Life is Strange: Reunion (2026)

Haven't returned to this series since the original in 2015, it's a weird feeling when just watching a friend play Reunion can take you straight back to that moment over 10 years ago.

The animations and voice acting is really well done, and seeing Max and Chloe reunite reminded me why I got so invested in the first game. I loved their relationship and growth in the original, this is making me interested in checking out all the games that have come out in-between.

Slept on it and I think Reunion ended up being great! Super deft narratively, consistently really funny, and along with Before the Storm it's got one of the most nuanced and believable explorations of long-term suicidality I've seen in any bit of media. Given the circumstances it's pretty much the best possible sendoff I could've dreamed of for Chloe and Max, and I hope the team behind it gets a chance to dream up something new.

Entirely subjective ranking of the Life is Strange series (and some of its spiritual siblings):

1. True Colors
2. Before the Storm
3. LiS1
4. Reunion
5. Middle volumes of the comics
6. Lost Records: Bloom and Rage
7. LiS2
8. Double Exposure
9. Tell Me Why
10. First volume of the comics

Still haven't read the final issues of the comics, or any of the True Colors ones! Kinda like having them in my back pocket for a rainy day.

Still early days, but this has been surprisingly lovely so far! Max having her time travel powers back is a much better fit for her busybody character, reusing the perfectly serviceable setting from Double Exposure cuts down on a lot of introductory pace-killers, and the script has some solid gags here and there. Very much appreciate that the plot almost immediately lets you loose to start solving a mystery, and it seems like the game might even be lightly backpedaling on the tedious sequel hook introduced in DE. Feeling optimistic!

Also, Chloe Price has purchased herself a "Before Sunset" vanity license plate, unlocking new levels of lesbian yearning previously unknown to science.

This comes out tomorrow, and frankly I think it's got zero shot of being very good. There's just far too many conflicting narrative threads at play, across over a decade of games, and Double Exposure is far too flimsy a foundation to build a direct sequel upon.

As ever though, I'm sure it'll be goofy fun hanging out with Max as the lead, and I'm pretty excited to see Rhianna DeVries reprise her take on Chloe Price. If it's not a total disaster I'm gonna count that as a win.

I suppose after I posted my observations that critics were mulling over their thoughts about marketing claiming that LiS: Reunion was "made by and for fans" this was inevitable and that at least one of those critics put those thoughts down into an essay:

A Game Doesn't Need To Be ‘By And For Fans’

I'm not going to cherry-pick passages to try to convey the gist of the argument, as I think this article warrants reading in full because there are some very thoughtful reflections contained within.