Life is Strange: Before the Storm - Review

“If your life sucks that means you’re still alive” – A review of Life is Strange: Before the Storm. 

One of the things that made the original Life is Strange such an interesting game was playing as Max, someone with the ability to control time, and watching her bond with her best friend and hellraiser Chloe grow ever stronger. What happens then when you take Max out of the equation? What happens when decisions are final and there is no option to rewind? Before the Storm isn’t about changing space and time or saving a whole town, it’s about Chloe Price, and her friend, Rachel Amber.

On hearing about Before the Storm, you may ask yourself what the point of it is. We already know the fates of both Chloe and Rachel, so is there really any use in a story centred around the two? The answer to this question is undoubtedly yes; what Before the Storm does incredibly well is lull you into forgetting what’s to come, to forget about what’s about to hit Arcadia Bay, and to simply live in the moment. Decisions don’t have to affect time and space to be important and honestly, knowing that there are no do-overs, that you can’t go back and change things, is actually refreshing after the first game as decisions feel much more important.

This is still a game which is incredibly story focused, so it’s lucky that the story is so strong. We already know Chloe from the first game but playing as her helps you to understand her even more. Blackwell Academy doesn’t suit Chloe at all, and it’s easy to understand her intense dislike of the place, but you also can’t quite help but feel like you’re playing as someone on a very self-destructive path. Chloe is a complicated character full of flaws, but it’s impossible to dislike her. She was my favourite character in the first game, as remains my favourite character now.

Meeting Rachel could have gone either way. We know her by name only from the first game, and we know her tragic ending. The way Chloe talks about her, literally describing her as her guardian angel, bringing her to the game and allowing you to meet her could have been so disappointing. Yet, meeting and interacting with Rachel is a joy, and the bond the two share is electric. This isn’t just friendship, its chemistry, with the girls understanding each other better than they understand themselves.

Just like the first game, there are a series of decisions to be made, but this time you can’t just rewind time if your actions have unanticipated consequences. Whilst your decisions won’t lead to the destruction of Arcadia Bay, there are still some incredibly important decisions to be made and as always, your actions will have consequences. That being said, some of the highlights of this game aren’t so much life or death, rather the small, ordinary decisions of a teenage girl trying to navigate life as best she can. One of the highlights for me is the opportunity to play D&D – this is such a heartwarming and ordinary thing for a group of teenagers to do, and it really makes me connect better with the characters.

This game is still incredibly emotionally charged. Watching Chloe trying to contact Rachel in the end – and seeing flash photography and no answer from Rachel – is a real gut punch, reminding you of the absolute horror that Rachel is going through unbeknownst to anyone else. This game isn’t just sad, it’s devastating – it’s so much harder to know what happened to Rachel once you’ve properly got to know her.

I can’t pretend that this game didn’t reinforce some of my opinions of Max. Chloe’s bedroom is littered with reminders of a faded friendship, of photographs and even letters between Chloe and Max, but Max hasn’t maintained the friendship having moved away. I was already of the opinion that Max hadn’t been a good friend in the first game, and Before the Storm really reinforces that. Chloe isn’t having an easy time, and her best friend can’t even reply to a text? Thankfully, Rachel is there to fill the void, and Chloe is able to form a strong connection with her, which in the end is simply heartbreaking. Before this game, I was disappointed in Max. After it, I was downright angry with her.

Much like the first game, Before the Storm isn’t perfect. The dialogue isn’t always amazing, and the lip synching again at times is a little off. Once again though, it’s the story, the characters and the small moments shared between two teenager girls that truly make Before the Storm a prequel worth playing. If you skipped Before the Storm, I would implore you to go back and play it – just be prepared for something a little different and prepare yourself for tears. I can almost guarantee they’ll come.

Written by Tam Page

Posted by Mr. Tomney

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