Life is Strange: Before the Storm (2017)

The first game was literally life changing for me. The majority of this one simply can't reach that high - except for the final, short, bonus episode "Farewell". That's a solid 4.5 stars of punch-you-in-the-gut feels.

The rest, while nice background on Chloe and Rachel's relationship when they first meet, doesn't hit the same chord as Max and Chloe and, honestly, that's understandable. There's a variety of reasons for it (change of actors, different studio, the kind of story being told, etc etc). Upshot is, it's a worthy addition to the series and worth playing if you enjoyed Life is Strange. Just don't expect to be quite as impacted as you were by the first story.

Definitely, defintiely don't miss out on that final, bonus episode though.

Life Is Strange has been a consistently delivering fantastic writing episode by episode. The game revolves around the little things and how messed up the butterfly effect can be.

Packed with powerful emotions that really throw your mental health under the bus at moments - the game can get heavy on you. Every character is loveable in their own way and does what most TV shows today can't through simple drama.

We have reached the end of the road in one of my favorite games of all time. This is it for Max and Chloe. I am not going to lie, I missed Max in this one, but Rachael was such a good character. However, having played the original, it made me so bummed out spending time with her. But, this game had everything I love about the original (which I have played so many times), minus the superpowers of course. The choices had an impact, the game looks pretty, the characters and story are amazing, and lastly the soundtrack, as usual, was atmospheric as hell. I love this world and knowing this is the real last chapter of Arcadia Bay makes me sad, but it was time well spent. Maybe life is strange 2 will have the same level of quality? All in all, bye Max and Chloe, it has been a blast!

I recently played through Before the Storm for the first time with my younger sister, passing the controller back and forth throughout each chapter. I really enjoyed it and it gave me a deeper appreciation for Chloe and the story of Life Is Strange. It was great to really get to know Rachel as a character, even though it makes the original game much more painful in retrospect. It even changed my opinion on the first game's ending. When I first played Life Is Strange, I wanted to save Chloe but I felt like saving Arcadia Bay was the right thing to do. After seeing everything she went through and lost during and after Before the Storm, I hate the idea of sacrificing her more than ever. We're going to replay the original soon and this time I want to choose Chloe over everything.

Life Is Strange is such a thoughtful and engaging story. Any game that makes me cry this much but also makes me smile and laugh this much deserves praise. It's a story that doesn't shy away from the anxieties and horrors of life but also shows the moments that make life worth it anyway. It's just a great series to play, especially when you share it with people close to you.

The following contains some minor spoilers.

There’s a moment in the 3rd episode of Before The Storm where you, as Chloe, are comforting someone who has come to mean a lot to you on their bed. You stare up at the stars projected on their ceiling as a song plays in the background. It’s a pretty acoustic track. You can choose to leave this moment as soon as you enter it. There is no punishment for doing so, the game will continue on as if you had sat there for hours. I let the song play out. I listened as it faded into silence before starting up again from the beginning. It wasn’t until the song finished a second time that I found myself able to leave. Before The Storm is filled with scenes like these – painful moments of real human connection.

Before The Storm is a love letter to the brief whirlwind encounters of youth. To the relationships that burn hard and fast, somehow engulfing the whole damn forest in the process.

By removing the time manipulation mechanic of the original Deck Nine display a confidence in their storytelling ability, one that only wavers when it clings too tightly to the original. Having Chloe use Max as a journaling technique is clever, but feels like an unnecessary attempt to maintain that link.

Before The Storm fares better when facing other problems usually associated with prequels. There are a number of tiny origin stories scattered throughout the series. These are surprisingly effective in developing Chloe’s character and provide insight into the original. On paper knowing why Chloe is so fond of the word “hella” sounds silly, but if I ever replay Life Is Strange every usage will now be tinged with melancholy. Returning to familiar locations is forgivable as they are repurposed to be seen from Chloe’s perspective. School interiors hold very little interest to someone who spends no time in class.

Chloe isn’t always fun to spend time with. She puts ups walls and her punk posturing can be tiresome. At first I found her insufferable, but decided to make choices that treated her meeting Rachel as a catalyst for change. She was still a dick to her mother, David and Victoria Chase, but I encouraged her to open up to others. Much like the first series it is in these interactions with others that the game excels. I can’t imagine having played this without listening to Skip’s demo or helping Steph and Mikey finish their tabletop campaign.

Similar to Life Is Strange, Before The Storm falters towards the end. Despite this it manages to close with a choice that feels meaningful and character-defining. I left the original series feeling angry after an ending that felt forced and hackneyed, only really appreciating the rest of the game after some time had passed. While the credits of Before The Storm began to roll I felt sweetly nostalgic for the own choices I had made in my life as well as all the people that have had a lasting effect on it.

As you can probably tell, I fucking loved this game.

This game had no right being as good as it was. When I first read about this game I didn't think it was going to be any good, It was being done by a different studio without the original voice actress and their was no Max and no time travel feature. But boy was I wrong, the games beginning is one of my favorite in a video game and even though it kinds dwindles from their it's still a solid game. Even though Ashly Burch wasn't voicing the character you could still here her voice in Chloe because she wrote most of her dialog. Rhianna DeVries still did a great job voicing her though, I was hoping since the strike was over that Ashly's voice might be patched in as an option. I originally thought not having time travel in the game would make it boring, but it really didn't. I applaud Deck Nine for doing such a good job on this game, which was their first (of an consequence). I also like the relationship between Chloe and Rachel way more then I did with Max. I thought the ending was a bit lack luster but it was understandable because if something huge happened she probably would have mentioned it to Max in the first game. It did make me feel better about the decision in Life is Strange season 1, and I feel like it was a great companion to the first season as well. The foreshadowing at the end of the game was quite depressing, reminding you of what's to come.

I thought the farewell episode was a good way to end Max and Chloe's story, it was good to have Ashly Burch back as Chloe and whoever it is that voices Max. The ending to that is also pretty messed up and sad.

Not as good as Life is Strange, imho, but good enough to be considered a worthy successor. Stronger points:

1. The "earlier" version of Arcadia bay and its characters. You remember who they will be, see who they are now, and it makes a lot of sense, and it feels real and natural. Not an easy thing to do, and they nailed it.
2. Chloe. We get a lot of Chloe.
3. The music.

Weaker points:

1. Gameplay, maybe. But this game is a "video adventure", 3D visual novel, whatever else we may call it, so if the gameplay feels "limited" it is because thats the way it has been designed to be.
2. Choices. Its okay, but there could have been more of the "important" ones. Those you really think about.

I had major doubts about this Life is Strange prequel going in. But when the first episode landed, my mind was well eased. The first episode of this trilogy is very strong. It gives a lot of unneeded but welcome extra shading to the character of Chloe Price; with great, compelling decisions and a mix of sweet and shocking moments that made me ecstatic to be back in Arcadia Bay. It all works so well in shedding new light on the characters I already grew to love so much. My only concern was that the shorter three episode arc might not be enough to tell a compelling story.

Unfortunately I was right. Episode two still delivers a handful of excellent sequences and character moments; but it also loses the momentum of the first episode very quickly. And as much as I enjoyed being with Chloe for another couple of hours, I was starting to have concerns about the finale.

And episode three...well...it's just not very good. Melodramatic, on-the-nose writing, poor implementation of the backtalk mechanic (where it worked so well in the first two), a couple of odd surreal sequences that don't really work and a lot of exposition! It all adds up, sadly, to a kind of boring by the numbers Life is Strange episode.

Exisiting fans of this franchise, I recommend you go in on this and enjoy the characters one more time. If you liked the first game, you will almost certainly enjoy Before the Storm. It certainly isn't a bad game. It's just a shame that, in spite of it's very strong start, it couldn't maintain the same exciting character arcs, clever uses of mechanics and emotional resonance that the original game was packed with.