I've only finished Dead Cells once, so I got the two things you unlock for getting through it, took me well under 100 tries, but something happened with the Switch and it still shows I have zero clears. So who knows.
Just finished LiS2-E1 and I liked it, just a slower start, but really so was S1E1 as well in the sense that Max doesn't get her powers until part of the way through. They hold whatever it will be back way longer here though. Going to spoiler tag a few observations I had:
They need to let your brother change that bloody flannel.
The dog is cool, but a bad idea for these guys to get involved with.
Glad I didn't take that beer.
I made all the little wolf decisions throughout...except for what ended up being the big one, and I did instantly regret it. Lyla was your best friend, and I know Brody said it was a bad idea, but I should have called her. Sure, I know it's easy to get a burner, like he said, but I super regret not calling her back, especially because I justified it as trying to protect her while wishing Sean (bad spelling of that name) would just talk to Daniel about what happened. I guess it's situational in a sense, though it was the only big wolf choice I made, because she's still innocent and keeping her at a distance while she's being questioned is best for her in the long run, while 'trying to protect' Daniel or whatever Sean was doing is only going to be worse for him, but I should have called her. Apparently, as of just finishing it, 65% of people did make that call, and thinking that it's just a game, what's the worst that could happen? Maybe the cops track you quicker, but they're going to get there anyway because they kind of have to at some point. So there was more to be gained than to be lost. I CINECAST!ed that one up...bad. I'm so sorry, Lyla, you are the greatest of the great. I might replay the episode just to change that. And get whatever collectibles I missed. Though that goes against the way I play these games, never once save scumming or retroactively changing decisions. Well, except for...
...in the first game, because the rewinding time mechanic is what revolutionized the genre. You are always, naturally, going to wonder how the other thing would play out, and now you could see it and really choose your own adventure in the moment while still not knowing what exact ripples there would be in the later episodes. Not having that here is really a bummer, even if I get why you can't just reuse that gimmick. It's just tough to go back. Maybe that's why I never finished Before the Storm (it's not, there were other reasons and I will go back to that, but still).
Really want to see how they use the powers. Obviously the story they are telling is way different, but when you think about how deeply connected the rewinding was not only to the way choice changed in the genre, but also how it wove in to the mechanics and gameplay/puzzle solving, I'm still not sold on how whatever it is Daniel can do will be used since it's hard to think of it being anything more than a framing device and gameplay thing rather than something that does interact with how the narrative is experienced in the way the hook blended everything together in the first game. But I guess we'll see, and I'm going to definitely keep playing because I still liked a lot about this episode, these characters (especially Lyla and Brodie), so hopefully they prove me wrong.
Also, I made sure to not steal anything and pay for everything in the store, even though I thought it wouldn't be enough food. But we needed the sleeping bag, probably. So when Sean got so defensive about the shoplifting thing and trying to get out of there, it didn't seem to be in his character, even if I get the larger point that was being made with it.
In the worldwide stats screen at the end, 92% of players promised Daniel that they'd never lie to him again, so I'm committed to keeping that promise already, just going to be super interesting to see how Dontnod puts that to the test in the forthcoming episodes.
Way shocked there wasn't a bear. It seemed so telegraphed that I figured it had to happen. But maybe he got distracted by the car at the front of the park because I left the candy bar. Guess that, too, we'll see in that regard. Either way, I won't forget that I shouldn't run or play dead and just need to throw stuff as his head.
Well over three hours of playtime in the first episode as well, which was great to see, even if that's kind of what I expected.