Over the weekend, headlines in the spirit of “The developers have confirmed the sequel to Life is Strange” rattled on the network, picked up by almost all domestic and foreign gaming portals. However, it soon became clear that the news was fundamentally wrong - everyone translated the original Reddit user, but after that no one watched it, and in the meantime, on Sunday night, apparently under pressure, the material was changed.
Here is the first quote from the co-founder of the Dontnod developer Alain Damasio:
“I have been working on finalizing the script for Life is Strange and will later work on Life is Strange 2».
And this is what it looks like after fixing it:
« I AM I've been working on finalizing the script for Life is Strange, and if there were a sequel, I'd be happy to contribute."
This sounds more reasonable, although even the creators themselves have always said that they would not mind a sequel. In any case, this is the most reasonable move given the nature of the game. The fact is that Life is Strange is not a game in the usual sense - it is an interactive series in which the plot is directed by the player himself.
According to the scenario, we control a young schoolgirl Max, who, after an accident with her friend, gets the opportunity to control time - turn it back, stop and return to the past up to a whole minute (a little later, she even moves to childhood). However, she receives a terrible omen that her hometown will soon become the epicenter of the disaster. Using new powers and knowledge about the future, Max tries to solve the mystery and save his friends.
The game has been released in episodes since January of this year, the last, fifth, appeared last month. And many are already talking about the possibility of a second season. It's hard to avoid spoilers when trying to present the plot of the sequel, so let's be very careful.
The season one finale, despite the promise of five endings, has only two options. And both will have to sacrifice something. But in each Max one way or another says goodbye to his former life, or even leaves the city altogether. In any case, whatever plot awaits us, the evolution of time management mechanics will definitely change.
If in the first season we could only travel short “distances”, then in the sequel, the developers can strengthen Max’s abilities and give her the opportunity to go to an earlier time, not even related to her memory. For example, in the 50s or even in the 19th century. Undoubtedly, whatever she does there, the changes in the present will be completely different - from different headlines to a new president or a declaration of war. Many complained about the excessive melodrama of the game, so a little more dark colors would not hurt here, especially since the end of the first season inevitably leads to victims.
And what plot twists promises us the ability to move into the future. Undoubtedly, this thing can harm the plot because of the absolute "invincibility" of the heroine, who is capable of absolutely anything. Therefore, you can use the example of "Source Code", in which the same reality is slightly different, regardless of the actions of the hero. Another thing is that the writers of such plot madness can simply fall into despair and go crazy.
Whatever the case, despite the somewhat lengthy title, we're more than confident that more news of Dontnod's creation awaits us in 2016, and as soon as it arrives, you'll be the first to know.
The release date is the point in time after which the game is considered released, which usually means that it can already be downloaded and tested if you purchase a licensed copy. For example, the release date for Life is Strange 2 is September 26, 2018.
Recently, more and more developers allow you to buy the game in advance - to make a pre-order. In response to the support from potential buyers, who believe so much in the success of the project that they give money for it even before the release, the developers share various bonuses and exclusive materials. It can be a soundtrack, an artbook, or some mini-addons for the game.
Thus, a pre-order actually allows you to buy the game before its official release, but this does not mean that the announced release date loses its meaning, since you can fully play only after the release.
Why do you need to know release dates for games?
If only because it is more convenient to plan your time and finances. If you know, for example, when Life is Strange 2 will be released, then it will be easier for you to navigate: set aside money to buy it in advance, plan things so that you can immerse yourself in the game as soon as it comes out.
A lot of gamers keep track of game release dates with special calendars and feature articles about the most important releases of the month or season. You can find both on our game portal site.
How do developers choose when to release?
They are guided by many factors at once. Firstly, it is important for them to know that their target audience will be able to immediately join the game process, so games are less likely to come out during the holiday season, as well as in those months when work is usually all hands on deck, and students have a session.
Secondly, for a successful release, developers are trying to compare their plans with the announcements of potential competitors. For example, if we are talking about a shooter, then releasing it simultaneously with the new Battlefield or Call of Duty is not very reasonable.
Thirdly, the release date indicates the so-called deadline - the very line after which the game is already ready. This means that it must be completed within the stated time. Alas, this does not always work out, and therefore the release date of the game can be shifted one or even several times.
In addition to this, the release of Life is Strange 2 on PC and consoles may differ - often developers try to release one version first, and only then move on to the next.
Square Enix was pleased with the cooperation with Deck Nine, the authors, and we liked the game at one time. But, like all other fans, we have been waiting for the real sequel, Life is Strange 2 from DONTNOD Entertainment. Summer, a mini-episode set in the same world, only whetted the appetite. Finally, the time has come for a new journey, with new heroes, but the sadness in the voice of the narrator so familiar from the previous parts.
Life is Strange 2
genre adventure
Platforms Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One
Languages English Russian
Developer DONTNOD Entertainment
Publisher Square Enix
Site Steam
Sean Diaz is having a very big day. He is preparing for a high school party where he plans to meet a girl he likes. Best friend Layla on Skype helps the young man to plan a date and constantly teases Sean, either because of his indecision, or about sex. Teenagers are stupid. Sean's younger brother, Daniel, is obsessed with preparing for Halloween, he makes costumes and stuff in his room. The boys' father works in the garage. An idyllic picture, which in a few minutes will shatter into smithereens due to nonsense, misunderstanding, a wild combination of circumstances. In an instant, Sean and Daniel will lose everything, lose their father, friends, home, and be left alone against the whole world. They will be forced to flee and go wandering around America.
Action Life is Strange 2 begins in the Northwest of the United States, in the suburbs of Seattle. In the first episode of the game, which has the subtitle "Roads", the boys will travel along the coast of Washington and Oregon and even look for a while in Arcadia Bay, the state of which depends on the decision you made in the finale of the first Life is Strange (there is no transfer of saves, everything is determined one question when creating a new game).
The American outback in general and the Northwest in particular are clearly to the liking of the Parisians from DONTNOD: one-story America, tiny towns, half-empty roads, harsh, fantastically beautiful nature. Some shots from the game, especially at night, seem to have come straight out of regionalist paintings: a gas station in the rain, a car under a lamppost, a motel with a neon sign, a view of the coastal city from the recreation area… Studio artists do an amazing job with the camera and the side light from low autumn sun, giving the picture warmth and evoking sadness about the passing summer. In a word, Life is Strange 2 looks even better than the original - it is warm, lively, sad.
With the second mandatory component of the games in the Life is Strange series - an amazing soundtrack that you want to immediately send to the player, everything is in order here too. I am pleased with both the selection of compositions and their compliance with the mood and situation.
The structure of Life is Strange 2 is a typical American road movie, it is not for nothing that the authors themselves name the films Into the Wild (2007) by Sean Penn and Of Mice and Men (1992) based on the novel of the same name by John Steinbeck as sources of inspiration. The brothers, who are going to get to Mexico, to their father's hometown, are trying to survive in harsh conditions, find food and shelter. On the way, they meet people who treat them differently, both those who want to hand over the fugitives to the police, and those who are ready to help them free of charge. And suddenly it turns out that there is too much politics in the adventure about children. Some characters do not hide their disdain for immigrants at all (the Diaz brothers are Mexicans) and even recall the wall on the southern border that President Trump promised to build. Politics is everywhere, as one of the heroes of the game says.
Unlike the first part of Life is Strange, the protagonist of the sequel, and he is Sean, has no special abilities. All he can do is choose one of the two or three available solutions in a critical situation. Hit or run, argue or give in, etc. Sean's actions, both at key points and in everyday situations, determine how his younger brother will behave, taking an example from his older brother. Steal a tent in a store, send a child to distract the seller? Rob a car parked by the side of the road? Send Daniel to beg? These decisions will not affect the main plot of the game, but may change some nuances, the behavior of the younger boy, his answers. A similar “moral compass” system is also implemented in, where Clementine’s decisions determine how AJ grows up.
However, without the supernatural in Life is Strange 2 still could not do. As in the original game and spin-off The Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, one of the characters has paranormal abilities. Daniel, like Captain Spirit, does not know and does not know how to control his abilities, Sean, under the control of the player, will have to somehow humble this unsolicited force. Judging by the scene after the credits of the first episode, in the next part we will find out exactly how.
If Chloe in Before the Storm was limited to graffiti on specially designated walls, then Sean is a real artist, and in some scenes of the game he can sit on a chair / stump / bench and sketch the view he likes in a notebook. Unlike the girls in the previous parts of the game, the young man is in no hurry to pour out his soul to the diary, limiting himself to short phrases or drawings. In general, the texts in the game have become noticeably smaller.
The first episode of Life is Strange 2, like in the original part of the game, is only a prologue, introduction of characters, stage design. It is very uneven in pace and mood, and despite such a tragic beginning of the story, it falls short in terms of intensity of passions to some episodes of the first game and Before the Storm. This is probably what the authors intended, but the prevailing mood of the first episode is more confusion and apathy than sadness and grief. This is due to the shock experienced by both Sean and Daniel, who are trying to forget what happened in front of them in Seattle. However, despite this confusion and unevenness, the first episode of Life is Strange 2 is still good. This is a very interesting project, and we want to know the continuation of this story.
Release dates for the next episodes of Life is Strange 2 have yet to be announced. But, given the experience of previous games in the series, we can expect episodes to be released every two months. It will take you about 4 hours to complete the first part, which gives about 18-20 hours for the whole game, in fact, a lot. On Steam, the first episode is available for purchase separately for 123 UAH, and the entire season for 609 UAH. (discount could be more than 3%).
The fates of Telltale Games and DONTNOD Entertainment are similar in many ways. Both teams gained notoriety after the release of episodic interactive stories that brought together great amount prizes and showing excellent sales. After that, publishers began to hunt for teams, they themselves began to actively expand (now there are more than 160 employees in the DONTNOD studio), launch new projects ... In 2018, DONTNOD released three games at once: an ambiguous but very stylish vampire RPG, free adventure, and now full-fledged Life Is Strange 2. What did the constant work and processing lead to
Site score
Pros: Atmosphere; fantastically beautiful picture; great soundtrack; characters you empathize with; political overtones; moral compass system
Minuses: The first episode is uneven in pace and emotional tension.
Conclusion: A beautiful and touching story of two brothers who are forced to run away from home. A worthy sequel to Life is Strange
More choices and consequences!
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In developing
The sequel to the sensational action game of 2015 will be released very soon Life is Strange: the release of the first episode is scheduled for September 27, and at the German exhibition gamescom 2018 publishers Square Enix brought two whole gameplay fragments. We tell you what the next story from the French studio is like Dontnod Entertainment.
Heroes
The emotional load this time was not left to the female characters: the new plot will tell about the Diaz brothers living in Seattle with their father. The guys remind me of Will and Jonathan Byers from Stranger Things: growing up Sean does not particularly get along with his peers and is reluctant to go to parties, and the younger Daniel is always secretive and every now and then gets into trouble, from which his older brother rescues him.
You will play as Sean. He loves to hang out with his girlfriend Laila, draw sketches and listen to music - by the way, now you can sing along with her! Moreover, half of these activities organically fit into the main gameplay, which makes the passage much more dynamic. But the usual moral choices have not gone away: for example, you can confess to your father about your dubious (weed and alcohol) plans for the evening and suddenly get forty bucks in pocket money for honesty.
tie
A large piece of gameplay shown at the exhibition demonstrates just the beginning of the plot: while Sean was planning what he would do on Halloween evening, Daniel decided to scare the neighbor's bully with his costume, but did not calculate his strength and stained his clothes with paint. Hearing the screams, Sean jumped out to figure out what was the matter, the dispute turned into a fight - and here we are not given a choice: the older brother will push the neighbor in any case, and he will unsuccessfully land on the stone with his spine and die on the spot.
Further events develop in the spirit of Shakespearean tragedies: a young policeman notices the scene, instantly chooses the right and the wrong and points a gun at the children. And just then the boys' father jumps out of the house and rushes to their defense. The frightened policeman, not knowing who to knit first, loses control of the situation and accidentally (or is it not?) pulls the trigger right in the chest of a man. And this is where it happens something, directly related to the new supernatural theme of the season: everything explodes around, the policeman flies to the side, and Sean falls unconscious.
Official gameplay from the developers with this very scene
The first thing he sees when he raises his head is three corpses at once (his father, a policeman and a neighbor) and his younger brother, who is still lying in a swoon. Somewhere in the background, police sirens are already blaring, and Sean makes an instant decision: run! But where should two criminal orphans go? There is only one option: to return from the USA to Mexico, where their father once lived. But how to get there without money, food, transport and adult help? It is this problem that we have to solve for the entire second season, while the brothers will look for fellow travelers, shelter and food.
Gameplay
It will become a little more convenient to do this than in the first part: you can now talk to the characters on the go. For example, Daniel from the other end of the location can shout to his brother that he wants to try an unfamiliar berry. In the original game, you would have had to race across the map towards him; now it is enough from a distance to forbid him to do this.
True, it is better to forbid and allow any antics deliberately: each replica of the older brother forms Daniel's fragile personality. So, if Sean notices something interesting in the vicinity, he can draw his brother's attention to such an object, and the curious kid will surely try to do something with him.
For example, seeing a chocolate bar in an open car, Daniel will offer to pull it off. If allowed, the outcome is obvious: the younger brother will think that stealing is not so bad, and next time he will not even ask permission. But if you forbid breaking the law, the child, although he will be offended, is unlikely to do something similar in the future. Every time Sean's action influences Daniel's behavior, the now-familiar mark appears in the corner of the screen: "This will have consequences."
In terms of difficult moments and difficult moral choices, the second part has not yet lagged behind the first - and outwardly the project has changed little. Is it a new engine Unreal Engine 4 made the game much more realistic: the hair began to look more like individual strands, and facial animations were added to the characters.
The soundtrack is still being worked on by the French composer Jonathan Morali, the author of the compositions for the first part. The new tracks sound a little different, but still fit perfectly into what is happening on the screen.
So far, Dontnod Entertainment has come up with a beautiful and complex story of growing up and loss. We are looking forward to the release!
Developers from Dontnod officially announced Life is Strange 2 is the sequel to the 2015 game of the same name. The story of the girl Max Caulfield from Life is Strange, which received the ability to control time, won the hearts of many gamers. And today Dontnod officially announced the long-awaited second part of the game.
Official announcement of Life is Strange 2
Announcement Life is Strange 2 was made possible through a video posted in the official game. In it, the developers thanked the players for purchasing the first part and said that work on the second part is already in progress. The developers have not said anything about the name of the game and whether it will be distributed by episodes. However, they announced that they would not perform at E3.
We can't wait to tell you about the new part of the game when the time comes, but right now we're hard at work to make sure the game has the best experience. the best quality which we can create. We are very grateful for your patience and ask for a little more time. The new game won't be at E3 this June, but we'll be watching the show near you and good luck to everyone!— dontnod
The first part of Life is Strange was released in 2015 for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox360 and Xbox One. It was distributed in episodic format and collected good feedback critics. Our portal gives her 8 points out of 10.