Representing the Unrepresented in Life is Strange 2

Originally Submitted December 2, 2023 for Game Studies.

A common complaint I have seen is that the episodic video game Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019^1,2), the sequel to Life is Stange (Don’t Nod, 2015), is too political (Sabor117, 2020; Every_Computer_935, 2022; Daz Skubich, 2023). That the game focuses far too much on the struggles of main protagonists, brothers Sean and Daniel Diaz, as they make their trek across the United States to reach Mexico to be with their family after an altercation with the police. This idea of the game being too political is false, however, as over the course of its five episodes, Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is shining a light on the reality of life for minorities, representing the lived experience of so many. It further shows that, as a society, we need to look at the treatment of the people society has deemed outcasts, and treat them with love, kindness, and respect. It additionally brings attention to a struggle of men that is disparaged in its own way: grief. This insight into the treatment and representation of minorities is a topic that is not present in video games in the way it should be.

There is this common image of gamers primarily being White, straight, cisgender males, which has led to this demographic being the primary representation in games (Ruberg & Phillips, 2018)—leaving all other minority demographics, women, people of colour, LGBTQ+, all those who have been placed into the role of an outcast, as being represented in ways not true to life, if represented at all (Ruberg, 2020). For example, in an interview with TechCrunch, Kishonna Gray, Associate Professor of Africana Studies and Writing, Rhetoric, and Digital Studies at the University of Kentucky, highlights the fact that, like in films, Black characters are relegated to either a support or antagonistic role (Cohen-Peckham, 2020). Protagonists, or even prominent characters of Hispanic origin, are even more rare, particularly in the AAA gaming space (Pineda, 2019).

There is an argument to be made that this over-representation of White characters is because in the United States (where Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is set) that demographic having the most players (Entertainment Software Association, 2023). A recent report by the Entertainment Software Association, however, found that while the majority of US adult gamers were White, the demographic actually has the second lowest percentage when looking at the number of adult gamers per the number of adults in the population (D’Anastasio, 2023; Entertainment Software Association, 2023; Rousseau, 2023); while Hispanic people have the largest gamer-to-adult ratio and Black Americans following shortly afterwards. (D’Anastasio, 2023; Entertainment Software Association, 2023; Rousseau, 2023). As for the LGBTQ+ community (of which Sean and many other characters are a part of; Don’t Nod, 2019), there has been an increase in representation; although, whether that representation is good or simply tokenism is a cause for concern by queer individuals (Ruberg, 2020). As such, it is important to have a game like Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), which melds its story with queer and BIPOC themes, to ensure the individuals who do not see themselves on screen are able to have a game that they can identify with, a game that shares their story. It may be a fictional story, but it is rooted in the truths of minority individuals. You cannot tell the story of Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), without this representation.

At various points, Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) showcases the struggles of these social outcasts, for example, with the unjust killing of a father who just wanted to protect his sons. This type of injustice is scarcely covered in gaming. While police are present in many games and have taken on many rolls, including that of antagonists (Khan, 2020), the type of police brutality present in the opening hours of Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) or the racial profiling seen at many points throughout the game’s five episodes, is entirely different. What Don’t Nod did exceptionally well was not having their game focus solely on these negatives. Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) also presents a story filled with people from all walks of life coming together to support each other, showing one’s ability to thrive when surrounded by people who care, as seen with journalist Brody Holloway’s aiding of the Diaz bothers or the freighthoppers and their taking in of the brothers as members of their outcast family.

The latter is one of the many different environments presented over the course of Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) that portray different aspects of minority representation, with the freighthoppers being positive influence, along with other positive environments like a community that has put aside all prejudice, where people from all walks of life can have a place that they can call home. All these moments of representation have been described as “uncomfortable” (Webster, 2019), the perfect word to describe the experiences of Sean and Daniel. There is an inclination to thinking that bad situations will not happen to oneself (or at least, are of a rarer occurrence) known as “optimism bias” (Caponecchia, 2010, p. 601); however, I would take it one step further and say there is a reality bias when it comes to lived experiences, where if something doesn’t happen to me, then it doesn’t happen at all. And to then have that reality shattered with the truth, it is certainly eye-opening. For those who endure this as their life, hopefully this breaking provides a way for their voices to be heard.

This reality bias is what is leading to this idea that Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is too political, it is why the game feels uncomfortable, and why minority representation is also so important for those who are already represented. I am a White, heterosexual male, I will never truly know what it is like to be someone like Sean and Daniel who are half-Mexican, or other characters like freighthoppers Cassidy and Hannah, but as Tom Brown, managing editor at Nintendo Wire said, “[Life is Strange 2 is] so effective at drawing you in and making you empathise, even if you’re separated by an entire ocean from the people being represented” (2020). The events of Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) are a reflection of the reality of so many, and in a medium that shies away from representing such things just because there is “no data to justify it” (Avery, 2022), representation needs to be explored. When taking about leading characters, Edward Leonard, a thirteen-year-old boy from Connecticut said that they almost never see themselves on the screen, that game companies are not thinking about Black protagonists (Avery, 2022). Everyone plays games and so everyone should be represented. That is the justification: people want to see themselves in the media they partake in (Martinez, 2022); and the people who already see themselves, need to be made aware of their reality bias. Through Life is Strange 2 (2019), Don’t Nod takes the player on a journey that provides representation is explores the truths of society, starting with the catalyst for Sean and Daniel’s journey, the death of their father.

In the opening moments of Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), the player is met by footage from a police car, the officer, Kindred Matthews, making his daily rounds before pulling over in front of house and calling for backup for a fight. As the officer gets out of his car and approaches, the player does not get to see the fight he needs help with before a mysterious force launches him back. Moments later the game travels back a few hours and here we first get to meet protagonist sixteen-year-old Sean Diaz. We see the quaint Seattle neighbourhood he lives in and get to sit in on a conversation between Sean and his best friend Lyla as she tries to help him flirt with a classmate over text and discuss an upcoming party and the future while sitting on Sean’s porch. Typical teenager things. Once Sean heads inside, the player is introduced to his little brother Daniel and their father Esteban. Sean is given the decision of the trial on who gets the last “Chock-O-Crisp” (Don’t Nod, 2019).

These two instances show a snippet of Sean’s life without Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) playing into any of the negative stereotypes associated with Hispanic people; nor does it make a huge deal about how the game has a Hispanic protagonist and how they’re not just a random side character. It is just Sean’s life. He gets to help his father work on a car, and Esteban says something that really sets the tone for both the game’s story and the player. He talks about family and how he should be there for Daniel and follows it up with, “Things are kinda scary out there in this country right now” (Don’t Nod, 2019). He’s right. In-game, the date is October 28, 2016; Donald Trump is set to become president and his plan to build a wall between the United States and Mexico is gaining ground. It is a terrifying time. And as seen in later episodes, this rings more and more true with each passing day.

Shortly after, Daniel gets into a confrontation with their White neighbour, Brett, and Sean rushes outside. Daniel, who is only nine, had got fake blood on Brett’s shirt. Brett challenges Sean to a fight, including with the phrase, “Then go back to your own country” (Don’t Nod, 2019). Sean punches Brett, Brett continues his racist tirade, saying the whole family should be imprisoned, and Sean accidentally knocks Brett onto a rock. Coming back to the opening, the police officer shows up to see Sean and Daniel over Brett trying to assist him and he tells the brothers to get on the ground while he pulls out his gun. With the brothers now scared on the ground, Esteban approaches and he too is told to get on the ground, only he does not get the chance. While trying to reassure his sons, Esteban is shot and killed by the police officer. Daniel’s supernatural powers activate blowing the officer away along with most of their surroundings, knocking out the brothers. Upon awakening, Sean grabs his little brother out of fear, and he runs away before more police show up. It is here where the brothers’ journey begins and a look at the mistreatment of minorities needs to happen.

We have all seen the reports, the news articles, the videos, and social media posts. The number of violent incidents against minorities is staggering. George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Darron Shaw, Reginal Owens, are just some of the victims that make up the 27 percent of police killings of Black Americans, and 49 percent of killed non-White Americans. 4 percent of BIPOC victims, like Isidra Clara Castillo, a Hispanic woman from Texas, were unarmed when they were killed (Chris Alcantar, 2023). All of these people had families. For Sean and Daniel, and so many real-life people, a member of their family was senselessly cut down and lives were forever changed. This is important when talking about representation, because these things happen, they are a part of our world and that needs to not only be acknowledged but addressed. The racism in the police force has long operated in tandem with the racism of the United States, an operation that consists of police brutality, racial profiling, and over-criminalization of BIPOC communities (Grabiner, 2016; Zeiders et al., 2021). To quote the late Paul Takagi, former Professor of Criminology and Professor of Education, Emeritus at University of California, Berkeley, “…police have one trigger finger for whites [sic] and another for Blacks” (1974, p. 30).

Those traits are not just relegated to the police force either, as all three happen on a day-to-day basis from normal citizens—something Life is Strange 2’s (Don’t Nod, 2019) plot uses on several occasions, not just with Brett and Officer Matthews. While on the run, the brothers come across a gas station where Sean can pick up a free map and buy food, drinks, and some souvenirs. While inside the store, the brothers meet Brody Holloway, a travelling journalist, who will become more important later on. The woman behind the counter, co-owner Doris Stamper, while generally nice to the brothers, is a little suspicious, although, seeing two children covered in dirt in the middle of nowhere without parents would cause some suspicion.

Like the other games in the series, Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) relies on player choice, and so the player is given the option of either paying for their items or stealing them (either some or all). I will admit I do not know if this element could be considered problematic or not. Aside from a Reddit comment (Sir-Kotok, 2022), I was unable to find any research on this specific choice. Stealing to survive is a debate in and of itself (De Buck & Pauwels, 2022; Rufo, 2019). however, the game uses the stereotype of minority males usually being relegated to thugs in video games (Burgess et al., 2011) to showcase the mistreatment of minorities. Once the brothers are sat down at a bench outside, eating their food and going over the map, Hank Stamper, a White man, shows up and questions the validity of the brothers’ purchases (including the free map), even if Sean paid for everything. He instructs the boys to go inside to prove themselves and when Sean and Daniel resist, he hits them both, knocking out Sean and ties him up to a pipe in the backroom of the gas station. Hank says he knows what Sean did in Seattle and threatens to call ICE to see if Sean is even an American citizen. After hitting Sean once more, the teenager says that Hank is going to be put in jail for kidnapping. “Pretty sure the local police will vouch for me over a… thug like you” (Don’t Nod, 2019).

While racist portrayals of video game characters is well studied and showcased, with the Grand Theft Auto series (Rockstar Games, 1997-2021) often being the centre of focus (Everett & Watkins, 2008), racism from video game characters is not well explored, both in academia and games themselves. Gutierrez et al.,’s Fair Play (2014), did exist at the time, however, that was designed for academic purposes to address racial biases, and not for general audiences. When talking about the “presence” (McMahan, 2003, as cited in Everett & Watkins, 2008, p. 144) of a game world, Everett and Watkins (2008) state that for a game world to be believable it has to match with what we the player understand about the world or its people, including how the game relates to our own world (Everett & Watkins, 2008). Racism is an unfortunate aspect of BIPOC communities’ lived experiences and for this to not be addressed is a huge misstep by game designers and this is part of the reason Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) gets called too political, even if its not, because it is showing real experiences. Before Hank Stamper leaves the backroom, he says Sean is the reason Trump’s wall needs to be built. How often do you hear that comment in gaming? This comment alone was enough for some players to completely stop playing the game (Prism_Bolt, 2022) or call the antagonists a “cartoonish racist stereotype” (DeninjaBeariver, 2022). They are not cartoonish though, they are a representation of real attitudes in society, especially in 2016’s United States. This type of representation is needed because it shows players the truths of reality, it’s uncomfortable and it sure is political.

The previous events all come from Life is Strange 2’s (Don’t Nod, 2019) first episode, “Roads,” the next moment that needs to be addressed comes from much later, during the game’s fourth episode, “Faith.” After Sean escapes the hospital he was admitted to, he steals a car and tries to find Daniel (his little brother haven’t been taken in by a friend to protect him from police). While sleeping in the vehicle in the desert, two men approach and force Sean out of the car. One of the men, Chad Michaels, throws out a racial slur and can then potentially break a toy belonging to Daniel. Chad then asks Sean to speak in Spanish (including the phrase, “This is not my country”; Don’t Nod, 2019) and if he refuses, demands that Sean sings. Refusal to do so results in Chad beating Sean. The other man, Mike Wilson, eventually steps in and the two send Sean on his way (but not before Chad gets in one more slur). Rightfully so, the whole encounter is uncomfortable once again, however it is more than that. It is “disgusting” (@quiquochan, 2019). It is “disturbing” (@gloriabaquera5434, 2020). And it is infuriating. There have been very few mainstream games that have this level or type of commentary on society. Why is that? Why do video games avoid difficult topics? Now, that is not to say games of this nature are non-existent after Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), as Todd Martens points out in a 2020 article for the Los Angeles Times, specifically the releases of Wide Ocean Big Jacket (Turnfollow, 2020) and Coffee Talk (Toge Productions, 2020). But it does not happen enough. There is a significant lack of representation of these uncomfortable topics. These conversations continue with Life is Strange 2’s (Don’t Nod, 2019) fifth and final episode, “Wolves.”

As mentioned previously, the goal for the Diaz brothers is to make their way to Mexico to be with their father’s family. The brothers do make it to the border wall, but, after using Daniel’s powers to make an opening, are stopped by a pair of White “vigilantes” (Don’t Nod, 2019) who shoot Daniel and knock down Sean. One of them, Madison, while holding Sean down, threatens to break his arm if he moves—including a “Comprende?” (Don’t Nod, 2019) at the end of the threat. Madison goes on to say, “These fuckers blew up the wall so their friends can cross” (Don’t Nod, 2019). When Sean tries to explain that they are trying to get into Mexico, Madison does not believe him and can even call the brother’s terrorists if Sean tries to explain he and Daniel are American. The brothers are then saved by the police who show up, only to then be arrested due to the media surrounding Sean’s deeds over the course of the game.

At the border jail, the player meets a pregnant couple who did try to cross into the States from Mexico and during a conversation in Spanish with them, Madison retorts with a comment on needing to speak English in America, and how they only come to the States to “cause trouble” (Don’t Nod, 2019). Sean and the couple call out Madison’s bigotry to no avail as she spouts more racist comments. During an interrogation, the police officer asks Sean why he didn’t wait after the accidental death of Officer Matthews. Sean responds that no one would have believed him. A statement that echoes throughout the history of minority individuals, especially for people of colour. Just like Hank Stamper said, who are the police more likely to believe? You hear about it in the media, the racist rhetoric of people like Donald Trump, his supporters, and other government representatives, how immigrants are ruining the country (Chapman, 2017; Nguyen, 2018) or the American way of life (Smith, 2017). For those who do not face this discrimination, they get to experience it from the perspective of someone who is affected by it; and those who are affected by it, can have one part of their story shared in a place with a far-reaching audience. For games that advocate for prosocial behaviour, like Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), studies have shown that they do in fact increase prosocial behaviour (Happ et al., 2011) and have the ability to increase empathy (Wulansari et al., 2020) This is why representation is important and why video games offer an opportunity to further representation.

It should be noted that in the final minutes of the game, various endings can occur based on players’ actions throughout the game and the ending sequences. Some of which have been called problematic, with specific attention on an ending, “Blood Brothers” (Don’t Nod, 2019), where Sean and Daniel make it to Mexico and defend themselves when some gang members threaten the brothers in their garage, the brothers now “criminal[s]” (Sir-Kotok, 2022); although there is nothing explicitly stated that the brothers have turned to a life of crime. The general consensus sees people fine (SerratedCucumber, 2020 ) or even happy with this ending, with praise for the brothers getting to stay together (Green-Check, 2020; @MineCraftChick1811, 2020; @noirceur3551, 2022).

This paper has talked a lot about Sean and Daniel’s encounters throughout Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019), but before moving on, the brothers’ background needs to be explored, as it too, plays an important role in representation. Sean and Daniel are half-Mexican, half-White. While their White mother Karen had left the family before the start of the game, she goes on to play a major role in later episodes. During the second episode, “Rules” (Don’t Nod, 2019), the Diaz brothers make their way to their maternal grandparents’ home where they stay for the majority of the episode. Having a multi-racial family represented in the game is “invaluable” (DNAbro, 2020) for representation and player connections. For people like ResetEra user Het_Nkik (2020), this aspect really resonated throughout their playthrough. Themselves the child of a Mexican father and White mother, said that, for the first time, they “felt fully represented” in their more than 30 years of gaming; going on to say that it was the first game to acknowledge that “people like me exist” and that they were the protagonists (Het_Nkik, 2020). User Psychonaut added that playing the game was the first time they “ever truly saw [themselves] in a game” (2020). Many more similar sentiments were shared throughout Het_Nkik’s (2020) forum post, showing the impact multi-racial/bi-racial representation in video games has on players. “…No other game I have seen or played that has attempted to capture that feeling and experience…” wrote user DNAbro in their own post (2020), further commenting that they saw their family and their life reflected in the Diaz’s.

While the majority of comments from Hispanic individuals was positive, there has been some pushback on the representation, with one comment saying “LiS 2 felt extremely condescending towards what we latino [sic] people go through in America” (2-Caras-em-1-moto, 2022).

Life is Strange 2’s (Don’t Nod, 2019) representation is not exclusive to ethnicity and race; sexuality is also addressed throughout. Beginning in the third episode, “Wastelands” (Don’t Nod, 2019), Sean and Daniel are living in a campsite along with teenage and young adult freighthoppers and other drifters from all walks of life. It is this campsite that plays a vital role in Sean’s own identity. At the camp, the player is introduced to travelling couple Anders and Ingrid, who are trying to save up money to continue their travels and whose relationship is implied to be straining. and five other residents: Penny, a queer man who suffers from paranoia and hypochondria; Hannah, a Navajo woman who left her alcoholic mother; Jacob Hackerman, a gay man from a very religious community; Finn, a pansexual man whose brothers are in jail as a result of their father recruiting them to help steal, strip, and sell cars; and Cassidy, a woman who left her racist family when they strongly detested her non-White boyfriend. Five individuals who are considered in someway, an outcast of society. With the exception of Anders and Ingrid³, the camp residents exemplify various areas of representation.

To bring attention to Hannah, her Indigenous identity is not used as a part of the story, she is just a character who happens to be Navajo, a welcome addition as Indigenous Peoples are often portrayed as quite damaging stereotypes in video games (Ząbecki, 2020; Budnik, 2022). As for Sean’s sexual identity, Finn and Cassidy are the primary exploration, as players can choose to romance either of the two, establishing Sean as a bisexual. Seeing characters in the media who are like you, goes a long way in supporting one’s identity (McInroy & Craig, 2007), and especially having a protagonist who is like you, a player can truly see themselves in the game (DNAbro, 2020). By having vast representation, Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) shows that anyone can be a hero (Deleted member 14377, 2020).

The representation of LGBTQ+ in video games is growing (Ruberg, 2020), as is queer game studies, a once emerging field of study that has developed much more prominence in recent years (Ruberg & Phillips, 2018). There is risk of appropriation and exploitation, as well as marginalization re-appearing (Ruberg & Phillips, 2018). but there are developers out there, game companies like Bioware, Blizzard Entertainment, Riot Games, and Life is Strange 2’s (2019) very own Don’t Nod, who are continually bringing positive awareness to the LGBTQ+ community (Ruberg & Phillips, 2018; Ruberg, 2020). It goes beyond a simple increase in representation as Ruberg and Phillips (2018) say, queer games are challenging the status quo; they are taking down that heteronormative-assumed audience. This representation opens the doors for further representation and acceptance.

For Jacob, after his community, Haven Point, and the community’s church put him through conversion therapy, he was told to leave Haven Point after he began to self-harm (Don’t Nod, 2019). LGBTQ+ and the various church doctrines are often at odds with each other (with homosexuality usually being equated to a “sin”; Winfield, 2023); and while news articles and scholarly works are frequently written on the topic (Muvija, 2023; Setyawan, 2022; HRC Foundation, n.d.], and some churches have become more accepting (Browning, 2023; Paulsen, 2023), these issues are still present today and they need to be represented. With video games having such a wide audience, these important conversations can happen, and a greater acceptance can be achieved.

To further challenge the expectations of society, the beginning of Life is Strange 2’s (Don’t Nod, 2019) fifth episode, “Wolves,” introduces the player to the outcast society of Away. After freeing Daniel from Jacob Hackerman’s church with help from Jacob and the Diaz brothers’ mother, Karen, the Diaz family makes there way to the community where Karen had been living. Like in the Diaz brother’s earlier temporary homesteads, their grandparents house and the drifter camp, Away provides another look at representation through the five residents the player meets: Karen Reynolds, Sean and Daniel’s White mother; Joan Marcus, an artist implied to be living with cancer; Arthur Petersen, a gay man who was disowned by his wife and two of his three daughters after coming out; his partner and fellow Away resident, Stanley Petersen, a person of colour who was also disowned by his family; and lastly David Madsen, a man dealing with the grief of losing a loved one.

Grief is an interesting and well explored topic. Most game studies research focuses on how video games can help players deal with grief (Flint, 2023; Stavros, 2021), how players mourn the deaths of fictional characters (Şengün et al., 2023), and how grief is portrayed in games (Flint, 2023; Stavros, 2021; Yates, 2014); all the different ways video games orchestrate player emotions. Grief is universal, and through the representation of grief in video games, it can help a person better process their own grief, said University of Melbourne clinical psychologist and researcher, Caitlin Hitchcock in an article for The Guardian (Flint, 2023). A consultant for the grief-centred game Spiritfarer (Thunder Lotus Games, 2020), Hitchcock also commented that video games offer a more approachable way of looking at grief, a person who is reluctant to watch a film about grief, could find themselves playing a video game instead (Flint, 2023).

Depending on the player’s choice at the start of the game on the fate of the original Life is Strange’s (Don’t Nod, 2015) town, David’s grief is either over the loss of his wife or stepdaughter two years prior (Don’t Nod, 2019). In both scenarios, David expresses regret over not getting along well with his stepdaughter (although if she is alive, the two are now on good terms) and will have photograph in his trailer of his family. If his (now ex-) wife is alive, there is a letter he has struggled to write to her and has a sign hanging up that belonged to his stepdaughter; if his stepdaughter is alive, there will be a framed menu from the dinner his wife worked at and photographs on the wall of the Away residents, along with his stepdaughter and her best friend. They’re small, but to David, they mean the world.

Sean and Daniel, the boys who have lost so much, deal with their own grief in their way (Don’t Nod, 2019). For Daniel he has outbursts and cries about his father. Sean, along with having dreams about his father, is a lot like David. He occasionally takes time to reminisce about his father, he keeps items that belonged to him, and he does hold some regrets. Throughout the game, Sean comes to realize that he could have treated Daniel better and strives to do so, just like David and his family. This paper has largely concerned the representation of minorities, people of colour and LGBTQ+; however, as Zinner (2000) said, men and grief have their own level of marginalization. None of the characters in the game have their grief shut down by those around them, but they do not get to properly talk about them either. It is another aspect of life that needs to be represented. It is okay for men grieve.

Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) has an important message to share and unfortunately it is one that was blindsided by the idea that the game was overly political. Except, Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is not trying to be overly political, it is being true to the real life of society’s outcasts and the mistreatment that they receive and the attention they need. Sean and Daniel’s father was not killed because the developers were trying to advance some kind of agenda, their father was killed because that is the reality for so many children of a minority background; for so many families who had their loved ones taken from this world by police injustice. Sean was not belittled by racist individuals because the developers were trying to virtue signal (jaffakree83, 2020) or make a “woke” (BrosukeHanamura, 2019; 8wayrun [LIVE], 2021) game, Don’t Nod was showing reality, a reality that is often dismissed in video games. Having a mixed-race family with a protagonist who is half-Hispanic and half-White provides a representation that for many was the first time they truly felt seen. The drifter camp provides the player a way to explore their own sexuality through Sean or see their identity represented in the different residents, including Hannah, a woman with an Indigenous background—one that is not used as a stereotype, but simple world-building that gives more life and representation into the game. Through Jacob Hackerman and Haven Point, LGBTQ+ individuals who have been shunned by their community and their family, are given a character who relates to their struggle and manages to come out on the other side. At Away, further representation is given to LGBTQ+ and BIPOC individuals, but most of all, grief—a well studied, but not well talked about topic—is presented with a character other than the protagonist by having David show his regrets two years on from a tragedy. People from all walks of life with their own struggles are given a place in Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019). It provided a look at the members of society who are so underrepresented in video games. Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is not too political; Life is Strange 2 (Don’t Nod, 2019) is a reflection of reality.

References

@gloriabaquera5434. (2020). This is one of the most disturbing scenes I’ve ever seen in a video game. Maybe I’m being dramatic, but [Comment on the video “Sean Sings a Song VS Sean Refuses to Sing | Life is Strange 2 Choices”]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGcTQtQcAgY

@MineCraftChick1811. (2020). Blood brothers will forever be my favourite ending, I know it’s technically not a “good” ending but for me I [Comment on the video “Life is Strange 2: The BEST and WORST Endings RANKED (Analysis)”]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TAUQ8AC5zdU

@noirceur3551. (2022). The Blood Brothers ending is clearly the best. Not just bcs they’re both alive, relatively happy and together, but bcs [Comment on the video “Life is strange 2 Episode 5 ALL ENDINGS (LIS2 Wolves)”]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DbzlZmh-Qo

@quiquochan. (2019). This was so disgusting to watch that for a moment I wished there was an option to run over Chad [Comment on the video “Sean Sings a Song VS Sean Refuses to Sing | Life is Strange 2 Choices”]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGcTQtQcAgY

2-Caras-em-1-moto. (2022, May 29). LiS 2 felt extremely condescending towards what we latino people go through in America. It literally just screamed [Comment on the online forum post Life is Strange 2 and how not to do political commentary]. Reddit. https://www.reddit.com/r/CharacterRant/comments/v0bij7/life_is_strange_2_and_how_not_to_do_political/

8wayrun [LIVE]. (2021, September 21). Life is Strange 2 was garbage woke nonsense. hopefully this game is better! [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r0JBb7Z6hRM

Avery, J. N. (2022, January 17). Behind the movement to create more Black video game characters. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/17/crosswords/video-games-black-characters.html

BrosukeHanamura. (2022, May 29). More like Life is Woke. [Comment on the online forum post How come nobody talks about Life is Strange 2?]. GameFAQs. https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards/691087-playstation-4/78075390

Brown, T. [Rotobit]. (2020, June 18). That’s great to hear! I love how diverse game casts have become in recent years and I hope they only [Comment on the online forum post Representation in gaming feels good (minor Life is Strange 2 spoilers)]. ResetEra. https://www.resetera.com/threads/representation-in-gaming-feels-good-minor-life-is-strange-2-spoilers.230536/

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Footnotes

¹ Originally named Dontnod Entertainment before being renamed to Don’t Nod in 2023.

² Originally released episodically between 2018-2019; the complete edition used for this paper was released in 2019.

³ There is something to say about representation of unhappy relationships, however, that is not the focus of this study.