Life is Strange 2 - Episode 3

Disclaimer:  This blog contains major spoilers for “Life is Strange 2”.

If the first couple of chapters were about racism, this chapter was about pot.  You spend the chapter working at a pot farm, living in a small commune in the woods.  Once scene actually has you controlling Sean on the job, trimming the leaves off buds.  It's tedious work, so the game makes you feel it by having you press repetitive buttons to control your cutting.  It reminds me of Shenmue.

Each night after work, the characters drink beer and smoke pot around the campfire.  They have several spaced out conversations in scenes that could have been straight out of Dazed and Confused.  They discuss free love and pansexuality.  If any of that offends you, well, you probably didn't get this far into the Life is Strange series anyway. 

Speaking of potentially offensive content, this is was the first chapter in any of the LiS games to have nudity in it.  In fact, three different characters show some skin, including the 16 year old protagonist.  I'm not offended by nudity, and what it showed was pretty tame.  But I've heard rumors that Sony is about to start getting tougher on PS4 censorship, so this surprised me.

I saw the climax coming.  You can choose whether or not to help rob your boss's safe, but even if you say no, it happens anyway.  I don't know if there's a way to keep your little brother from making the decision on his own, but going by the "Choices" screen at the end of the chapter, it looks like some version of the climax plays out no matter what.

Daniel's disobedience another theme for the episode.  He's getting more and more powerful, and Sean is having more and more trouble controlling him.  The kid needs guidance, but a lot of your efforts to teach him morality just end up pissing him off, backfiring and pushing him more towards the Dark Side.

For the third chapter in a row, I'm going to say it again:  It doesn't feel like a lot happened in this chapter.  This story is slow.  It feels like they're trying to get five chapters out of what could have been a three chapter story. 

Bottom line: This was a decent chapter, but pretty slow and light on plot.  The climax was important, though, and should have serious repercussions in Chapter 4.

My Choices: