Life is Strange Episode 2 makes players realize Max Caufield’s time travel abilities don’t make her a superhero. The coming of age story gets darker and Max’s world spirals out of control. The more Max tries to manipulate the terrible situations she’s put in, the worse it gets for the people around her.
[Warning: review contains mild spoilers from Life is Strange episode 1 and 2.]
The Story
Episode 2 focuses on Max Caufield and Kate Marsh. A video of Kate making out with multiple boys goes viral and Blackwall Academy’s "mean girl" Victoria continues to spread it online. Kate later opens up to Max about what happened on the video the night of the Vortex Club party. Turns out Kate only had a sip of wine that night, and believes she was drugged. She tells Max that Nathan Prescott, the rich bad boy, offered to take her to the hospital. All Kate knows is she woke up in a bright room feeling gross about herself. Kate asks Max if she should go to the police to find out if Nathan actually helped her or hurt her the night of the party.
Max leaves Kate and heads out to grab breakfast with Chloe. Max talks to Chloe’s mother Joyce at the dinner, who brings her up to speed with what happened to Chloe after her father died. Joyce comes to the defense of her husband David Madsen, who has been particularly strict with Chloe. Chloe then walks into the dinner and starts talking to Max about her “powers.” Chloe tests Max’s time travel abilities and invites her to her secret spot. The two girls head out to a junkyard, where Chloe’s past quickly catches up to her. Max heads back to Blackwell Academy, where she has to face the consequences of her actions with Kate.
The Choices
The second episode of Life is Strange deals with the difficult subject of sexual assault. While Kate never directly says she was raped, she infers something terrible happened to her but she can’t remember. Kate’s depressed and doesn’t have anyone to turn to. What makes things worse for Kate is her deep religious devotion. She’s being called a hypocrite for preaching her beliefs to others and it’s too much for her to handle.
It’s the typical story for sexual assault victims who tell people what happened to them: stay quiet or you’ll be the one on trial. The choices you’re given in the game during the section about Kate are meant to make the player feel uncomfortable. If you decided to tell Kate not to go to the police, Max will tell a possible rape victim no one will believe she was drugged so don’t bother going to authorities unless she can prove it. It’s an extremely honest portrayal of the stigma and flaws surrounding how people treat sex crimes.
Episode 2 makes you feel like your decisions can have devastating consequences. For example, if you decided to not tell the principal about what you saw in the girl’s bathroom between Nathan and Chloe, the action comes back to haunt you in the end of episode 2 when confronted about it by authority figures. The same can be said if you make a rush judgment about another character who appears to be harassing Kate in episode 1. Every choice you make comes back full-circle.
'Life is Strange' Episode 1 Review: What A Deer, Time Travel And Tornado Have In Common With A Teenage Girl
The Verdict
It’s clear Life is Strange attempts to outshine other episodic dramas like Telltale’s The Walking Dead game. Unlike similar games, Life is Strange genuinely feels like your actions directly influence the world Dontnod Studios has created. Life is Strange doesn’t fall into the trap of becoming a point-and-click and gives you enough of the environment to explore without dragging out the storyline.
Unfortunately, the cringe-worthy aspects of episode 1 continue in the second installment of Life is Strange. The dialogue is terrible, but listening to teenagers talk to each other has never been a pleasant experience. The mean rich kid clichés are beaten to death with the “I’ll bring you down with my millions” card being dropped constantly. Instead of showing you why the town is corrupt, Life is Strange keeps telling you that the Prescotts run the world.
It’s really easy to stop caring about the characters in Life is Strange because they’re all pretty one-dimensional. Chloe’s the bad influence, Kate’s the troubled friend, Nathan is the douchebag, Warren falls into the friend-zone trap, Victoria’s the bitch everyone loves to hate, Mark Jefferson is the cool teacher everyone confides in, etc.
Still, the curiosity as to where Life is Strange is taking the story is still there. Life is Strange Episode 2 made it clear Max can’t save everyone– whom she decides to spare or take down with her is up to the player.
