▷Recensione Life is Strange 2 – Episode 2: Rules 🥇

After a long wait, Dontnod Entertainment has finally decided to release the second episode di Life is Strange 2. The episode Rules is available from January 24 2019 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC, four months after the publication of Roads, the first episode.

Are you curious to find out with us where the Diaz brothers will take us?

The adventure continues and the choices increase

The wait was longer than expected and probably more heartbreaking than we thought: many people, myself included, were convinced that we would see the second episode around Christmas time or so.

Instead, during these four months, no news about it: we only received numerous updates from the Dontnod team in which they informed us that they were working hard to be able to offer us a noteworthy episode.

At the beginning I admit that these numerous updates have bothered me: in the end, however, Dontnod has shown that it has worked hard to give us a title full of vitality and magnificence.

Given the long wait, this new episode begins with a short comic recap which shows us what our favorite wolves had to go through on Roads. Now Sean and Daniel, together with the dog Mushroom, are in Oregon and are forced to face a harsh and very cold winter. Running out of supplies or clean clothes, the two manage to find an abandoned house in the forest where they can warm up and sleep.

Compared to the first episode, Rules proceeds in a way faster and with small but intense twists that will put us in front of even more difficult choices, choices that would put us in difficulty even in reality. These choices are more numerous and occur when we least expect it: the important thing is to keep your nerves and build strength.

There have been occasions when I have waited up to ten minutes before making a decision so, in case you find yourself in trouble, remember that you are in good company.

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A new power

If in Roads the gameplay was rather anonymous, compared to Max who could rewind time and Chloe who could intimidate the opponent during conversations, in Rules we notice a big change. The character we're going to check out is Sean, yes, but there will be occasions when we can ask little Daniel to use his new power: the telekinesis.

The little one, in fact, at the end of the first episode discovers that he possesses this particular power and thanks to his older brother he will be able, slowly, to learn how to control it.

However, we know that Daniel is a child: it will be up to us, therefore, to suggest when to use it or when to step aside. Let us remember that everything we say or do will particularly affect our brother, so be careful.

Our actions will be tested in this second episode and not always the right choice will be the easier one.

New characters and difficult family issues

As we have seen from the trailer or could have understood from the final scenes of Roads, in this second episode we will have the pleasure of seeing some characters we met in The Fantastic Adventures of Captain Spirit. First of all our favorite hero, Chris eriksen, which immediately won my heart. Together with him we will review his father and its neighbors who we will discover to be Sean and Daniel's maternal grandparents.

In fact, the Diaz brothers will be forced to take refuge in their grandparents' home, in Beaver Creek, who will welcome them with open arms: more or less, let's say. Claire and Stephen are the parents of Karen, mother of Sean and Daniel who, at some point in her life, decided to abandon her family.

From the outset it is evident how the abandonment of Karen has marked not only her children, but her mother Claire in particular. No questions about her are allowed and this, of course, triggers her curiosity of Daniel who has no recollection of his mother.

Later the brothers will make the acquaintance of Chris, our fervid fantasy hero who conquered us previously. The child will quickly make friends with Daniel and the two will immediately find themselves in tune.

In addition to being able to get to know the protagonists better, we have the opportunity to delve deeper into the lives of their grandparents and savor even more the sweetness of Chris, who I believe to be one of the best characters ever created from Dontnod. In every scene in which he appears I can't help but be moved or feel my heart full of joy: I would like him to be a real character, so that I can hug him.

Through Sean we will try to get closer to him and if we can make him trust us, he could reveal some more information about his relationship with his father who, as we know, is quite tense.

Music, graphics and new additions

If previously the musical sector was not very present and more space was given to long but intense silences, in Rules the "rules" change. This time we can say that the essence of Life is Strange is back and does not abandon us: the music chosen for this episode is intense and reminds us of the adventures of Max and Chloe.

The same enveloping atmosphere and the same intense feeling of peace.

I also noticed a slight improvement also in graphics: the snowy landscapes of Oregon seem almost real and the sketches we will make with Sean will capture more details than at the beginning. We are then in the Christmas period and the lights that adorn the houses, together with the various decorations, will make everything even more magical.

Also in this chapter we will have to find various collectibles: this time, however, Dontnod has decided to add a little help. It is not always easy to find these objects, sometimes because we prefer give space to the main story and we do not fully explore the environment, others because some of these objects they are not in plain sight. It can happen, therefore, to end the episode without having found them all.

In this case, we are offered help. After the episode, we can decide to replay it in normal mode or collector mode: the latter allows us to play the chapter we prefer, highlighting which collectibles are present in order to earn them.

The choices we make in this mode won't affect our story, so it's also a great way to see what would have happened "if we had chosen X instead of Y."

In conclusion

This new episode of Life is Strange brings us forward, allowing us to get to know our protagonists better and to observe another side of their history, getting to know new characters and further deepening the knowledge of others already seen previously.

The story still does not go live, so we await the next episodes: despite this, there will be twists and situations that will put us in difficulty.

The music sector will be more present and the graphics are better than the previous episode. The story will engulf us and allow us to feel closer to Sean, Daniel and even Chris who will not miss an opportunity to show us that small gestures are what really matter.