Life is Strange 2’s Episode 4 teaser trailer has a tumbleweed, and that’s how you know shit is goin’ down

It’s heartbreak warfare

We expect Life is Strange 2 to hit a crescendo awfully quickly. (Actually, the nature of episodic games kind of demands that each chapter toys with significant emotional dynamics.) Sean and Daniel’s cursed roadtrip from hell is coming to an end soon; things are gonna get worse before they get better.

The fourth episode, Faith, releases on August 22. This here isn’t the full-blown trailer. It’s just a teaser that will lead into the real trailer which is coming August 19. That actual trailer will probably convey more about how this is a dire situation because nothing is ever easy in Life is Strange.

But! This teaser — only 28 seconds of exasperated fatalism — already does a good job of letting us know the stakes are about to get upped even further. How you ask? Is it the ominous voiceover? No, that’s the obvious and boring answer. Is it the grainy desert air hanging so hot that it makes everything look like a mirage? No, although that particular effect is always great. It’s the single tumbleweed blowing left to right across the road. A tumbleweed is cinematic shorthand for “shit is about to go down.” A tumbleweed means someone is gonna tumblebleed.