Life is Strange 2 vs Life Is Strange: Before the Storm
Life is Strange 2 is a puzzle game from DONTNOD Entertainment (2018) while Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is an action-adventure horror game (2017).
What each one is
Steam files Life is Strange 2 under Puzzle. In contrast, it files Life Is Strange: Before the Storm under Action-Adventure and Horror.
After a tragic incident, brothers Sean and Daniel Diaz run away from home. Fearing the police, and dealing with Daniel's new telekinetic power, the boys head to Mexico. Each stop on their journey brings new friends and new challenges.
Life is Strange: Before the Storm is a new three part standalone story adventure set three years before the events of the first game. This time play as Chloe Price, a rebel who forms an unlikely friendship with Rachel Amber in a dramatic new story in the BAFTA award winning franchise.
At a glance
| Life is Strange 2 | Life Is Strange: Before the Storm | |
|---|---|---|
| GamingPickz Score | 7.6/10 | 7.8/10 |
| Steam rating | Very Positive (87%, 40,943) | Very Positive (93%, 37,879) |
| Critic aggregate | No aggregate | 77/100 |
| Price | Free | $16.99 |
| Install size | 40 GB | 14 GB |
| Steam Deck | verified | playable |
| Released | 2018 | 2017 |
| Developer | DONTNOD Entertainment | — |
Prices and Steam ratings are read live and move over time.
Life is Strange 2 vs Life Is Strange: Before the Storm, point by point
Each facet side by side. A round is marked won only where a figure settles it; feel and "which is better" carry no mark, because no number we hold decides them.
Genre and premise
Life is Strange 2Puzzle gameLife Is Strange: Before the StormAction-adventure horror gameWhat each is filed as. Each game describes itself in full above; we do not judge a premise.
How it plays
Life is Strange 2Choices Matter, Story Rich, AdventureLife Is Strange: Before the StormStory Rich, Choices Matter, Female ProtagonistThe tags players apply most, in order of votes. A read on feel, not a verdict.
Reception
Life is Strange 2Score 7.6 · 87% on SteamLife Is Strange: Before the Storm ✓Score 7.8 · 93% on Steam · 77 criticThe GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment, critics and popularity, computed the same way for every game.
Content and scale
Life is Strange 240,943 reviews · 6 add-ons · 40 GBLife Is Strange: Before the Storm37,879 reviews · 5 add-ons · 14 GBReach and footprint, not quality: more reviews or a bigger install is not a better game.
Price
Life is Strange 2 ✓FreeLife Is Strange: Before the Storm$16.99Read live from Steam and subject to change.
On a Steam Deck
Life is Strange 2 ✓VerifiedLife Is Strange: Before the StormPlayableValve's own Deck compatibility rating.
Life is Strange 2 takes 2 of the marked rounds to 1. That is only what a number can decide, not which you will enjoy more.
The two on the grid
Compare the whole catalogueLife is Strange 2 and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm on the axes the GamingPickz Score is built from, on the full 0 to 100 scale so each dot is its real position. Change either axis to compare them on any measure.
2 games have both
Players. The share of Steam reviews marked positive, pulled toward the catalogue average in proportion to how few reviews stand behind it. A game with 200 reviews moves a long way toward the average; one with 200,000 barely moves at all. Without this a title sitting at 100 percent on nine reviews outranks Half-Life 2 at 98 percent on 278,000.
Popularity. A blend of two things that are not the same. Audience is how many people wrote a Steam review, which is a floor on how many played it. Reach is how many language editions of Wikipedia document the game, which is cultural footprint rather than sales. A game can score high on one and low on the other: a huge free-to-play title has audience without reach, and a landmark console exclusive has reach without a Steam audience at all. Where both exist they are averaged; where only one does, that one carries it.
- Mobile
- PC
Every point links to that game's entry. The value map and the reception map are fixed views of the same data.
How positions are decided
No paid placement, no favouritism, live third-party data
- Placed by the published method, not by us. Every coordinate is computed from the axis definitions and weights printed on this site. Nobody moves a point. See the axes.
- Nothing here is paid for. No sponsored placements, no promoted slots, no arrangement of any kind affects a position. If that ever changes it will be labelled and sit outside the ranking.
- No favouritism, including our own. The 16 games we have written full reviews of are scored by exactly the same formula as the other 1,510, from the same third-party inputs, and they land where it puts them. Our own opinion of a game does not enter its coordinates.
- A position is not an endorsement. It says how a game was received and what it costs, not that we recommend it. Where we do recommend something, it carries a written review with a name on it.
- Fetched from live third-party data. Player sentiment from Steam, critic aggregates as published on store pages, prices checked hourly, attention from Wikipedia. Each figure carries its source and the date it was read, and we do not adjust any of them.
Which to pick, by what you want
- The higher-rated of the two: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm (GamingPickz Score 7.8)
- The cheaper right now: Life is Strange 2 (Free)
- Better on a Steam Deck: Life is Strange 2 (verified)
- Lighter on storage: Life Is Strange: Before the Storm (14 GB)
What they have in common
Both are tagged by Steam players with:
Choices MatterStory RichAdventureSingleplayerGreat SoundtrackAtmosphericEpisodicDrama
Where they differ
Sexual ContentNudityPuzzleComedyFunnyClassic
Female ProtagonistMultiple EndingsActionIndiePsychological HorrorMemes
Tags players apply to one game and not the other.
Difficulty and who each is for
By the tags players apply, Life is Strange 2 is middle-of-the-road on difficulty. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm is middle-of-the-road on difficulty.
System requirements, side by side
| Life is Strange 2 | Life Is Strange: Before the Storm | |
|---|---|---|
| Minimum GPU | Nvidia GeForce GTX 650 2GB | AMD Radeon R7 250 |
| Minimum CPU | Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1GHz) | Intel Core i3-2100 (3.1GHz) |
| Minimum RAM | 4 GB | 3 GB |
| Install size | 40 GB | 14 GB |
Can your PC run them? Check each against your own kit: Life is Strange 2 · Life Is Strange: Before the Storm.
Accessibility features
Steam store pages declare 4 accessibility features for Life is Strange 2 and 4 for Life Is Strange: Before the Storm. A declaration is a floor, not a review.
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Common questions
How different are Life is Strange 2 and Life Is Strange: Before the Storm in scope?
Life is Strange 2 has drawn 40,943 Steam reviews, ships 6 add-ons and installs in 40 GB. Life Is Strange: Before the Storm has drawn 37,879 Steam reviews, ships 5 add-ons and installs in 14 GB.
Is Life is Strange 2 or Life Is Strange: Before the Storm better?
By the GamingPickz Score, Life Is Strange: Before the Storm rates higher (7.8 to 7.6). That is a composite of player sentiment, the critic aggregate and popularity, not our taste. "Better" also depends on price, length and platform, which the table above lays out.
Which is cheaper, Life is Strange 2 or Life Is Strange: Before the Storm?
Life is Strange 2 is cheaper right now at Free, against $16.99. Prices move, so this is read live from Steam and can change.
Do you rank one above the other for a fee?
No. Neither game, nor anyone else, pays for placement or a verdict here. The order and every figure come out of the same public data the rest of the site uses.
Related comparisons
How we compare, and what we will not do
The GamingPickz Score is a composite of player sentiment (adjusted for sample size), the critic aggregate and popularity, computed by the same code every ranked list on this site uses. The Steam rating label is Valve's own, reconstructed from the positive percentage and review count. Prices are read live. We do not write an opinion of which game is "better": we report the numbers and say which wins each measurable question above.