Square Enix invites us to an event in London where we can play the final episode of Life is Strange 2 for half an hour, in addition to conducting interviews.
We flew to London to discover a fragment of the story of the brothers Diaz, Sean and Daniel, playing more than half an hour to the final episode of Life is Strange 2: "Wolves." In addition, we had the opportunity to interview the director of the game, Jean-Luc Cano, and the two main voice actors: Gonzalo Martin (Sean) and Roman Dean George (Daniel). Through his words we build the article that you find below, free of spoilers, as long as he is opening his mouth before the arrival of Episode 5 and the end of Life is Strange 2 on December 3.
Jean-Luc Cano, director of Life is Strange 2
First impressions of the final chapter of Life is Strange 2
It dawns on a stage located in an imposing canyon and the Diaz brothers wake up. After the events of the previous episode, both are tired and want a moment of peace in which to be themselves and catch up. They are only two young people who have made a very hard trip and have had to face moments of great crisis until they reach this point. After descending the canyon they arrive at a camp where they have found a new family, where they can be themselves without hiding Daniel's special abilities or the difficult decisions they have had to make along the way.
“If Episode 4 was about Sean missing Daniel a lot, this last chapter will show them together (…) In this community we created for Episode 5, both brothers can be free and show themselves as they are. In addition, it is about how Daniel grows up to become a young independent, ”tells us the director of the game, Jean-Luc Cano.
In addition to characters already known, some have been introduced that we could meet in the minutes of the game we were at the controls. Among them, it is worth mentioning a couple of homosexual men, whom Sean approaches to return a telescope and accepts a cup of hot coffee in exchange for a pleasant conversation. In it we discover how they left their home cities to come and live in a remote and private place in which to live together and happily, freely and without any barrier.
Anyone who has played a Life is Strange installment will have proven the good knowledge of Dontnod Entertainmenten as far as representation and inclusion is concerned. As for sexual diversity, we have the option of establishing various homosexual relationships (also being the heterosexual option) in all titles of the saga. In fact, in the recent X019, the team presented the new project in which they are engaged: Tell Me Why, whose protagonist is a trans boy.
For all this and since we have the possibility of delving into this topic with the director of Life is Strange 2, we ask about how the study focuses on these issues, the importance of representation for them and if they receive negative comments from haters to show the courage necessary to take the step and break down barriers:
“It is very important for us to bring these people to light. In the game we find characters with an open mind and specifically the gay couple we see in this episode was there from the beginning of the project. We believe it is important that they be represented in video games in order to help reduce the intolerance that some people still demonstrate. (…) We do not receive many comments from haters because people who play Life is Strange know what they are coming from. The game community is much more open and respectful than others. ”
As for gameplay, in the first stages of this last episode we see how Daniel will use his powers on several occasions, something that gives a lot of play when creating curious situations and simple “environmental puzzles” to feel that we play directly and it is not about of a walk. Two examples are a treasure hunt in which we must listen to the clues Daniel gives us in order to find it and a scene in which we build a large metal sculpture and for this we must ask Daniel for help as long as he uses his powers to move The big structures.
Avoid crunch and take the community into account
The episodic format presented by the works of the Life is Strange saga causes many players to wait for a compilation of the 5 episodes before embarking on the adventure step by step. Many others, however, play the chapters as they are published. In the case of Life is Strange 2, the waiting time between one and the other has been quite long: the first one was published on September 27, 2018 and the last one will arrive on December 3, 2019. When the director of the title asked the reason He clarifies that this is a measure to prevent crunch in the development team.
On the other hand, it reminds us that in this season we are dealing with each episode has a different location and characters (not as in Life is Strange 1, where the locations in Arcadia Bay were repeated more than once), so the weather necessary to create every detail of the game is expanded much more than if they could recycle the scenarios. Of course, the idea of doing a roadtrip was something that was clear from the beginning.
Even so, they did not have all ideas marked 100% from the beginning. As Jean-Luc details, there are some details that have been modified slightly as the episodes have been released and received feed-back from the players. An example of this is the "appearance" of Lyla in episode 2. Initially it was not expected that Sean could get in touch with her after escaping home in episode 1, but seeing the affection that fans had for him character decided to let the players call her and talk to her.
The challenge of giving voice to Sean and Daniel
It is curious to hear live the voices of Sean and Daniel, that we have so associated with their virtual characters, in the mouth of people of flesh and blood. Gonzalo Martin and Roman Dean George, accompanied by the dubbing director, tell us their experience. For both boys it is his first job as voice actors, something that nobody would say when he heard the masterful performance that is embodied in all the episodes of Life is Strange 2.
“I did my audition and I didn't hear anything from work again for about 6 months until they called me and it seems that it went well, because here we are,” Gonzalo comments enthusiastically, “When I went to Los Angeles to start my professional career I never thought that I would end up working in the world of videogames, since I don't know much about it and I didn't know there were games with stories like that and so much voice work behind. It has been very exciting to be able to participate in such a job. ”
Gonzalo Martin (Sean) and Roman Dean George (Daniel)
As for the little one, Roman Dean (10 years), it was also his first job and after being 2 and a half years embarked on the project he has had a couple more jobs: “It was hard but it was worth it. The dubbing director pressured us a lot but everything went well. ” Gonzalo agrees and comments that Sean has at least one emotional scene in each episode, something that requires getting into his skin and suffering as the character suffers:
"Although it was about 5 hours in the studio, screaming and giving everything, when I got in the car to go home I felt very proud of the work done."
A curiosity we want to know before saying goodbye to them is if they had played the first Life is Strange before working on this installment. They respond with a refusal, although they say they played it when they learned that they had been taken for this job and served to understand the tone they should give to their performances. On the other hand, they comment on the strangeness they feel when listening to themselves in the game, in addition to feeling that they could have done an even better job. Even so, after seeing the first trailer of Life is Strange 2 published and you hear their own voices give life to Sean and Daniel, the doubts dissipated and they knew that the work done was good, in addition to feeling a wave of pride and satisfaction.
The final outcome of about …
As we have mentioned, we will be able to know the end of the Díaz brothers' story on December 3; moment in which the fifth episode will become available and therefore the entire season. It has been a hard trip but at the same time very enriching, in which we have been able to meet a large number of interesting characters and help the brothers overcome very high barriers for their early age.
We do not doubt that saying goodbye will be difficult but will it reach the difficulty of the decision we had to make in the outcome of the first season of Life is Strange? The game director does not clarify this issue, so we only have to wait a couple of weeks to check it and probably shed some tears.
