L.O.06

I think the person who wrote this review completely lost the point of a game structured like LIS2 for two main reasons:

1. Hoping for a sequel of LIS 1 instead of accepting that it’s a mostly independent story.

2. Forgetting that we are experiencing the story from the Diaz brothers’ perspective, two kid fugitives of Mexican descent in south US.

Let me elaborate:

I am not sure how the game was promoted when it first got released because I only recently bought it and played it, but I think it is obvious from the start that the story is completely independent from LIS1 and Before the Storm. I can understand being disappointed in this change of settings as we all love the characters of the two previous games, but I don't think that this choice, as brave as it could be, undermines the quality of the story of LIS2. I actually believe portraying a completely different story is the right choice because, despite wanting to see more of the character we already know, taking the same game and squeezing it for more and more content will ultimately lead to a bad story (which seems to be the direction of Reunion) that doesn't have the same feeling and quality of the original. I also think this choice becomes a statement of DONTNOD, contrary of the Deck Nine one, to say "Ehi, we are not money seeking developers that will butcher a game to make more profit, we actually want to make good stories and experiences.". I would also add that by releasing a game independent from the prequels, it gives a big opportunity for easter eggs and characters cameo, like the ones of David/Max/Chloe in the second to last episode.

Moving to the comment about LIS2 being more episodic, I can agree that the events of the story feel a bit fragmented because of this structure but, personally, I prefer having longer time jumps between episodes compared to squeezing a lot of events in the span of a week. For LIS1 it can work because it plays on the feeling that Max is living her normal life and all that happens to her and Chloe is a lot all together, but honestly it's very difficult for me to imagine all of LIS1 happening in a few days, same for Before the Storm. It might just be me because I had this feeling for other series/games as well, but I did not have it for LIS2. I think the timeline during which the events happen makes sense and at the start of each episode you can immediately see that time has passed, not just because of the change of scenery but because of physical changes in the appearances of Sean and Daniel. And even if the feeling of changing scenes frequently persists, it could be interpreted as a way to make the player live what the brothers are going through: they definitely also feel like they are moving from a place to another way too often and quickly, so the episodic structure is the way the developers make you experience that feeling.

Now about the "disposable characters". I wish we could have seen more of Brody (the goat) or learn more about Karen and how she met David; Sean and Daniel probably also wished for that. The side characters have little screen time because we are playing as fugitives and, unfortunately, the life of a fugitive is not too stable or continuous and there's no time to explore each character, just like in a real life situation there would be no time to become best friends with Brody. This cycle of running away slows down in episode 3 where Sean and Daniel actually settle down and don't have to hide their presence (like when they are at the grandparent's house), so it makes sense that we get to see more of Cassidy and company. After moving onto the next episode, it's still possible to feel the presence of the characters met along the way through Sean's sketchbook for example, or his tattoo or the occasional letter that he receives. This is, and I cannot stress it enough, exactly how a fugitive would try to stay in contact with the people he knows: he cannot call them, most of the times he can't write back to them and just by checking his social media he can put himself AND HIS BROTHER in danger, the only thing he has are his memories. So as much as I can understand the desire to see more of some characters or feeling like some of them are just means to an end, this is what makes more sense to make the player feel like Sean and Daniel do and there are definitely some engine limitations playing into this as well.

Racism. Racism is arguably the main theme explored in LIS2 and I don't know how this did not come through to you. You talk about "exploring racist people", "arc of the villains" and that these racist characters are uninteresting "not because of their racism, but rather the lack of anything else about them". Now I will respond very directly because I honestly felt this while playing the game: I could not give less of a fuck about having an "interesting racist villain" or exploring the reasons why they are racist. When that old white man kidnapped Sean, cuffed him into his office and threatened to call ICE because he believed the kid stole from the store without a shred of proof, I could not wait to get out of there and never see his face again. Not all characters need to have an arc or be interesting, the point of that scene was to make you experience the entitlement and hate that a racist individual has toward anyone who he labels as different or non American and that is all we need for the story. We don't need to know why he is like that, we don't need to know if he will change from this behaviour and, personally at least, WE DO NOT CAREEEEE. You also talk about how it's more powerful if people realise anyone could be racist or that racism can be hidden, but I am pretty convince there are examples for each of these in the game. During my play through, I encountered the racist old white guy who could easily be a nice grandpa cutting wood, then the land owner who at first just looks upset about Sean being on his land and then slowly shows his racism and then we get the two mercenaries (a woman and a man) who could just be hunters or collaborating with the police and who instead go around shooting people and kids as though they are above the law. HELL there is even the representation of the friend who doesn't engage in racism but doesn't stop it either, there is literally everything you asked about.

Also the point that the game isn't relevant and doesn't add anything to the conversation because it was released in 2018 IS CRAZY. Now the review was posted in 2021, so the situation wasn't as obvious as now with Trump back in office, ICE killing people and Europe pushing for remigration, BUT racism has always been an issue, it has always been known and people have always tried to shine light on this global and systemic oppression. Even if you think racism is obvious and known, it's important to talk about it, it's important to not give up and to keep pushing for respect and equality; so yes, even in the hypothesis that LIS2 doesn't explore racism all that much, it is still relevant that a high level studio decided to take their time to talk about a topic that has long being ignored and is still a problem.

When you talk about the money not being consistent, you literally get to the answer yourself: "it's more about what the story wants to do with the money than anything". Money becomes a story element to test what the player will do and therefore how Sean will act and especially how Daniel will act in the future. For example, when you are given the choice of buying, leaving or stealing the tent at the gas station, it's not just a question of how much money you have: it's about your morals, your priorities and how you want to influence Daniel. Again, if you always keep in mind that everything that you see in the game is made to make you feel what Sean is feeling than it all makes more sense.

The next comment might be the one which I disagree the most with since it is the reason why I love LIS2 so much: the power is not given to the player but to his little brother who is not a playable character. This opens up a whole new level of influence over the story because you're not just affecting what happens, you are affecting the behaviour of your little brother. It's like older sibling 101 but multiplied by 1000. Daniel's power might feel like a weapon you can just decide to use or not, but you can see soon enough through the gameplay that whenever you ask him to use his power he will internalise that behaviour. You ask him to use his power to steal, he will use it in the future to steal, you ask him to use it to hurt people, he will use it to hurt people, you encourage him to use it, he will use it at every occasion he has. And the scary thing is that at some point Daniel will stop asking you for permission and use it however he wants and there is nothing you can do about it. Maybe the superpower feels unexplored, but through it there are so many more dynamics that Sean has to go through while managing a kid that just wants to be happy and use his ability. Anyway, on this point I can understand personal preference plays into it and LIS2 deviates from the previous games mechanics, but I still think it is obvious how this was a specific game design and narrative choice by DONTNOD.

To conclude, I obviously really like this game and I will defend it when I think it has not been done justice and, after reading this review, I felt like this person missed the overall point of LIS2 mainly because they were expecting a sequel to the first game. Valid criticism, but I think ones it's establish the title distances itself from the prequels, it's very difficult to say that it's not a relevant game and that it doesn't transmit any emotion.

Thank you for anyone who read this massive rent, if you want let me know what you think about LIS2 or the previous games (I haven't played the sequels).