Life is Strange 2: Episode 3 Wastelands – Review (PS4)

Life is Strange comes alive by the decisions that you as the player make for your characters. Since we first used Max’s rewind ability in the first episode we controlled the fate of our characters in ways that most games never allow. At this point in the series we are well aware that our choices have consequences, both good and bad, but even being aware of this Wasteland will smack you in the face time and time again based on the decisions you’ve made to this point. And probably in ways the series to date hasn’t seen.

At this Point in their journey Sean and Daniel have rejoined Cassidy and her wandering family of friends, much to Sean’s delight. They all live and work together on a pot farm which comes with a whole new set of issues.

Much like life on a Pot Farm, Wastelands is full of monotonous moments that tend to drag on for longer than they needed in order to fill up space. Your days are spent trimming buds and your nights partying and staying up way later than you should. Depending on your choices you either become closer to Daniel or start to drift apart. The episode gives you plenty of opportunities to be a good brother and father figure to your younger sibling or to cast him aside and put more effort into one of the other relationships that you choose over him.

The entirety of the episode takes place on the farm and the surrounding area where the workers have set up camp. Sean and Daniel are trying to make enough money to make it to Mexico where their father’s family lives. The problem is they are earning their keep in a dangerous way and Daniel is still a child having to live in an extremely grown up world. His curiosity keeps getting the better of him and the owner of the farm puts him and Sean on notice… one more fuck up and they are out of there. Sean tries to show Daniel the severity of the situation, but he is torn between taking care of his brother, working long hours, and building new relationships with their new group of friends. This would take a toll on anyone, but these are just kids who were forced to grow up too soon and it shows.

Finn, the leader of this band of misfits, has taken a liking to Sean and Daniel and he is there for Daniel even when you aren’t. There are a few different paths that the characters can go down based on your decisions. During my first playthrough I was selfish and did things for myself. Because of these decisions Daniel feels neglected. Decisions that you make have a very real and direct impact on how the episode ends and, for an episode that is fairly lackluster at times, it really ends with a bang.

Life is Strange has always given you options when it comes to romance and this episode may give you the most we’ve seen in the series so far. You can choose who you decide to be involved with or if you’re going to be romantic with anyone at all. Sometimes decisions you make earlier in the episode are uprooted right when you think things are going well and it can all come crashing down. That’s the beauty of this franchise. Even episodes that don’t have as much going for them from a narrative standpoint to move the story along can make you feel things about the characters and the relationships that they form. Wastelands probably adds too many characters into the mix and a few never really get any time in the spotlight outside of a quick campfire “who’s story is the saddest” moment. The episode could have benefited from less characters and more time spent with the more important ones.

This episode also had the most jank from a technical standpoint that we’ve seen in the series. Characters would speed up suddenly while walking or talking while other character models would disappear entirely as you watch a beer can float through the air where someone should be holding it. We’ve seen this in prior episodes, but not to this extent and with this regularity. Hopefully future patches can fix these issues.

All in all, though not the most powerful episode in the series, it will still leave you wanting more while eagerly anticipating what comes next. While more of a connecting episode setting up what comes next, it still has some powerful moments and some of the most important decision making we’ve seen this season. The ending will leave you gasping for breath while you eagerly count down the days until episode 4 is released.

Check out our Review Guide to see what we criteria we use to score games.