It’s probably worth pointing out that Sean’s relationship is much smaller than Max’s too, since he is constantly forced to uproot his life and Max stays in the same place.īeing Latino plays a part as well, and while this might be a factor in and of itself, I suspect a bigger factor is how their heritage influences the story. Sean’s potential queerness therefore may be a factor in LiS2’s lower standing, despite Max also being queer. Typically, queer men are less prevalent in video games than queer women, for a whole bunch of reasons - the perception of men as the dominant audience, toxic masculinity putting men off playing a gay man (while allowing them to rationalise being a lesbian), the way lesbian relationships have been historically marketed as eye candy… it’s a long list. I’d argue both characters are playersexual rather than bisexual, as it feels like you’re choosing to either make them straight or gay, but that’s an issue for another day. Both he and Life is Strange leading lady Max face a choice between two partners each picking between a boy and a girl. Part of the problem may be that Sean Diaz is queer. Sean is also attacked by hicks who tell him to get out of their country and attempt to belittle him, and the game is acutely aware of the “build the wall” era it released into. They take a job picking marijauna and are reminded at every turn how helpless and disposable they are. They are treated like second-class citizens, and several times they are assumed to be immigrants - often with the negative, stereotypical connotations of this. They were born and raised in America, but their father was a Mexican immigrant, and after he is shot by police in the opening scenes, they are forced to go on the run. Sean and Daniel, the game’s leads, are both Latino. More than that, Life is Strange 2 was so incredibly of the moment - quite rare given how long games take to make - and it told a story that depicted such a specific pain from an angle rarely explored, yet also made the Diaz brothers feel so universal. Life is Strange 2 improved on these flaws to tell a bolder story, but also made the decisions feel more natural, and this pattern continued with Tell Me Why’s more subtle responses. But there are some missteps, both in the storytelling and in the integration of the choice-based mechanics that’s to be expected in the series’ first outing. In terms of what I took out of it, Life is Strange is one of my favourite games of all time. Chloe Price, a potential love interest in the first game, was my first real experience of a lesbian story in mainstream media, and so my connection to the game runs deep. You might say “well, it must just not have as good a story,” but I reject that flatly.
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