of what made the first game a runaway success was it's low cost of entry. A newer game not starring your favorite characters asking for more isn't an attractive proposition for some folks.

A second factor would be the lackluster marketing. What I'm hoping is that the marketing ended up in its current form because of DontNod's desire of not wanting to spoil anything major. While we are on the subject of marketing, the tone and mood being driven by the trailers seems rather dark and gritty compared to the first game's seemingly carefree atmosphere. On the contrast between the tone of the two games, one fan on Reddit said it best:

I think new characters is FAR from the only difference here. In fact, I would go as far as to say the universe of Season 2 doesn't feel the same at all.

In Season 1, Arcadia Bay was a fantasy frontier town, a modern Wild West setting with its own shadowy government (the Prescotts), the corrupt cops, the freaking Hogwarts-Blackwell, etc. Seattle was this mystical place friends disappeared to, never to be heard from again. San Francisco was an art gallery you had to travel to by plane. There was no Obama, 9/11, 2008 recession, Sandy Hook, or Bin Laden getting whacked.

Fast forward three years to season 2. Suddenly, it's the Wall, ICE and Trump and Hillary debates, and police shootings. Seattle is now a real place and Arcadia Bay Fantasyland is "the past."

I'm not saying we shouldn't give Dontnod a chance, but there's definitely more to the difference between the games than "just new characters".

Another thing to consider was the poor communication of DontNod's plan of treating Life is Strange as an anthology series. It was so bad, that most fans had to be told by other fans about this fact. It didn't help the fact that this game is called Life is Strange 2. Why did some fans find the transition jarring, you may ask. Consider the following scenarios:

• The Empire Strikes Back starring not Luke, Han, and Leia... but instead skips to Rey, Finn, and Poe.
• Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with Allan Quartermain as the protagonist.
• Back to the Future Part II with none of the major characters from the last installment.
• The Godfather Part II where Vincent Corleone was the protagonist, and no Michael Corleone in sight.
• Prince Caspian featuring new people, and zero involvement from the Pevensie children.
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with Newt Scamander in the lead.
• A fourth season of Star Trek: The Original Series but with the Next Generation crew... and no films like The Wrath of Khan, The Voyage Home, and The Undiscovered Country to ease the transition and give Kirk & his crew a good sendoff.
• Firefly Season 2 being made, but without Nathan Fillion or anyone from the first season in a leading role.
• Mass Effect 2 jumping to the Ryder twins and the Andromeda Initiative (who cares about Shepard and the Reapers?)
• Halo 2 with Jameson Locke as the protagonist, and Master Chief relegated to a cameo role at best.
• Iron Man 2 with Peter Parker and friends taking the spotlight, and Tony Stark in the background.
• A sequel to Man of Steel that is not really a proper sequel, but instead has both Batman and Wonder Woman... oh wait, that did happen.
• A Prometheus sequel where the questions to the first film were left unanswered and the protagonist was killed off screen.... hold on, that happened too.

Now some people will try to defend the decision by pointing out to franchises such as Final Fantasy or True Detective. But here's the thing guys. As the above list of examples show, those are the exception, not the norm. Even with the last two examples, film studios were at least upfront by not labeling Batman v Superman as Man of Steel 2 or Alien: Covenant as Prometheus 2. Square Enix and DontNod could have saved themselves a lot of trouble by calling this under a different name. Something like Life is 2 Strange or Life is Stranger, or Life is Strange: New Frontiers or Life is Strange: It's a Long Road, or even a simple Life is Strange: The Second Season. This begs the question: why did they settle on the title Life is Strange 2? I've two possible reasons:

• It's an attempt to cash in on the success of the first game by misleading fans to blindly buy this game since it has a number 2 on the title.
• This game is more interconnected with the first game than what so far has been advertised.

I'm seriously hoping it's the second reason. I want to believe that there's a higher purpose to why DontNod settled for the current title. I know the following suppositions l will sound like a Hail Mary, but hear me out. What if Max herself is involved in a critical plot twist in a later episode (likely to be the fifth episode, if at all) that DontNod doesn't want to reveal? Or that Max does show up in the game, but has the same amount of screen time as Luke Skywalker did in The Force Awakens? If it's anything like what I've said, it makes sense why she isn't featured in any of the marketing. In the first instance, they don't want to open the mystery box. For the second, they don't want disappoint fans any further by giving them the impression that Max has a larger role than what it really is. But given DontNod's seemingly dismissive attitude towards the characters from the first game, I wouldn't get my hopes up... just to be on the safe side.

All of these factors, coupled with the first game's horrible ending, didn't do Square Enix and DontNod any favors when trying to win everyone's hearts and minds to this new game.

Personally, I'll reserve final judgement once all five episodes have been released. Fingers crossed that Season 2 will be better than what the marketing has suggested.

The Rest of Us, aka the Uninterested Parties

With DontNod taking the Life is Strange series in a new direction beyond Arcadia Bay, not everyone wants to blindly jump in the bandwagon. If you are one of those fans, thankfully, there are two things to look forward to.

First is a 4 part comic series from Titan Comics that will take place after the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending.

But, what about the fans who are in the camp of "the needs of the many, outweigh the needs of the few?" We'll you are in luck too. There's a fan project aiming to turn the fan fic Better Then into a 3D animated short film and an audio drama.

For those out there thinking that the other half of the fanbase that aren't willingly embracing the Diaz brothers due to a desire of wanting endless Max and Chloe sequels, I want to say this. No, that's not what they are after. All they want is at least one more good story with such great characters in the limelight. Personally, I believe that so long as a story doesn't end up being poorly executed and that the characters have yet to be given a satisfying ending that ties up all major loose ends, why shouldn't they have one more adventure?

Max and Chloe (along with the rest of the Arcadia Bay cast) are both a blessing and a curse for DontNod. A blessing in the sense that they were one of the key factors that made Life is Strange a surprise hit. A curse because, despite wanting to deal with different cast for the next installment, they gave these characters an unwarranted, lackluster ending, and that they were too well made to be relegated to only one game or story.