#JourneysEnd - Why Life is Strange 2 failed to be a hit

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

With only a few days away from the release of the final episode of Life is Strange 2, I wanted to share my thoughts on the possible reasons why the game wasn't as popular as it ought to have been. So here we go....

1. It ain't a true sequel

As most folks are aware by now, Dontnod Entertainment made it clear since June 24, 2015 any future installments of the Life is Strange series they'll be making would feature "other characters, other locations, but still keep the identity of the game, the themes of the game." In theory, there should be no problem with this approach. Star Trek was able to go beyond the adventures of Captain Kirk and the USS Enterprise, after all. If DC Comics aren't all about Superman and the city of Metropolis, surely Life is Strange can more than just Max Caulfield and Arcadia Bay, right? Turning the Life is Strange series into an anthology series though wasn't a decision going to be left unquestioned by fans. When the marketing campaign for Life is Strange 2 was under full swing last year, there were always a couple of curious onlookers who would bring up the inevitable question of "Where's Max and Chloe?" Besides being beloved characters, I suspect why at least some fans wanted to see them in a new game is due to the first game's lack of a satisfying closure. Because of this, its safe to assume that a sizable segment of fans want a continuation that properly closed the book on Max and Chloe's stories before moving on to new protagonists (and no, the mediocre comic series doesn't count). To borrow a quote from a Revenge of the Fans article on the Synder Cut of 2017's Justice League:

And know what comes with closure? A willingness to move on- which is something a vocal segment of fans don’t currently possess because they feel like they’re still waiting for the sequel... Give them [what they've been asking for] and they’ll finally be ready to turn the page and embrace what’s coming next.

The absence of Max and Chloe proved to be the first major detriment that Life is Strange 2 had to overcome in order to recapture the success of its predecessor.

2. Poor marketing

Part of the reason why some gamers were asking the whereabouts of Max and Chloe is poor communication of Dontnod's intention to turn the Life is Strange games into an anthology series. This meant that some gamers had to be told about this plan on the spot by fans whenever a new trailer or video for Life is Strange 2 had dropped. I'd consider this as part of a larger problem: the marketing for Life is Strange 2 was lackluster.

Any concerns raised by fans clamoring for more Max and Chloe could have been quelled had Square Enix and Dontnod delivered a well thought out promotional campaign. Such a campaign ought to have effectively showcased how much "cooler" the new cast, settings, and power were all going to be. If there was something the AAA gaming industry has made into an artform, it would be fancy marketing campaigns with eye catching trailers at the forefront. Oddly enough, Square Enix ultimately went with a low key marketing campaign for Life is Strange 2. During E3, they decided it was better to showcase The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit instead of the next main installment of the Life is Strange series. It's as if that they had a bad feeling that Life is Strange 2 wasn't going to be worth the effort to hype up the fans, or that the return of investment wasn't going to be that large to justify spending a ton of money on ads.

3. Higher entry fee

Even though there was no grand marketing blitz about it, someone thought it was a good idea to price Life is Strange 2 double what its beloved precursor had charged (from $20 to $40). And what made it worse was that the price was disclosed as early as June 25, 2018, two months prior to the actual reveal in August 2018. An article on Cinema Blend pointed out, "As for what the game will be about, we're still not sure at this point, which is something of a miracle in this age of rampant leaks." Charging a fee before even telling fans details of what the game was even about could have been perceived as adding insult to injury. It also didn't help that the game's PC version also included the Denuvo DRM.

4. Controversy

While the first Life is Strange got the moniker "Tumblr the Video Game", the second game had it probably worse. Somehow, Life is Strange 2 went more political than the first game. Going this route felt like a case study to prove the phrase "Any publicity is good publicity." The rationale behind this was explained by game co-director Michel Koch in an interview with GamesIndustry.biz:

...since they are Mexican-American, for us it was important that they face real-world issues. They're facing racism, exclusion... We're living in a world that I think is getting more and more intolerant. With social media, most of the time we talk with only people that think exactly like us. And even if some of the world is really connected, we sometimes don't look at others enough.... Not talking about something is having a position, because you decide to not talk about it.

While Dontnod seemed to have good intent, their execution of the political themes in the game have been meet with mixed results. One fan commented:

I think it's great. I mean, you're making a game about Mexican kids in 2016 USA, you can't not touch the subject of race. I'm glad they approached it head-on and didn't gloss over it, especially compared to the first LIS which, while dealing with a bunch of serious issues in its supporting cast, didn't really go into depth when it came to Max and Chloe's. (Chloe's mental illness, Max's social anxiety, their attraction to women.)

Another fan however pointed out:

To me there is nothing wrong with having politics in a game, either side of the spectrum. It just comes off as off putting when it feels forced, isn't handled with some level of nuance and is used as a cover for lazy writing. Which in parts of the first episode it wasn't done well in my opinion.

A fan on Youtube shared similar sentiments prior to Episode 3's release:

I appreciate DONTNOD for tackling these subjects, but how they've handled it so far has been poor. So far, we've seen the negativity of Life is Strange 2's politics rather than the positivity. Each episode has the same message: Americans mistreat Mexicans. Besides [a few notable side characters], every character in the game is hostile to Sean and Daniel. Maybe they could introduce a police officer who aids the Diaz brothers in their journey rather than discriminate against them. All I'm saying is that DONTNOD shouldn't make Americans look bad, because most of us aren't.

What made this problematic is the fact that previously in a Life is Strange game, a good deal of the prominent side characters weren't shades of pure black and white. The bitchy rich girl who rules the school? That's just a facade to cope with difficult expectations from her parents. The good Christian girl? She's emotionally depressed and has some suicidal tendencies. The dictatorial step dad? He's a veteran struggling to adjust to civilian life. The geeky, shy guy who wants to protect his crush? He can be pushed to do some unpleasant things in the name of love. And based on my initial speedrun of Life is Strange 2, that unspoken requirement for side characters being more than who they are on the surface has been thrown out the window. All those racists in the game? They are intolerant bastards with no redeeming qualities whatsoever, and are one dimensional cardboard cutouts whose only purpose is so facilitate this feeling of being discriminated in the game. Wow. Talk about regression. The uneven handling of the game's political themes didn't help cautious onlookers endear it to its cause.

5. The fall of Telltale Games

One external event that indirectly affected Life is Strange 2's sales was the closure of Telltale Games. This was due to Telltale being the company that brought episodic, point & click, choice driven adventure games into mainstream gaming this decade. The most notable of these was their adaptation of The Walking Dead. With the untimely demise of the studio that championed episodic games, it made a sizable number of gamers cautious to purchase any episodic games that still had episodes in production. What this meant for Life is Strange 2 was that some of its potential customers won't be buying the game until after its final episode is released on December 3, 2019.

6. Longer gaps between episodes

With Telltale Games' closure fresh in everyone's minds, it didn't help that players had to wait for a longer period of time for each episode. As one Eurogamer article puts it:

Where the original Life is Strange series released its five episodes over 10 months, Life is Strange 2 will roll out the rest of its episodes over 15. It's a significantly longer wait...

Part of the reasoning behind this was disclosed in a post from the official Life is Strange blog:

The Life is Strange series is a project close to all of our hearts and one for which we do not want to rush development and thereby fail to meet the benchmark of quality and emotional impact that you, our players, deserve.... we want to ensure that we will be in a position to release something that we are proud of and that you will enjoy and remember forever. We understand that there are certain expectations that episodes will be released at a similar cadence as previous Life is Strange games have. The ambition of Life is Strange 2, however, means that the previous frameworks no longer apply if we are to meet the quality of play and storytelling that our vision for a game like this demands and that you deserve.

A longer wait time however didn't prevent Episode 2 from being released in a rather buggy state. That being said, widening the time per episode's release was a double aged sword. Yes, it helped mitigate the number of game breaking bugs and improved the game's overall polish. On the other hand though, it ended up testing the patience of most fans.

7. The game lacks appeal

On top of all the possible factors I've listed, the final straw that doomed Life is Strange 2's chances of recapturing the success of its esteemed predecessor is that the game failed to stand on its own merits. When the game was confirmed to no longer feature the franchise's most beloved characters, some fans were optimistic. As a fan on IGN wrote:

I think the decision to jump to a completely different set of characters was a smart move on Dontnod’s behalf. As long as the same elements that made the first a true hidden gem are still present (the relationships, character depth, narrative, bits of supernatural elements.) I think fans will still flock to this title.

In hindsight, such sentiments were a bit too hopeful. Fans haven't flocked to the so called sequel to one of 2015's most well received games. I'll be having a more detailed discussion on what made Life is Strange 2 less appealing in a future post, but here's one possible reason according to one fan:

LiS 2 is based on one-sided conceptions of reality, which eliminates the need for interpretation. Unlike the first [game], LiS 2 cannot offer any intellectual challenge and doesn’t demand as much explanatory criticism as the former. LiS allows us to construct non-trivial interpretations and concepts, for example, the concept of time and history.... LiS 2, on the contrary, doesn’t give the player the opportunity to add anything to what the game has already expressed.

[This is evidenced] by the lack of any discussion on LiS2. There really is nothing there, no intrigue, no mystery, even the previews at the end of the episodes are not enough.

The Irish poet and playwright Oscar Wilde once said "The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about." Life is Strange 2 stands at an unusual crossroads where several factors prevented it from being "interesting even for folks who don’t care about the IP." To misquote a favorite news columnist of mine, "All due respect, Life is Strange 2 offered (almost) nothing for folks who didn’t care about Life is Strange."

Concluding Thoughts

We live in a day and age where hype culture reigns supreme, where Hollywood and video game publishers love pulling out brand new installments of beloved franchises in the hopes of earning more money. So it's fascinating that Life is Strange 2 is going through the opposite of what a normal sequel to a new hit IP should be facing. The game seems to be instead following the trend of box office disappointments such as Doctor Sleep, Terminator: Dark Fate, and 2019's Charlie's Angels, all of which are the latest installments of decades old IPs. Mind you, this isn't some critical flop, as its average score on Metacritic across PC, Xbox and Playstation for critics is 77.17%. The game got enough positive reception to give Dontnod enough confidence to proclaim in a press release that the game is an "award-winning narrative adventure that's inspiring real-world conversations about race, gender equality and much more." Life is Strange 2 failing to live up to financial expectations is evidenced by a search on Google Trends (using the "worldwide filter"):

NOTE: Google Trends doesn't consider Life is Strange 2 as a separate search entity from the Life is Strange series as a whole, so I had to use the latter for this screenshot.

Interest in the first game was at an all time high when the fifth episode was released back in October 20, 2015. As of November 29, 2019, the second game has earned a mere 32 points at its peak. That was when its first episode was released on September 27, 2018. Whether or not the second game's final episode will go above the 40+ range remains to be seen.

The stats from the SteamDB website are also telling. For this post, the one stat we'll look into are the number of concurrent players. Due to the lack of solid sales numbers, the concurrent player count is a passable way of seeing PC users' interest in a certain game. One could make an imperfect comparison to the estimated number of tickets sold during the opening weekend for a film's release. When Episode 4 of the first game was released in July 2015, there were 13,076 concurrent players on Steam at the time. On the other hand though, when the fourth episode of the sequel was released back in August 2019, a mere 5,545 concurrent players showed up for its premiere on Steam - the highest it has gained thus far. Even the Farewell bonus episode for Before the Storm still had 5,707 concurrent players to boot in March 2018. Remember, this episode was locked away behind the game's deluxe edition, and still had 162 players more than the second game's fourth episode! It's interesting to note that SteamDB tells us that more people were interested watching someone else play Life is Strange 2 on Twitch as opposed to playing the game themselves.

Supporting the notion that Life is Strange 2 has flown under the radar is that there is no press release that confirms how many copies were sold to date. Take note that as of July 23, 2015, the first game already sold 1 million copies - less than six months after its release! Interestingly enough, a press release dated October 14, 2019 that claims "the resounding success of the first three episodes of LIFE IS STRANGE 2" also has the following statement: "The full impact from royalties generated by this episodic game should be felt in 2020 after the publisher has recovered its marketing and production costs." So more than a year after the release of Life is Strange 2's first episode, Square Enix has yet to recoup the money it spent on the game's production and marketing? And it hasn't sold a million copies thus far? Most unusual for the latest installment of a critically acclaimed hit IP.

When trying to answer the question "what was the appeal of the Alien and Predator franchises", box office analyst Scott Mendelson had this to say:

... perhaps audiences liked Predator more as an Arnold Schwarzenegger action movie than as a movie about a (mostly invisible) alien bounty hunter. Likewise... the appeal of the Alien series was less about the scary creature(s) and more about audiences gravitating to Ellen Ripley and her “Get away from her, you bitch!” action heroics.

So what does this have to do with Life is Strange? The way I see it, the series has yet to break out of the shadow of Max and Chloe. For better or worse, Life is Strange right now is a character-specific IP. Meaning, that as far as general audiences are concerned, Max and Chloe are Life is Strange. This shouldn't be used as justification for endless sequels focusing on our partners in time, though. Currently, the appeal of Life is Strange seems to be more about "The Adventures of Max and Chloe" and less about a (very thinly connected) collection of stories showing different teenagers experiencing various supernatural phenomenon.

With all that being said, the Life is Strange franchise in its current state isn't in a good position to create its own superhero universe in the vein of the Marvel Cinematic Universe or even the DC Extended Universe. It doesn't have 80+ years of source material to directly tap into, for starters. The series' foundation of showing "relatable characters, everyday characters, facing social themes and everyday issues and with a little bit of supernatural stuff" is so broad and all encompassing that one can make the case that TV shows such as Stranger Things can be categorized as a Life is Strange experience. Hell, even the little known 2012 anime series Kokoro Connect feels more Life is Strange than LiS 2 or the middling comic series (perhaps more on this in a future blog post). With Life is Strange 2's disappointing financial performance, I hope that Square Enix and Dontnod realize that the promise of a new superhero universe doesn't guarantee success, as Universal Studios found out with its Dark Universe experiment. Scott Mendelson once again shares relevant some words of wisdom:

The "cinematic universe" as an abstract concept which would appeal to moviegoers was always a fallacy. Audiences showed up to The Avengers because it was a unique (at that time) gimmick and because they had already grown fond of the specific versions of those respective Marvel characters, not because the mere notion of theoretical superheroes (or somewhat known characters) interacting was inherently appealing.

If Dontnod and Square Enix wants to stick to the stubborn notion that Life is Strange should still be an anthology series, the franchise is in need of a game that can be seen as its Wonder Woman and/or Joker turning point. A theoretical game like that can prove that the Life is Strange franchise doesn't need Max and Chloe to thrive and flourish.

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.

Life is Strange: Why the ending was so bad (MAJOR SPOILERS)

"...we can care deeply, selflessly for people we know, but our empathy rarely extends beyond our line of sight." - Dr. Mann (Matt Damon), Interstellar

In 2015, a little known French game developer called DontNod Entertainment released an episodic adventure game called Life is Strange. Set against the backdrop of the (seemingly) idyllic town of Arcadia Bay, the game puts players in the shoes of Max Caulfield, an 18 year old aspiring photography student. You live out five days of her high school life in the game.

Yeah I know, at first glance this kind of material is anything but exciting. But oh boy, I was in for one of the biggest surprises in all my years of gaming. Long story short, I experienced a game that overall earned its place as being one of the best games of the decade, and proved to me why it's so highly rated on Steam and the Xbox Store, ranking alongside esteemed titles such as The Arkham Trilogy and The Witcher 3.

Is the game perfect? Sadly no. There are a couple of hiccups along the way. But I'll focus on the biggest shortcoming. That ending. When Honest Trailers declared that Life is Strange's ending was as bad as Mass Effect 3, they weren't exaggerating. Ever since that final episode literally "Polarized" gamers who stuck all the way to the end, there have been countless discussions on why the ending was terrible or what was the right ending; the unofficial term for this debate is "Bae vs Bay." With Life is Strange 2 already out, I wanted to get my personal thoughts on the ending out of my system. After reading numerous threads, comments, essays on the matter, here are my two cents on why the ending of Life is Strange didn't work.

Reason 1: The product didn't function as advertised

Every time you start a new episode of Life is Strange, this screen will pop up before the first cutscene:

And when playing the actual game, there are times when a notification pops up stating "This action will have consequences." In case you haven't noticed yet, the game emphasizes that this ain't a linear story like that of a Naughty Dog game. There are multiple outcomes to certain scenarios because of your actions in game.



SPOILERS INBOUND FROM THIS POINT



With that being said, the game's ending literally breaks its own rule of "your choices impacting the story." It became a binary decision at the end.

And it's a decision that doesn't even take into consideration (at the very least) the significant choices you've made. For example, you can be a mediocre friend to Chloe and yet still save her at the eleventh hour. Alternatively, you can try to ignore the other friendly characters in the story and focus virtually on Chloe, but still choose to sacrifice her in the end. Your choices prior to the very end won't matter in game when that final binary choice crashes in. And on top of all that, one of the game features being advertised on Steam is none other than:

When a game where "choice matters" has an ending that is not as dynamic as Call of f*cking Duty: Black Ops 2's endings, something is horribly wrong. The tagline for the 2009 young adult novel If I Stay perfectly describes the problem: "Imagine if all your choices were gone. Except one. And it's the only one that truly matters."

Now the game negating all the decisions you've chosen is the easiest reason to point out why the ending didn't work. But there are other factors to consider.

Reason 2: Defining a character

One of the strong points of Life is Strange are the major characters. And Max herself is a good character in her own right. Unlike your typical RPG protagonist, Max is not a blank slate that the player can completely project his/her own beliefs. If you've been paying attention while playing, she has her own thoughts and reactions throughout the events of the game. Her journal chronicles some of her inner feelings on what transpires in the story. In my opinion, the fact Max is not a blank slate is a huge factor why the ending didn't pan out.

If Life is Strange was a normal choice driven game, you would have the freedom to play light side/paragon or dark side/renegade. Hate a certain character? You can go full on renegade. Have a soft spot for your companion? Be a paragon. With this in mind, Life is Strange doesn't allow you that freedom, with very few exceptions. For me, the major choices that feel renegade on the top of my head are: Make fun of Victoria, Try to shoot Frank, and Steal the Money.

So why did I bring up the whole paragon/renegade system? Because in Life is Strange, Max goes (intentionally) renegade on people who she herself feels is worth giving the middle finger. Not you, the player... but Max herself. Her feelings are the final arbiter to give you the option to go dark side. For example, when Warren asks Max to go out to the movies, there is no real renegade option to tell him to literally f*ck off; she'll only politely decline his offer. Why? Because she considers Warren as her friend. On the flip side, when Max is being held captive by Mr. Jefferson, there's a dialogue choice where you can only select either "Fuck you" or "Eat shit and die", with no other option to perhaps stay silent or say something that ain't renegade. Why? Because Mr. Jefferson by that point deserves all that hate and no sympathy. If you meet up with Frank in the Two Whales Diner in Episode 5, Max will say she's sorry for Frank loosing Rachel - even if you tried to shoot him. Why? Because Max knows deep down, Frank is a good person who is a victim of bad circumstances. Since Max doesn't give players the luxury go full on paragon or renegade by virtue of her not being a blank slate, this is especially problematic for what the ending represents.

Sacrificing Arcadia Bay makes sense if you were a paragon only towards Chloe, and no one else. Sacrificing Chloe becomes less painful if Max really showed what a worthless friend she became. But no, Max will have neither of that. Her actions, voice overs and the thoughts in her journal shows that she leans heavily on the paragon side. Max is too compassionate and emphatic. If she was not, she wouldn't be distraught at the thought of letting either Chloe die or allowing the town to be destroyed. Had Max been a blank slate, her reaction at the final decision in game should have been a reflection on how she treated Chloe and the rest of the characters. Since Max is not, it's really jarring that she is forced to choose when she would have wanted (in all likelihood) to save everyone.

Reason 3: Putting a square peg in a round hole

But how did we get to this ending in the first place? According to a couple of interviews with the game developers:

"...[the ending] choice is really a metaphor for growing older....The whole game is about how in real life you do make sacrifices and cannot go back and make the other option. When you are an adult you sometimes have to make difficult decisions."

"...you have to face consequences. That's the message of the game...We're really happy with those endings, because it really conveys for us that main message. You cannot try to cheat everything...Either you have to accept grief, to accept the death of a loved one or the other choice is to take the decision to sacrifice everything else you know for the person you love - you have to choose to accept that pain....I don't think we'd change anything."

"You make a sacrifice to accept your life as it is, to stop trying to have a perfect life, changing everything, and to stop looking to the past. This is the metaphor and the theme of the game. Somehow, you need to accept grief, you need to accept the past, you need to stop trying to make everything perfect, and then think about the future. To make a compromise, and then go for a while and try to make the best of your future, not by changing the past."

With these quotes in mind, it becomes clear that DontNod wanted an ending that revolved around the theme of "you can't make everything perfect." But it's tempting to speculate they wanted this at the cost of an ending that had coherence with the notion that "choices matter." They had good intentions, but judging how players have reacted, the execution backfired. The intent behind the ending also runs contradictory to Episode 2's launch trailer, where the tagline asked "What if a great power was bestowed for a greater purpose?". How can there be a greater purpose in the grand scheme of things if the point of the ending hinged solely on teaching players the lesson that there are times in life when you'll be forced to make a sacrifice?

The ending could have been a way of judging whether or not Max was worthy of having her powers. By allowing society to die in the Bae ending, Max surrenders her responsibility to society, thus proving her unworthy. On the other hand, in the Bay ending, Max shows that she's willing to accept great responsibility - even at a high price to her personal desires - thus retaining her powers. But the game itself leaves it to your imagination when it came to answering the question if Max keeps her powers or not by the end.

Speaking of themes, one of the best video reviews on the game interpreted the ending as a choice between "sacrificing for the greater good" or "learning to live with your mistakes", but notes how incompatible they are and "that a sizable portion of the game will be rendered meaningless." As the video points out, those two ideas aren't something that we get to choose separately, and that "maturity means doing both."

Hell, I even tried to come up with an interpretation based on the idea that Life is Strange is a superhero origin story. In that context, I imagined that the final decision was a statement on what kind of superhero Max wants to be, i.e. her ideology. Sacrificing Arcadia Bay means going down the path of individualism or ethical egoism, "pursuing your own best interest and protecting the ones you love, because in turn they bring you happiness." Sacrificing Chloe stands for collectivism or selfless heroism. But even in this context, the whole individualism vs. collectivism conflict falls apart when we consider the fact Max is not a blank slate. As discussed earlier, Max is more on the paragon side of things. She helps out others because its the right thing to do, and not for her own betterment. Nowhere in the whole rooftop scene in Episode 2 did it feel that Max was trying to save Kate for the sake of being recognized as a hero. You can't be a pure ethical egoist since Max doesn't give you the luxury of being one. She truly earns the nickname of Super Max (cue the John Williams or Hans Zimmer Superman themes in the background).

Honestly, it's very difficult to come up off hand with a good ending that was coherent with the game's promise of "choices matter" but simultaneously satisfied the condition of teaching players the lesson that your actions will have negative consequences.

Part II: Softening the blow

With all that being said, let's talk about fixing the ending. For the sake of time, we'll only talk about improving the current material instead of creating wildly different endings.

If I was given the task of improving the current endings, I would definitely first work on the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay one. Inspired by Mass Effect 2's ending, we get to see who lived or died in the storm depending on Max's actions. Did you show zero affection for Warren? He dies. Did you help out Alyssa all the way? She lives. Did you make fun of Victoria? She dies. Did you talk to Taylor about her mom? She lives. And so on. Even this principle would apply to the Sacrifice Chloe ending, albeit in more subtle ways. Did you romance Warren? If yes, Max should lean on him or hold his hand during the funeral. Did you comfort Victoria? If yes, then it provides a rationale why she shows up. Were you a good friend to Kate? If no, then she doesn't appear in the funeral.

Also, they could have thrown in this ending should the player make the wrong decisions:

Do these fix everything? Of course not. It doesn't fix the thematic or ideological issue with the ending, something that Wisecrack would point out if they were to do a "What Went Wrong" special on Life is Strange. But at least it would give a better sense of closure knowing that your choices weren't rendered totally meaningless in-game.

Part III: Dreams vs. reality

Before concluding this essay, there's one more thing I want to discuss. Since the release of Episode 5, one of the more interesting ideas floated around by various fans is the theory that the events in the game were all in Max's head. One comment I found neatly summarizes this theory:

"Life is Strange is...the story of a girl trying to cope with the death of her childhood best friend. It's the mind tricks that everyone plays when something terrible happens in their life. It's the "what if...?" question that haunts us all. The game wasn't about time travel, or super powers...it was all taking place in Max's head...at Chloe's funeral. None of her super powers were able to tell the future, just come up with what could have happened if she chose a different path. The last decision is to see if you as the player understood the meaning of the game. They had hints the entire time, and were trying to lead you down the path of acceptance. There were five episodes, there are five stages of grief. It all lines up."

When I read about this alternate take on the game, I was intrigued. Honestly, I love the idea. It neatly ties up the final decision. Sacrificing Arcadia Bay means that Max stays with Chloe in the world of the dream... forever. Sacrificing Chloe means a harsh return to reality. Sadly, when reexamining the game, it doesn't go beyond as a theory. Why? Lack of evidence. If the game really was all a fantasy that Max conjured up to cope with Chloe's death, there is nothing definitive to indicate that this was the case. Now I love films like Fight Club, Memento, and Shutter Island, where we have the protagonist as an unreliable narrator. But comparing them with Life is Strange, there's no indication that Max had insomnia like the Narrator in Fight Club or that she has a disorder like Leonard in Memento. She doesn't even experience hallucinations like Clay Jensen in 13 Reasons Why. The closest thing in the game to hint at this is her student file, which says she's in a Individualized Education Program, "a program usually reserved for students with some sort of developmental disability." (Based on what we get from the game, the worst kind of disorder that would affect Max is some form of social anxiety. And thanks to the events that transpire along with her rewind powers, she eventually overcomes this hindrance.) Problem is that the developers said that they "never considered to affirm either BPD or depression, to not stigmatize anyone and to focus on other topics." They didn't want to "start a conversation" when it came to the notion that Max actually had mental problems. If they even they decided to entertain the idea, unlike Fight Club et al, they broke an unspoken rule of those stories: the protagonist gets exposed as unreliable within the course of the story. There's no foreshadowing, or totem sequence from Inception to guide the audience if the story was real or not. Within the game, a good place to drop this bombshell would have been the Nightmare sequence where Max confronts her nightmare self. Her "subconscious" could have told her, and the player by extension, that Chloe did die in the bathroom and she just contrived a fantasy where she got the time powers to save her best friend. But such a reveal never happens, regardless of the options you choose. Nonetheless, the idea can make an interesting twist if someone were to adapt the game into a film.

Part IV: Conclusion

Whew, now we've reached the end. So to sum things up, the ending didn't work for at least 3 reasons. One, was that your choices were rendered pointless in the end. Two, the characterization of Max didn't fit with the choices given. And three, the intent or theme behind the ending crashed and burned when it came to the execution.

What makes things worse is when asked if they would have done differently in hindsight, the game's co-director said:

"I think we are really happy with the final product. It's really close to the story we had in mind and the story that was written in pre-production. We've been, of course, looking and listening to the players' reactions. I see that some players feel there should have been more endings or more variations on endings based on your choice, but still, for us, I don't think we'd change the way it is, because it was really important that those two endings, like we said before, offer definitive choice."

After reading this (and a couple of other interviews where virtually the same thing is said), I couldn't help but feel indignant that the developers seemed to care more about defending their "artistic integrity" when it came to the ending. There was not even a hint that could have said something along the lines of "maybe we made a mistake somewhere or went too far in some places." Was it because the fanbase didn't complain loud enough, that there was no "Retake Life is Strange" movement? In that regard, Life is Strange does have a worse ending than Mass Effect 3, because Bioware at least acknowledged they made mistakes and gave us the Extended Cut DLC ending for free. And as a final bonus, Mass Effect fans can get the Citadel DLC, one of the greatest pieces of DLC ever made and a fitting farewell to such great characters. Life is Strange never got anything like those. DontNod seemed more than eager to high tail and run once the first game was over and do a soft reboot of the franchise in the form of Life is Strange 2 with new characters. It was, and still is, up to passionate fans to give what they felt would have been a better end to Max's story arc in the form of various fan fics.

Max (and the player by extension) was pushed into a literal no win scenario, a true Kobayashi Maru situation. Unlike Captain Kirk, Max was not able to find a way to beat this no win scenario. Regardless of what outcome was chosen, I think we can all agree that this experience would leave her scarred for life. To what extent will that negatively affect her would vary, depending on whom you ask. Going back to the interpretation of Life is Strange as a superhero origin story, the ending can be viewed Max's defining moment, one that would determine what kind of superhero she wants to be. In that context, she joins characters like Batman (dead parents) and Spiderman (dead uncle), whose existence for being a superhero was defined by the desire to not allow such tragedy (in Max's case, dead best friend or destroyed hometown) to befall on anyone else again.

There are fans out there that will defend the ending they've chosen tooth and nail, pointing to various parts of the game for evidence. In a nutshell, die hard Bae fans will cite how Chloe is "the only thing that matters to Max" ("Chloe über alles in der Welt", literally) while ignoring the fact you can't act in a manner to truly drive the point home that Max didn't gave a damn about Arcadia Bay when you have other wonderful characters like Kate, Warren, Joyce, Victoria, et al. If the town was full of Mark Jefferson wannabes and nothing else, sure. But since it ain't, Max simply can't dismiss the rest of the cast who are not Chloe to "eat shit and die". Conversely, die hard Bay fans will pretend Chloe is a horrible friend all the way, with zero merits whatsoever and that she deserved to die. I'm not going to pass judgement on anyone who claims their chosen ending is the only valid one (or pretend that there is only one ending), but I feel that both choices were so screwed up. Going through numerous arguments on both sides, I've arrived at the conclusion that there is no right or wrong ending. Had DontNod perhaps had more time and resources, Max would have at least tried to find a third way out...

Oh, speaking of that... in case you aren't aware yet... here are two intriguing pieces of concept art that emerged after the game's release:

Fans have found various bits in the game files that hint Nathan and his family knew more about the upcoming storm. And going by this article from Hardcore Gamer, it seemed that they were planning for more things that didn't made it to the final cut of the game. Personally, I'd like to think that due to budget and time constraints, an ending that really acknowledged player choices was scrapped and replaced with what we got in the end. Unless someone at DontNod will backtrack the notion that they were happy with how the ending turned out, this is only speculation however.

So with this talk of why I felt the endings were bad, you may be wondering what's my opinion on the endings themselves. Something tells me that DontNod really had to make a choice in allocating resources when it came to the endings. How the Sacrifice Arcadia Bay ending turned out seems to solidify such a notion. That sequence has the word "rushed" written all over it. The intent behind this ending could probably be best described by a verse from the song Stand By Me (by Ben E. King):

If the sky that we look upon 

Should tumble and fall 

And the mountains should crumble to the sea 

I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear 

Just as long as you stand, stand by me

Sadly, the execution didn't properly convey the intended message. What really broke my immersion in that ending is the fact that Max and Chloe simply get away from the town without even bothering to search for survivors, most especially friends and family. I could have sworn a few minutes ago Chloe herself said that her mom "deserves to be saved rather to be killed in a storm in a fucking diner!" This ending unintentionally turns Max and Chloe into selfish @ssholes who didn't gave a damn about anyone else but themselves. Such a thought really rubs me the wrong way. The scene should have cut to black with Max and Chloe watching the town being destroyed as a pure homage to Fight Club. Meanwhile, the Sacrifice Chloe ending was better executed. Simply put, saving Arcadia Bay gave a better sense of closure. In Superman: The Movie, Lois Lane gets killed but Superman turns back time to save her. Life is Strange offers a cruel twist to that trope. Using time travel at the end of the game does not result in the happy resolution the Richard Donner film offers. What struck me is that Warren, Kate, Dana, Justin, Trevor and even Victoria attend the funeral no matter what. Among the group, it was only Justin who was friends with Chloe. The way I see it, the other students were in attendance not because they personally knew Chloe but rather to show their support for Max. My headcannon as to how they end up attending the funeral is that Max used all that she learned about her schoolmates in the past week to put together this band of misfits. It was a horrific end for Chloe, but, to quote one fan, "it is an absolute Shakespearean tragedy level masterpiece."

On the eve of Life is Strange 2's release, the results of a fan survey on Reddit were revealed. When asked to point out the one thing that made fans fall in love with the game the most, 60% of the respondents said it was the characters.

And I agree with them. Against all preconceived notions, Max and Chloe (and by proxy, virtually all the other major characters too) ended up being among my favorite video game characters of all time, alongside Revan, the Hero of Ferelden, Master Chief, Commander Shepard, Lara Croft, and Clementine from Telltale Games' The Walking Dead. If you hold these characters in such high regard, don't you think they deserved better?

Life is Strange's ending should be a cautionary tale for anyone who wants to make choice driven games. Oh, and if you make characters this good, try to avoid falling into a trap where you'll have to make entirely separate stories should fans beg for a sequel.

Meanwhile, in some Alternate Universe... I'll let you guess who's who.