The new season of Life is Strange 2 follows the Diaz brothers on the run after a tragic event happens right in front of their home. I'll admit at first that I was disappointed Max and Chloe weren't returning but the Diaz brothers both grew on me. Sean is the troubled teen thrown quickly forced into the role of the adult as he now has to watch over his younger brother Daniel, who deeply struggles throughout the episode to accept the recent changes in their lives and why they are on the run.
There is a lot of character building for the brothers in this episode as it deeply sets up their respective roles for later episodes. We are introduced to a lot of one-off characters that don't play a part in things to come and that is a plus for me. The original Arcadia Bay setting did mean that you had a smaller, yet more developed, cast of characters but living life on the lamb means you open up to meeting a far greater variety of characters, even if it's only for a short amount of time. I think that decision works very well with the story.
And another major change is the lack of time-travel/supernatural abilities. This is something that I was also worried about with this new season and, once again, the change works out well. Playing as Sean, who has no supernatural powers, means that your decisions are final so every ramification must be throughout before making a choice. It makes for a much more cautious playthrough and I really like that. Sadly, the moral choices are the one weak point of this episode. The individual choices don't amount to much but it's the overall problems they could potentially cause. This season features a kind of % based system where your choices can influence you negatively or positively with Daniel and affect his character/choices later on in the game. It's an interesting twist on things.
And naturally, this wouldn't be a proper Life is Strange game without collectables. These come in the form of items not just laid around but also items that require a bit of interaction in order to get them. You can also make drawings in your notebook this time around too. It's a little tedious at first but it gets smoothed out in later episodes.
Overall: 9/10
If you are a fan of the series, You are gonna have no issue jumping right into this first episode. They did a great job at setting up the Diaz brothers for their continued character development as the series progresses. Sure, It may not be Max and Chloe but that isn't a deal-breaker to me.
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