Escaping loss. Moral dilemmas about family in Life is Strange 2

Abstract

This research is based on the hypothesis that certain narrative adventures seek to engage the player in a debate – either internal or with the game – on moral and ethical matters from current society with a view to contributing to the construction of their own judgment. To carry out the study, we observed and analyzed how different moral dilemmas are applied in videogames via ludonarrative, specifically through mechanics and narrative design. We used Life Is Strange 2 (Dontnod, 2018) as a case study since its ludonarrative axis was based on a design of ramifications that invites the player to reflect and then rewards or penalizes the player in accordance with their behavior in the ludofictional world. For this analysis, we used a multidisciplinary methodology that brought philosophy together with game studies and relied on tools for textual and ludonarrative analysis. From the results, we observed that the difficult decisions made by the player were affected by the education of the younger brother and limited action in a tragic context. The moral dilemmas surrounding the family were visible among the significant mechanics affecting the behavior of the younger brother – constituting the two values of morality and brotherhood – and the experience of the player, who continuously questioned their own moral and ethical values in order to tackle the videogame’s story.