History VideoGame / LifeIsStrange2

** Later in the same episode, after the rednecks beat up Sean, he has to limp on in the hot desert during the next scene. He moves very slowly. You can try to run, which makes him move a bit faster, but after a time, he drops in exhaustion.

It's October 2016, and Sean Diaz is like any other 16-year-old boy living in Seattle, Washington -- he attends high school, hangs out with his best friend Lyla, listens to music, and gets bothered by his annoying 9-year-old brother, Daniel. One Friday afternoon begins like any other as he prepares to attend a party held by a classmate, but a tragic turn of events involving an asshole neighbor and a jumpy cop leaves the Diaz's father dead, the neighbor in a coma, and their part of the street in ruins. Confused, scared, and desperate, Sean makes a snap decision and goes on the run with Daniel, fleeing the scene of the crime and heading south with an eventual goal of staying with their father's family in Puerto Lobos, Mexico. With little more than some pocket money from his father, some party preparations, and the clothes on their backs, Sean and Daniel must learn to survive in the wilderness and live on the fringes, steering clear of the many dangers that the world contains.

Compounding this is Daniel's mysterious telekinesis, which manifested during the shooting to blast the officer (and his car) away -- a power he seems unaware of and unable to harness. Compounding ''that'' is Daniel's lack of recollection of the whole event, and Sean's unwillingness to let his brother know that their father is dead and they're on the run from the police. Sean is still a kid himself in many ways, and is now the only caretaker that Daniel has. Life on the road is far from easy, and the choices that Sean makes as he and Daniel journey south will affect how Daniel acts as he and Sean both come of age.

The complete game consists of five episodes released roughly 4 months apart, starting with Episode One on September 27, 2018 and ending with Episode Five on December 3, 2019. The game is available on [=PlayStation4=], Xbox One, and Windows, [=MacOS=] and Linux via Steam, the latter two ports being released on 19th December, 2019.

*** Sean has a wolf on his hoodie, and wolves frequently show up in his sketch book.

** Brody and the Stampers are represented by and heavily associated with bears, respectively, but take on two different interpretations of them. Notably, they're both met in a gas station named "Bear Station", which is situated in the middle of a thick forest. Brody comes across as very creepy and sketchy, with his first impression to the Diaz brothers being [[NotWhatItLooksLike caught looking at pictures of nudists on his laptop]] [[HarmfulToMinors by]] [[ChildrenAreInnocent Daniel]]. Understandably, Sean is quite concerned. However, as we see later, Brody is actually a GentleGiant NiceGuy who was actually writing an article on nudists, and out of the kindness of his heart drives the brothers to safety, allows Sean to vent to him, gives him kind words of encouragement, buys them a hotel room for the night, and gives them supplies. In the "Wolf Brothers" story, he is depicted as a bear by Sean, taking inspiration from his size and fuzzy beard as well as how despite his appearance, is a really nice guy. The Stamper family also have a bit of a bear motif, with them owning the aptly-named "Bear Station", Hank carving wooden bears, and the same unnerving, predatory demeanor that Brody gives off, but in contrast with Brody turning out to be quite friendly, Hank is every bit as dangerous as he lets on, and poses a serious threat to the brothers. Doris is a unique case in that her mood can shift depending on how the brothers present themselves (she'll be less suspicious if they washed up in the bathroom), if they begged for food from the family outside (she'll be more stern due to them "bothering her customers"), and if she catches Sean in a lie (the likelihood of this happening is based on both choices). Overall, she seems more mellowed out than her husband, and isn't even that mean if Sean raises too much suspicion, and regardless of what happens in the store, [[EveryoneHasStandards she seems unnerved by Hank kidnapping Sean]], [[ExtremeDoormat but ultimately trusts her husband's judgment]].

** Brody eventually takes the brothers to a parking lot that oversees the entirety of Arcadia Bay. Depending on the player's choice before starting the game, it is either the same peaceful night-time scene as it always was (including the famous light-house) or a ghastly ruin.

*** [[spoiler: If you chose the ending where you save Arcadia Bay, David is at the commune because he and Joyce divorced after Chloe's death. He bitterly regrets his treatment of Chloe, and tries to make up for it by ensuring that her murderer, Nathan Prescott, stays in jail. He has a letter written to Joyce and a mugshot of Nathan. He gets a phone call from Joyce, as they still seem to be on good terms despite everything.]]

** In Episode 1 when Hank ties him to a radiator pipe, until Daniel arrives and helps him escape.

* DisasterDominoes: Episode 1 has THE one.[[spoiler:Sean forces Daniel to go outside in anger,leading to the former spitting fake blood on Brett, Brett "accidentally" [[BerserkButton pissing off Sean]], Sean pushing Brett onto a sharp rock, Matthews pulling the trigger on Esteban and Daniel's power awakening causes major property damage and the death of Matthews.]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Nicholas, Lisbeth's henchman, has no qualms beating Sean to a pulp with his gun, but even HE seems shocked when [[spoiler:she asks him to shoot him in the face]].

** Sean starts with a short, neat haircut that grows longer and shaggier while he's on the road. This shows that he's being forced to grow up quickly and that he's leading a much rougher and harsher life than before. Then he gets the chance to try and impress Finn by getting an extremely different haircut, a shaved Mohawk. This shows the influence that Finn and the others have had on Sean, who is still an impressionable teenager when it comes down to it, and it also shows that he's embracing his more rebellious side, which goes hand in hand for the illegal work he's doing to support Daniel and himself. [[spoiler: Sean's shaved head in the fourth episode is for medical reasons given that he lost his eye and was comatose, meaning he must have had major surgery in that area, but it also serves to make him more vulnerable. It has the added benefit of making him look more determined when he later dons an eyepatch and goes to save Daniel.]]

*** ''Wastelands'' introduces Jacob Hackerman, a fellow drifter whom broke off from his religious community in Nevada. He mentions this community's [[spoiler:female reverend]] and states that the only thing that could encourage him to return would be a "sign from God". Once he bears witness to Daniel's powers, he spends the night praying instead of partying. [[spoiler:After the finale of the episode, Jacob takes Daniel back to his community, which he presumes will keep him safe.]]

* HotterAndSexier: Episode 3 features bare breasts, skinny dipping, and (determinantly) an implied sex scene.

* InMediasRes: The game opens with a recording of Officer Matthews' dashcam, showing him approach the Diaz household and respond to an offscreen disturbance, before we hear a gunshot and see a blast topple the car over. The rest of the prologue shows Sean's evening leading up to that moment.

* {{Irony}}: Both of the high morality endings have someone sacrifice themselves to give the other character a normal life. [[spoiler:Sean turns himself in to the police so he can give Daniel a normal life in exchange for serving a 15 year prison sentence in the Redemption ending while Parting Ways has Daniel being the one who turns himself in after giving Sean the opportunity to go past the border with Sean living a wonderful life in Mexico in exchange for Daniel to wear an anklet tracker by the government.]]

* MindOverMatter: Daniel has powerful telekinetic abilities which allow him to flip a cop car and do quite a number to the surrounding properties. He has no control over it to start with, but gets the hang of it between (and during) episodes with Sean's help.

** You spend the first scene of the game worrying about such things as whether to drink at a party, how to make a good impression on your crush and staying in your dad's good graces. And then, just when you've gotten comfortable with that level of drama, wham -- here comes the [[PersonOfMassDestruction destructive superpowers,]] the [[RunForTheBorder being on the run from the law]] and the desperate struggle to find food and shelter day by day!

** Encouraging Daniel to be more restrained about using his powers seems like the smart thing given how irresponsible the kid can be, but [[spoiler:this can lead to Daniel being too scared to use his powers to stop Chris from being hit by the cop car at the end of Episode 2, unless you avoid the cops and thus that situation. You learn at the start of Episode 4 that Chris is okay, but it's still a formative moment for Daniel.]]

* PlotTriggeringDeath: The confrontation with the policeman, leaving two dead, sends the two boys onto their journey.

** Sean gets accosted by a pair of racist locals in Nevada at night during Episode 4. If he doesn't follow their racist orders, or is defiant in his general responses, one of them hits Sean repeatedly.

* ThePromisedLand: The brothers treat Puerto Lobos as this - their ancestral home, where they will not have to deal with any prejudice or persecution. Subverted in the last episode, where a pair of Mexican refugees spell it out to Sean that Mexico is ''brutal'' to live in, enough so that they themselves have repeatedly risked their lives to escape to the USA. [[spoiler: If the brothers do end up escaping to Mexico, they seem to be able to make a decent life for themselves, but it's definitely not perfect. If Sean alone makes it, his life seems pretty good, and we can assume from the other endings that he followed in his father's footsteps as a mechanic. If Daniel alone makes it, then his life becomes very brutal due to losing his brother.]]

* ShipperOnDeck: At the start, Sean's BFF Lyla is doing her damndest to play matchmaker for Sean and his crush, Jen.

** In Episode 1, Sean can discuss Daniel's knowledge in ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' or ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. He will then constently reference the chosen work throughout the episode.

* SkinnyDipping: In the third episode, Cassidy invites Sean for a intimate swim in the river.
* SliceOfLife: Even though Sean and Daniel are on the run, a good portion of the game is filled out by more mundane, slower-paced sections that depict a calmer life - events like cleaning up around the house, doing morning chores at a camp, or sharing a dinner with [[spoiler:your estranged mother.]]

** Happens again between Episodes 3 and 4; At the end of episode 3, [[spoiler: Sean is subjected to a case of EyeScream]]. In the episodes leading up to Episode 3, there's nothing really unusual any time you go into first person view while sketching or observing objects. However, starting with episode 4, when the above occurs, [[spoiler: the very left side of the screen is blacked out. Furthermore, the episode starts with a Depth Perception test that's surprisingly easy to fail.]]

* TheTeaser: In addition to a recap of previous episodes from Episode 2 to 5, the first scene of each episode takes place before the title is shown.

* TraumaCongaLine: Every episode of this game features at east one incredibly traumatic event for the brothers.

** In episode 2, [[spoiler: On top of the boys squatting in an abandoned house in December and Daniel's health declining rapidly, the boys' adorable puppy Mushroom is killed and possibly eaten by a cougar just minutes after the title card. Later in the episode, Sean and Daniel will be forced to flee their grandparent's house after their location is revealed to police, and depending on past choices, Daniel's new friend Chris can send them off in a tearful and heartfelt goodbye, nearly be hit by a cop car whilst trying to save the brothers, or actually be hit by the car, with it being unclear if he survived. No matter what, Daniel in particular will be very torn up over the events.]]
** In episode 3, [[spoiler: The boys are now working illegally on a pot farm for money, including the 9 year old Daniel. On top of rising tension between the two, Daniel and Finn will attempt a heist of Merrill's safe either with or without Sean's approval. Either way, the heist will go awry, resulting in Cassidy (if present) being injured, Finn being killed or injured, Daniel possibly being shot, and Sean losing his left eye in yet another psychic blast. Again, Daniel is unsure if Sean is dead a flees the scene in shock and panic.]]
** In episode 4, [[spoiler: Sean is in police custody recovering from his injury and subsequent coma in the hospital, but soon to be transferred to a juvenile detention center and put on trial. He has not seen Daniel in months and no one knows where he is, adding to Sean's loneliness and anxiety. After discovering where Daniel is and escaping the hospital, Sean is humiliated and/or brutally assaulted by two racists in the desert. After a while the car he stole has run out of fuel and he must walk to Haven Point on foot in the deadly heat. Upon finding Daniel, he discovers he has been brainwashed and abused by a cult for his abilities, and that Daniel will not come with him and wants Sean to stay in Haven instead. After being assaulted and threatened once again, Sean is reunited with his estranged mother and forced to confront his trauma and reconcile with her in order to save Daniel. After breaking into Reverend Lisbeth's home to gather dirt on her, Sean confronts them in the church and persistently tries to convince daniel Lisbeth is using him and he should leave with Sean, resulting in Nicholas repeatedly punching, pistol whipping, and threatening to shoot him. In the end, Daniel is convinced, and depending on brotherhood/morality levels as well as player choice, Sean or Daniel can kill or spare Lisbeth and leave the burning church together.]]
** In episode 5, [[spoiler: Sean and Daniel are still recovering from the events at Haven Point, and Daniel shows signs of PTSD from the emotional abuse he endured under Lisbeth's control. When they are eventually forced to flee their mother's home due to being tracked down by authorities, they attempt to go straight to Mexico by using Daniel's power to tear a hole in the border wall. This does seem to work at first, until they are spotted by racist vigilantes who shoot Daniel and render him unconscious, and turn them in to the police. After some time in a holding cell, Sean is interrogated by an officer before Daniel eventually wakes up and breaks them out using his power, either violently or as peacefully as possible. Once they've escaped the station and gotten their car and belongings back, Sean drives to the point of entry, and after some heartfelt words to his little brother, must make the final choice to surrender to authorities or continue to Mexico. Here, the story will split off into four endings dependent on Daniel's morality level, ranging from bittersweet to absolutely gut-wrenching.]]

** The plot is kicked off by Sean sending Daniel out of his room, leading to a series of events which ends with them on the run from the law.

** Brody is another example, having left his rich yet conservative family to live on the road with nothing but his car, laptop and the blog he keeps about his experiences and the people he meets.

** Later in the same episode, after the rednecks beat up Sean, he has to limp on in the hot desert during the next scene. He moves very slowly. You can try to run, which makes him move a bit faster, but [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome after a time, he drops in exhaustion]].

* SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome:
** The game deconstructs the KidsWildernessEpic genre and the superhero genre.
*** Daniel and Sean are on the road after a cop accidentally kills their father, causing Daniel to use his powers in a state of panic. A terrified Sean is forced to become the guardian and lead them both to the border. [[spoiler: He tries to keep the reason a secret but the event is broadcasted on the news and Daniel learns what happened in the worst way possible.]]
*** [[spoiler: The racist, Hank, was hailed by the police as a hero for locking up two kids in the basement and hitting one of them. Why? These kids were outlaws, he hid his reasons for doing this and the security footage looks like ''they'' assaulted him when they looked for supplies. [[MurderArsonAndJaywalking Then stole a dog for good measure.]]]]
*** [[spoiler: Daniel takes said dog without permission and it becomes a travel partner. However, the dog doesn't survive the first quarter of the second episode since it comes across a wild puma and is promptly killed and eaten. As harsh as it is, all three of them are living in the wild and you never go there alone without a form of protection or escape.]]
*** Rather than use his power with great responsibility, [[SuperDickery Daniel just messes around with his powers]] and Sean has the choice to encourage this by playing a prank on someone. By ''Wastelands'', Daniel has started becoming arrogant and thinking little of others.
---->'''Daniel''': I am the one with power.
*** [[spoiler: At the end of the second episode, Sean and Daniel have to flee from their grandparents' home because the police managed to find them. Even if you don't use the phone or the computer, thus leading the police to the house, Sean and Daniel are fairly infamous at this point in the story. So, naturally, someone ''will'' recognize them even in the small town of Beaver Creek.]]
*** [[spoiler: You can choose to hide the truth from Chris, letting a 9-year old boy believe he really has superpowers. This naturally results with him trying to do something dangerous and potentially getting seriously hurt.]]
*** Merrill is extremely reluctant to have Daniel roaming around the cannabis farm and only allows Daniel to be there out of empathy with Sean. [[spoiler: The second Daniel messes up, Merrill fires both Daniel and Sean, then refuses to pay the wages of the other workers.]]
*** [[spoiler: When someone with unexplained powers is brought to a public place, someone is bound to assume that they are a sign of a higher power.]]
*** [[spoiler: Daniel has no idea on what his mom looks like and after finally meeting Karen for the first time in Episode 4, all he can say is that he doesn't even know who she is despite wanting to know her in the past episodes.]]
*** [[spoiler: If [[TheirFirstTime Sean has sex for the first time]], [[SpeedSex he doesn't actually last very long]] and Cassidy is understanding of this since she knows it's his "first time". [[IdealizedSex Contrary to popular belief]] or [[OfCourseImNotAVirgin school rumours]], when people lose their virginity it's a short-lived occasion since everything is a new experience. Sean is also very nervous and can refuse the offer if he wants to, also reflecting how teenage boys can be [[AManIsAlwaysEager insecure and anxious about their first time]].]]
*** One of the racist guys who find Sean in episode 4 force him to say things in Spanish for their amusement, or they'll beat him up. One of the options Sean can say repeats the phrase the man wants him to say, and it throws in an insult to the man's mother. Unfortunately, the man knows what "madre" means, and is able to glean the rest of the insult's meaning pretty easily after that, leading him to beat Sean up anyway.
*** Episode 5 still has Daniel having flashbacks towards what happened to him in the last episode. Even though the Reverend is either [[spoiler:dead or too far away to do anything to him]] and that there is a roughly three-month time skip, the trauma he faced from his brainwashing still makes him paranoid of her and having PTSD nightmares which isn't easy to remove even with treatment (which due to them being on the run with authorities, is impossible for him to get).
*** In episode 5, the players meet [[spoiler:David Madsen (Chloe Price's stepfather from the first game) and he gives a sad reality punch for the player. If Arcadia Bay was destroyed, then David lost everything he held dear while Chloe and Max drove away into the sunset without saying goodbye to him. It took him a long time to finally try making amends with them since they pretty much abandoned him without offering any form of emotional support after a tragedy on that scale. If Chloe died, then he and Joyce eventually divorced because they couldn't cope with their loss or look past the vitriolic relationship between Chloe and David. Whether you like David or not, he's still a man who lost everything because of Max's actions - though, in both cases, he seems to be more at peace with himself and his own past, and he has a much healthier relationship with either Chloe or Joyce, depending on which ending was chosen in the first game.]]
*** [[spoiler: The police have a really hard time believing Sean and Daniel's stories, since nobody would believe that Daniel has telekinetic powers and it's hard to explain how a series of "random accidents" managed to follow them everywhere they went]].
---->"Listen, once is an accident... twice is luck... three times is enemy action."
*** Sean's plan to escape to Puerto Lobos, and the consequences of it for himself and Daniel, are examined more critically in the final episode. [[spoiler:The endings in particular are [[BittersweetEnding bitterly realistic]]:]]
*** [[spoiler:If Daniel makes it with Sean to Mexico, the brothers are implied to have fallen into a life of crime, defending themselves from gangsters while Sean runs a repair shop (and they pull some jobs on the side). If Sean dies during the attempt, it's even worse - Daniel is stranded in a foreign country with no family left, surrounded by a language he doesn't speak. That ending shows that he continues down the amoral path Sean started him on, fending off other criminals with his power when threatened and doing plenty of crime himself. Puerto Lobos is hardly a great place to raise a kid, much less be one on your own - one of many reasons for why Esteban came to the US in the first place.]]
*** [[spoiler:If Daniel doesn't make it to Mexico, either surrendering with Sean or bailing out after helping his brother, he's sent to live with the Reynolds' and has a happy, healthy life in the US with his family. If he continues to Mexico, Sean is able to make a good living (the nature of it is unknown, but he appears happy, and from the other ending we can assume he's a mechanic) with his partner of choice, or alone if that particular path was taken though Daniel has an anklet tracker because the government now knows he has powers. If Sean surrenders, he is sent to prison for 15 years, but is able to become a successful comic book artist while behind bars, eventually being released to the waiting arms of his brother, mother, and potentially best friend. This is the only ending in which we know for sure that Sean does not settle into a life of crime.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Subverted. In Episode 1, Officer Matthews is basically ignoring every law of gun safety (finger off the trigger, don't point at anything you don't intend to kill, handle your gun carefully) when he's dealing with the Diazes... and then [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome he accidentally (and fatally) shoots Esteban]]. Ironically, Merrill in Episode 3, despite holding the group at gunpoint, averts this; he does so to get them to submit, but spends much of the time in that scene pointing the barrel of the shotgun at the ceiling, with his finger off the trigger.

* BigWhy: Daniel asks Sean under tears why he hasn't told him about the father's death.
** And again when he realises [[spoiler:Sean has been shot and killed in their attempt to cross the border]].

** [[spoiler:While Cassidy doesn't seem to be seriously interested in a relationship with Sean, at least at the time, Finn can admit in the next episode that he's fallen in love with him. It doesn't quite mitigate how little focus Finn's romance route gets compared to Cassidy's, but it does even things out a bit.]] Furthermore, [[spoiler:if you choose to get Sean with either one of them (and both survive to the ending) it's implied he and his chosen partner end up together on the same terms regardless of who it is.]]

* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only game in the series that has no mystery elements, no cast of consistently recurring characters, no central location, no female protagonists and the playable character isn't the one with powers.

* HairyGirl: in chapter 3, if Sean chooses to [[spoiler:have sex with Cassie]] she is shown as having unshaved armpits.

* PermaShave: Averted and inverted. Sean and Daniel’s hair becomes longer and unkempt at times, and Sean has various stages of facial hair growth. Body hair is often depicted. Cassie is shown having unshaven armpits. Realistic as depilatory concerns are typically not top of mind for many of the characters.

* AdultFear: In ''spades''. Not only does the game start [[spoiler:with the death of Sean and Daniel's father via cop shooting]] but Sean also has to look out for Daniel on the road. In addition to providing the basic necessities, Sean also has to teach Daniel -- if Daniel sees Sean steal, he'll steal too.

* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only game in the series that has no mystery elements, no cast of constantly recurring characters, no central location, no female protagonists and the playable character isn't the one with powers and the story covers a span of months instead of several days.

* ArtisticLicenseLaw: The basis of Sean's [[spoiler:incarceration in the Redemption ending. There's an entire laundry list of crimes the brothers are suspected of committing, including grand theft auto, robbery, and murder, but except for stealing a car and the supplies they may have taken from the trading post, the evidence for nearly everything else would be circumstantial at best (in particular, the Seattle district attorney would have a hard time explaining how the dashcam footage of the cop's death meant Sean was responsible), which would explain how he ends up released (or paroled) after only 15 years.]]

* TropicalEpilogue: Puerto Lobos, despite its crime rate, looks like a seaside paradise. [[spoiler: Sean sends Daniel an appropriate postcard from there in the "Parting Ways" ending. In the "Blood Brothers" ending, both Sean and Daniel take some time to enjoy the view from the beach after dealing with some local toughs. In the "Lone Wolf" ending, however, [[DownerEnding the gorgeous setting does absolutely nothing to mitigate the epilogue's bleakness]].]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Subverted. The cop in the opening is basically ignoring every law of gun safety (finger off the trigger, don't point at anything you don't intend to kill, handle your gun carefully) when he's dealing with the Diazes....and then SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome when he accidentally (and fatally) shoots Esteban. Ironically, Merrill in Episode 3, despite holding the group at gunpoint, averts this; he does so to get them to submit, but spends much of the time in that scene pointing the barrel of the shotgun at the ceiling, with his finger off the trigger.

* BerserkButton: In episode 1, [[spoiler:if the player decides to question Daniel or confront Brett, Brett insults Sean about his absent mother or his Mexican origin respectfully, which immediately angers up Sean enough to punch Brett right in the face.]]

* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only game in the series that has no mystery elements, no cast of constantly recurring characters, no central location, and the playable character isn't the one with powers and the story covers a span of months instead of several days.

* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only game in the series that has no mystery elements, no cast of constantly recurring characters, no central location, and the playable character isn't the one with powers and the story covers a spam of months instead of several days.

* OddballInTheSeries: This is the only game in the series that has no mystery elements, no returning recurring characters, the playable character isn't the one with powers and the story covers a spam of months instead of several days.

* BigBad: [[TheBadGuysAreCops The police as a whole]] are the main antagonistic force throughout the five episodes, pursuing [[PlayerCharacter Sean]] and Daniel Diaz to arrest them for Daniel's AccidentalMurder of a racist cop (which happened when the cop shot their dad). The Diaz brothers' goal is to flee them by going to Puerto Lobos in Mexico. Aside from said racist, jumpy cop in the first episode, though, the game doesn't go to any great lengths to demonize police officers, merely showing them as the opposing force to Sean and Daniel's journey.

* IncitingIncident: [[spoiler Esteban's death]] is this to the game's plot.

** In episode 1, Sean can discuss Daniel's knowledge in Minecraft or lord of the rings. He will then constently reference the chosen work throughout the episode.

** In episode, Sean can talk about Daniel's knowledge in ''VideoGame/Minecraft'' or lord of the rings. He will then constently reference the chosen work throughout the episode.