During the third episode of Life is Strange 2, main character Sean Diaz is presented with a choice that could help bring his ordeal to an early end, but would put his little brother Daniel in danger. Being the responsible father figure that I clearly am, I decline the opportunity. But then later on in the episode, I’m asked to make that same choice again. And again. In the end, the decision is made for me, and everything falls to pieces.

Life is Strange 2 begins in suburban Seattle, where a fatal misunderstanding forces Sean and Daniel to flee their home. In his panic, Sean takes his brother on the run, aiming for his father’s family home in Puerto Lobos, Mexico, and the pair take the first steps on their year-long journey to the border. His decision provides an impressive backdrop to their adventure—chilling Oregon winters, towering Californian forests, and sweltering Arizona deserts offer an ambitious alternative to the series’ traditionally small-town narratives—but also forces Life is Strange 2 to immediately undermine its road-tripping raison d’etre.

Rather than directly portray a 1,500 mile journey, developer Dontnod sticks to its series’ classic tropes. Exploration, dialogue, and character development are its strengths, but those are difficult to achieve within the confines of a Greyhound bus. Instead, the story moves from vignette to vignette, with each chapter set months after the one before, in a place where Sean and Daniel can stay in relative safety for a few days or weeks.

Here lies the game’s most existential dilemma. These havens provide a place to live—at least temporarily—almost entirely off-grid, a rare opportunity to lay low and take stock. In one episode, whole chunks of dialogue are given over to the idea of holding out for next month’s paycheck, while another places the brothers firmly within the nuclear family they both so clearly crave. Those themes, of financial security and familial responsibility, are woven throughout the game, but their importance pales in comparison to Dontnod’s desire for a classic roadtrip, and so Sean and Daniel are moved on, irrespective of the decisions made within the episode.

This problem is exacerbated by the fact that Life is Strange 2’s most powerful tool is not directly in your hands. While players control Sean, it’s Daniel who boasts supernatural abilities. Sean quickly adopts the role of mentor, but his younger brother is a precocious child, and while he might start by using his powers for something as innocuous as cheating at dice, it’s not long before he begins to understand the extent of his abilities. Eventually, the player isn’t just battling with the game’s desire to get you to Mexico no matter the narrative implications, but against a central game mechanic that happens to have developed a personality. It’s a fascinating concept, rarely explored outside the idea of rogue AI, but in a series that supposedly holds player choice in such high regard, it’s deeply misplaced.

Until next time

The first episode of Life is Strange 2 released in September 2018, meaning the journey from debut to finale took more than 14 months. Nearly four months passed between episodes one and two alone, and while the release cadence sped up as the series reached its finale, the damage had already been done. The time between episodes seems to have been an attempt to mirror the length of Sean and Daniel’s journey, but to do so at the expense of narrative pacing and character development feels misjudged. So much of what the brothers’ story happened off-screen—entire characters and story arcs were relegated to pages in Sean’s diary—that meant it was difficult to stay engaged between chapters.

In a post-Telltale industry, Life is Strange’s structure already feels like an eccentricity. It speaks volumes that when Dontnod announced its next game—episodic narrative adventure Tell Me Why—shortly before the release of episode five, it was made clear that the entire story will release over the course of a few months next summer.

There are some excellent moments dotted throughout the game, and it’s clear that Dontnod has something to say about American race relations. Often, it leans too heavily on patriotic stereotypes to do so, but the final episode in particular focuses carefully on the concept of Sean’s reverse American Dream. Overall though, Life is Strange 2 is more interested in that dream than in its own central themes—those of brotherhood, family, and the passing down of knowledge and responsibility to the next generations. Its desire to stick to the series’ established tropes means you’re forced into set-piece after set-piece on your inevitable road to Mexico, without any desire to cater to the player who just wants to be a good big brother.

What are all the different Life is Strange 2 endings? Choice has always been important to Dontnod's adventure series, but in Life is Strange 2, your decisions are felt more powerfully than ever. Sean and Daniel's epic journey across America may now be over, but the decisions you made across the game’s five chapters have shaped the pair's destination more than you might think.

Warning: Naturally, this article contains major story spoilers for Life is Strange 2. I recommend you experience the story yourself, as it was intended, before you dig into spoiler territory below. So, here are all the Life is Strange 2 episode 5 endings and how you get them.

How many Life is Strange 2 endings are there?

The first game ended in two main ways, but there are a whopping seven different Life is Strange 2 endings. If you’ve already finished your adventure and curious about how they all diverge, check out each one in the video further down this guide.

How does the endings system work, anyway?

Before I get to how each ending works, there are a few important things to note. At the very end of the game, Sean and Daniel are facing off against a police blockade at the USA/Mexico border. Here, Sean is presented with a choice: he can surrender and turn himself in, or use Daniel’s powers and escape.

The thing is, Daniel has a mind of his own. Throughout the game, the example Sean sets for him determines his ‘Morality’. If one large wolf appears in the bottom-right corner of the screen, the decision affects Sean, but if only a small wolf appears, it affects Daniel. If two wolves appear, both brothers are affected.

If you taught Daniel right from wrong—discouraging him from using his powers violently, for example—he will have high Morality. However, if Daniel sees this kind of behaviour from Sean, he learns from it, and is more likely to have low Morality by the end of the game. Your actions will have affected Daniel’s actions in previous episodes, but the final Morality score has the biggest impact on your ending. 

Some stem from the same set of results during the showdown at the border, but are shaped by decisions in earlier episodes. Sean’s friendship with Lyla or his romance with Finn or Cassidy in episode 3 can add some minor changes to the game’s final cutscenes.

All Life is Strange 2 endings

Redemption

If Sean decides to surrender at the border while Daniel has high Morality, he tells Daniel that the story of the wolf brothers ends now, and the two embrace. Sean is arrested by Agent Flores, who says Daniel will be looked after—he then moves in with his grandparents in Beaver Creek. 15 years later, Daniel and Karen meet Sean as he leaves prison. That night, the pair camp out in the woods together before parting ways again the next morning.

If Sean chooses to call Lyla at the end of episode 1, she accompanies Daniel and Karen in this ending cutscene, and the pair will embrace.

Lone Wolf

If you surrender but Daniel has a low Morality, Sean throws away his car keys, but Daniel will refuse to accept your decision. Using his powers, he moves the car forward and past the border, before noticing that Sean has been shot and killed by police. 

Many years later, Daniel has made it to Puerto Lobos, where he has built a small memorial to Sean. When he's attacked on the beach, he uses his powers to defend himself, but ultimately spares the lives of the gang members who approach him. Unsurprisingly, this is considered Life is Strange 2’s ‘bad’ ending.

Parting Ways

If you used Daniel’s powers to escape to Mexico, but he has high Morality, Sean begins driving forward and asks his brother to move the police cars in front of him. Daniel initially refuses, but eventually relents and opens the gate to allow the car through. At the last moment, Daniel leaps from the car, allowing Sean to make his escape.

Daniel moves into his grandparents’ house, occasionally using his powers, but appears to be under some kind of house arrest. Here he remains in contact with both Sean and Karen, receiving a collection of photos during the final cutscene.

Depending on decisions made in previous episodes, this ending has a few variations. If you romance Cassidy by listening to her song in episode 2, drink with her, join her for a midnight swim, kiss, refuse the heist, and enter her tent, she appears in a photo next to Sean. 

You can also romance Finn by having Sean say he is attracted to some boys, agreeing to the heist, kissing him, and then saving his life in episode 3. In episode 4, Sean can visit Finn’s hospital room and forgive him for the heist to successfully romance him, after which he appears in the photo, instead of Cassidy.

If Sean romances neither Finn or Cassidy but still gets this ending, he appears in the photo alone.

Blood Brothers

If Daniel has low Morality when Sean asks him to cross the border, Daniel gets out the car and uses his powers to defeat the police officers and open the border gate. Daniel then re-enters the car, and the brothers drive into Mexico.

Six years later, Sean and Daniel are working in their father’s old repair shop in Puerto Lobos, where gang members arrive and threaten Sean. Daniel uses his powers to hurt the leader, but lets them live. The brothers go outside and sit on the beach, drinking beer and smoking together.

Life is Strange 2 will be removed from Australian digital storefronts, according to the official Life is Strange Twitter account. As you've probably guessed, this move has been prompted by the Australian Classification Board: it's currently reviewing the game's age ratings.

As a result, the unavailability will only last for "approximately" two weeks. At the time of writing it's still available on Steam, and that's likely to last until Wednesday Australia time.

Here's the full statement:

At a hunch, I'd guess this is happening in order to rate each additional DLC and post-launch addition to the game: for an episodic game like Life is Strange 2, the vanilla launch build is obviously only a tiny part of the game as it stands right now. Recent examples of DLC triggering a ACB reappraisal include Kingdom Come: Deliverance and We Happy Few, which are both now available to purchase after a temporary delisting on digital storefronts.

The ACB has been in the headlines a bunch lately, mostly thanks to the belated (and frankly quite amusing) ban of DayZ. It fell afoul of Australia's ratings board due to DLC that hadn't even made it to the game yet. But the game is safely available to purchase now.

Thanks for the heads up, Kotaku.

"How far would you go to find your brother?" is the simple question driving Life is Strange 2 Episode 4, the penultimate episode of Dontnod Entertainment's story-driven adventure game. Daniel is the lost brother, and Sean is trying to find him. But Sean is in pretty dire straits: he starts the episode in a hospital and under arrest, having lost an eye—and much of his confidence—in the last episode. 

Episode 4 is out now, and you can pick it up for $8/£6.50 on Steam or the Humble Store.

Sean has to search for Daniel in the desert, through scorching days and freezing nights, and the player will have plenty of difficult decisions to make. I'm curious to see whether the simple premise can pull players through an entire episode, which is likely to last around three hours, and whether it can set the game up for the conclusion is deserves. The fifth and final episode is out December 3.

Philippa wrote about Life is Strange 2's strong opening here and in June Joanna spoke to the game's lead writer about making the player feel like a terrible parent.

You can buy the entire season of Life is Strange 2 on Steam or the Humble Store.

Thanks, RPS.

This interview discusses some major story spoilers.

Daniel is growing up faster than any child should. We've been living off the grid in the vast Humboldt County forest for the last month, working as trimmers on an illegal marijuana farm. The tent we stole from the convenience store back in Washington is now well-worn, just like our clothes. I wake up, disheveled, and walk across our small commune to find Finn encouraging Daniel to throw a knife into a target painted on a tree. I'm not exactly thrilled about this. Finn gives me bad vibes, and I don't want Daniel hanging around him.

With each episode of Life is Strange 2, being a parent to your younger brother becomes more complicated. "Should I feel like I'm screwing this kid up?" I asked lead writer Jean-Luc Cano during our interview. He told me yes, I should feel that way. That's the point of Life is Strange 2; parenting is complicated enough when there's a generation gap, but putting aside your own teenage ambitions to be a dad to your younger brother while on the run from law enforcement? I don't think that's covered in any parenting book.

In the first Life is Strange, you're responsible for yourself. As Max, some of your decisions affect others, like Chole, but it directly influences the trajectory of your story. In Life is Strange 2, all your decisions are focused on Daniel. Everything you decide has positive or negative consequences for him. Teaching him one thing early on in the game may result in a completely opposite outcome than what you intended. Cano and the rest of the team wanted to create a greater emotional impact on the player by having their choices affect someone else's life. Even the smallest of choices can have varying effects on Daniel. 

This made the writing process itself more difficult compared to the first game. "With Max, you can see the consequences of your actions really fast," said Cano. "In Life is Strange 2, it's not really visible from the beginning, but it will still shape the behavior of Daniel, and his behavior will change a lot from episode one to five."

It not just one of your decisions that will ultimately shape Daniel into the person he becomes by the end of the game. Sometimes you think you've made a good parenting decision, but you can't control the choices of others, like Finn—and when a kid idolizes another adult-figure instead of you, you can automatically become the bad guy. It's these difficult, morality-steeped choices that Cano wanted to put into the theme of the Life is Strange 2: Education.

"Daniel wants to make his own decisions and sometimes Sean doesn't want him to do it, but Daniel wants to do it anyways. There's a lot of tension and a lot of friction between Sean and Daniel, and we wanted the last scene of episode three to encompass all of these things." 

That's why episode three ends with a shard of glass in Sean's eye and with Daniel missing. Feeling helpless and out of control of the situation is probably one of the worst places for a parent to be. I'm not a parent in real life, but the game definitely made me feel that way.

But Cano's personal experience as a parent not only influenced some of the story in Life is Strange 2, but also the first game. "Life is Strange is a coming-of-age tale, and I wrote it when I became a father. And maybe that's why I wrote Life is Strange 2, to come up with this idea of my daughter as she grows up." Every decision he makes, every word he says, his daughter will look to him as an example. It's a part of her education, as Cano puts it, as she grows into adulthood.

The theme could still have come across if they made Sean older, but there's naturally more tension in creating a teenage character who is forced to be a parent to their younger sibling way before they are ready. The idea of what it means to evolve as a parent comes off stronger. The moral choices in Life is Strange 2 are difficult to make, but that's the intention—to try to make the right decision for Daniel even as he's showing how much he hates you by levitating a giant tree trunk out of a lake. (Kids' emotions can be scary, man.)

It's even harder to make moral choices when you're forced into a lifestyle that most would consider immoral for children. So when it came to choosing a location for episode three, sending Sean and Daniel to Humboldt County was a logical choice. When you're fugitives on the run, there's not much you can do to earn money legally. Working as trimmers on an illegal marijuana farm shielded by the dense Humboldt County forest was the perfect option. "We wanted to put Sean and Daniel in this situation. They have to accept the fact that they are working for dangerous people, but they have no choice if they want to go to Mexico."

While the team read books, watched documentaries, and did a lot of other internet research, the idea of the drifters, like Finn and Cassidy, came from a book called "A Period of Juvenile Prosperity" by photographer Mike Brodie, who documented his and others' experiences drifting around the United States via freight train. Cano and the team were amazed by Brodie's work, the feeling of freedom they felt when looking at his photos. They wanted to explore their lives, and so the characters they created intersected with other real life stories of grow operations in Humboldt County. It's here, working alongside Merrill and Big Joe, that I felt the real desperation of Sean and Daniel's situation, and by the end of the episode, I felt like I had destroyed Daniel's childhood for good. No matter how angry I was at him for disobeying me and getting us fired, no matter how much I wanted to protect him from the threat of emotional and physical violence, I felt like I failed Daniel as a brother and as a parent.

The beginning of the episode foreshadows the end in some ways, with Daniel falling out of love with a watch his big brother gave him months before. The flashback scene at the beginning is there to make the player remember Sean and Daniel in their previous life, a life that seems like it happened years ago rather than a few short months. At the end of the flashback, Sean makes up with Daniel after a fight by giving him his watch—the watch we see Daniel has left behind in the tent once the story jumps back to present day. "It was there to show the player that Daniel has grown up and he's not the same Daniel as he was before."

When Daniel decides to put that watch back on later in the episode, there's a small moment of hope that maybe this kid is going to turn out alright. But there's no happy ending for Sean and Daniel in episode three. Finn will convince Daniel to break into Merrill's safe regardless, and someone will end up hurt or dead, maybe both, depending on the ending you get.

I asked Cano what's in store for us in the final two episodes, knowing full-well he won't give away any surprises. He and the rest of the writing team have had the full story written for a long time, but he does tell me that we could see other versions of Daniel based on our choices. "There's a version of Daniel who is nice to Sean, a version of Daniel who is neutral to Sean, and a version of Daniel who is angry at Sean."

I just hope that, at the end of the Diaz brothers' journey, I'll have shaped Daniel in such a way that he's at least neutral to me. Having him angry with me would break my heart.

Life is Strange 2, the multi-part adventure about life and the strangeness thereof, will continue its elongated tale with the release of episode 3, Wastelands, on May 9. Publisher Square Enix announced the date today, as well as the dates—but not the subtitles—for the next two chapters. 

Wasteland will see Sean and Daniel Diaz, the young brothers at the center of Life is Strange 2, continuing their journey to Mexico following the death of their father at the hands of police, and the subsequent death of the officer who shot him in some sort of supernatural phenomenon.   

"Falling in with a community of drifters on the fringes of society, the brothers are exposed to new experiences, encounter new friends and challenges, and must confront much about themselves in the process," the release date schedule says. "New relationships cause friction between the brothers and raise doubts about their unity. Can they stay together, or will their journey together end here?" 

The journey together might end, but I'm reasonably confident that the journey itself will continue. Life is Strange 2 Episode 4 is scheduled to come out on August 22, while Episode 5 will wrap things up on December 3.   

Pick up any game released in the last ten years and you’ll more than likely come across a minigame or two in them. For the most part, I expect to see them in almost every game I play, especially games with long campaigns. They’re not always the greatest, as we have talked about in the past, but when minigames are done right, they create a interesting layer of interaction that can break up some of the monotony and maybe give you a relaxing break. When done wrong, they create confusion, frustration, sometimes to the point where you’ll never pick up the game again. (I’m looking at you, Fallout 4: Far Harbor with your DiMA’s “forgotten” memories minigame.)

With narrative adventures, the story is the driving force. They can function fine without minigames. Sure, in some cases it wouldn’t make sense to take them out, like the cannery mini game in What Remains of Edith Finch, but if the gameplay doesn’t meld with the story, the minigame will just slow down the pace. With narrative adventures, the story drives the game, not the gameplay. 

Playing the latest episode of Life is Strange 2 over last weekend showed me just that. In addition to bringing back its sketching minigame, episode two adds a dice game that Sean and Daniel play to pass the time and forget about their grueling travels. The rules of the minigame aren’t directly explained, but from what I gathered, rolling specific numbers allows you to outfit your pirate ship with a captain, crew, and supplies, which in turn gives you a specific number of points. The person with the most points wins.

This minigame is not fun. The characters repeat the same dialogue as you sit there clicking and clicking for both characters to roll the dice. Thankfully, you can end it early, let Daniel have his victory, and move on with the story that is already moving slowly. This isn’t the first time I’ve felt this way with a minigame from any of the Life is Strange games. I didn’t exactly enjoy scrounging around for car parts and décor as Chloe in Life is Strange: Before the Storm to fix up her truck. The first tabletop campaign was entertaining, but when the second one came around in the third episode, I wanted it to end as soon as possible so I could get back to the main storyline. I don’t recall there being any minigames in original Life is Strange, and that’s probably why I feel that game has the strongest story out of the three.

Narrative adventures—branching narrative, walking sims, text-based, point-and-click—occupy a still experimental space between traditional prose and film. The Life is Strange games excel at filling quiet moments with emotional monologues or dialogue. The moments where the character can sit alone and let their raw emotions flow as the camera pans around the scenery and bittersweet music swells are some of the most powerful types of scenes in the Life is Strange games. They’re powerful not just because we’re seeing the character in a vulnerable state, but because they are doing something to either advance the plot or develop the character further on their journey. The dice minigame is a missed opportunity to do just that. Every scene should have meaningful conflict.

But what can kill an otherwise good scene or free flowing plot is a minigame forced into the story to help “gamify” it. If it’s considered good game writing to meld the narrative with the gameplay, should these minigames not also explore conflict? Should they not also move the plot along or continue developing characters? Going back to the cannery scene in What Remains of Edith Finch, it’s not just about multitasking, cutting the heads off the fish while navigating the rivers of your kingdom in your daydream. You are living through the character’s last moments; the pace of that character’s story isn’t slowed down by the minigame, and neither is the game as a whole. If we look at The Vanishing of Ethan Carter, every one of Ethan’s stories you come across is a minigame, but they all work alongside solving his disappearance because they gradually build on his character until you realize what fiction writing really meant to Ethan. It’s freakin’ heartbreaking.

I’m not here to just pick on Life is Strange 2. There’s other narrative-adventure games with questionable minigames, even one of my favorites—The Red Strings Club. While the bartending minigames were integral to Donovan’s character, I didn’t like Arkasa-184’s pottery adventures. The material you shape is biomatter instead of clay, and what you’re doing is turning the biomatter into personality alternating implants. But why does the biomatter need to be thrown like clay? This is supposed to be a high-tech world, and yet the game is asking you to stick “pottery” into people like sponges. The more important point of this minigame was choosing the right implants to put into those individuals, not the biomatter throwing. Being forced to shape every single implant was the worst, time-consuming aspect of that game.

This is all just to say that narrative adventures don’t need to be “gamified.” Their form is completely different from a more traditional game, and that’s fine. No need to force in something in there that doesn’t need to be there. The “game” aspect comes in the form of branching dialogue or a well-incorporated mechanic that creates a more immersive story. I hope that the remaining episodes of Life is Strange 2 completely axe all minigames and replaces that downtime with meaningful story or character development. 

Life is Strange 2 launches tomorrow, January 24, but you can get a taste of the teen drama, tragedy and superpowers in the launch trailer above. Keep your eyes peeled for the return of Captain Spirit, protagonist of the free Life is Strange spin-off, too. 

I’m still building up to the sequel. I’ve not even finished Before the Storm. I love Life is Strange, but damn those games are heartbreaking, and I’ve heard 2 has been pretty devastating so far, in that regard. I like giving myself time to recover.

Episode 2 continues the misadventures of brothers Daniel and Sean as they attempt reach their grandparents' house, all the while hiding Daniel’s burgeoning powers. There’s a bit of a theme here, with the pair meeting Chris, a boy who thinks he’s a superhero and isn’t shy about telling people. 

It looks like Daniel’s powers are at the heart of the decisions you’ll make. He’ll no doubt need to use him, but presumably you’ll be able to choose to keep them hidden, even if it endangers someone. 

Episode 2 will appear tomorrow.

Dontnod announced via Twitter today that Life is Strange 2 episode 2 will be released on January 24, 2019.

"Life is Strange 2 got off to a strong start, but the best is yet to come. Episode 2 is going to be a great moment for this season,” said Jon Brooke, co-head of studio at Square Enix External Studios. “Previous seasons have both had a point that was just, ‘that moment’, that captivated fans from all over the world, and we feel like this will be the one for Life is Strange 2."

Along with the announcement, Dontnod released a live-action trailer (embedded below) featuring Gonzalo Martin, the voice-actor of Sean Diaz. The short trailer might seem familiar to those who have played the first episode, and after it, there's a brief glimpse into what adventures await the Diaz brothers.

"Sean and Daniel Diaz continue their journey into the winter months. As the two brothers struggle against the cold, Daniel gets increasingly ill. Sean decides that they must take the risk and make their way to their distant grandparent’s house to recover and seek shelter."Life is Strange 2 follows Sean and Daniel Diaz as they flee their home in Arcadia Bay after a tragic, supernatural accident. Pip gave her spoiler-free take on the first episode back in September and, while she didn't like the sketching mini-game, she said that it was a "confident opening episode with protagonists it’s easy to root for."

The first episode of Life is Strange 2 came out around the end of September, which means, based on the release tempo of the original five-part adventure, that we could reasonably expect part two to show up any day now. What has arrived instead is a message from developer Dontnod Entertainment pegging it to a January 2019 release, an extended stretch of development the studio said will enable it to "meet the benchmark of quality and emotional impact that you, our players, deserve." 

"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," Dontnod said. 

"With this in mind, we can now officially say that Episode 2 will be released in January 2019, but more will be unveiled in mid December, this year. We can't wait to reveal more about ‘Episode 2: Rules’ to you soon! We're truly very excited to show you what we've been working on and what's in store for Sean and Daniel." 

Life is Strange 2 follows the adventures of brothers Sean and Daniel Diaz, who are forced to flee their home—and deal with the sudden manifestation of a supernatural power—following a "tragic incident." Pip said in September that the first episode is "confident" and delivers "a strongly sympathetic portrayal of the boys at the centre of the drama"—but she really didn't like that sketching minigame.