Life is Strange 2 Review

"Episode 5: Wolves"

Campaign (Spoiler Free)

December 5, 2019 at 4:40pm
By Jason Stettner

This fifth episode wraps up the season, and brings the story of these two characters to what feels like a definitive end. There’s a fun surprise for fans of the other Life is Strange entries, and it’s a somewhat mellow somber conclusion. It’s one with multiple endings, but not really anything too wild in terms of how this wraps up.

It’s sort of a slow burn towards the end, with just a single open area and that in itself doesn’t last long. This gets the story to the point that it needs to, and I was satisfied with how things did wrap up for my playthough of this. I’m not sure what I had anticipated, but did expect something a bit more intense. You get closure, but it doesn’t necessarily wrap up every dangling element, focusing in on the two brothers as they deal with a bad situation.

It’s a more politically charged episode as well, which is more relatable to those from the United States. This is darker at that point, and it really kind of goes over the top for that moment. I’m not from that country so maybe it doesn’t hit quite as hard, it was just generally uncomfortable.

Gameplay

The visuals of Life is Strange 2 are very impressive as the distinct art style has evolved and it's just a treat to take in. They really have improved the quality of the world, yet I'm disappointed not to see Xbox One X enhanced visual choices like in Before the Storm. It plays well, featuring a mix of cinematic segments with open world exploration to the side.

They've built upon the prequel's open world situations allowing you to explore larger areas. That being said, these segments slow the pacing and don't exactly offer a lot of excitement. There's more freedom with this title as well with options to buy items and more dynamic choices. This episode was polished, probably the best of the series quite honestly in that regard. The artwork was also gorgeous, feeling vast yet the environments felt minimal.

The Conclusion

Life is Strange Episode 5: Wolves is a fine conclusion to this season, it has satisfying endings and generally wraps things up in a fine way while being polished. This didn’t feel expansive, despite looking so. It wasn’t a rush to the end, but also there wasn’t a whole lot that happened in this one. I can’t say I was blown away by what happened, it felt predictable and just sort of concluded.

This was an alright journey, not quite up to expectations yet is still something that packs that signature series punch. It’ll bring the emotions, and I feel for some it’ll hit harder. It works through some serious political issues in the United States, and about the setup around borders. I’m not sure we’ll see these characters again, but they’re given something that feels like it wraps it up.

Read our Life is Strange: Before the Storm Review
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Life is Strange 2 Episode 5: Wolves Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Square Enix

Rating Overall: 7.2