Life Is Strange: Before the Storm’s final episode bids a fond Farewell to Max and Chloe before their story’s even properly began. Set days prior to Miss Caulfield’s departure to Seattle, developer Deck Nine promised this would be a happy send-off for series creator DONTNOD’s beloved teenage pairing. Well, it’ll leave you with tears in your eyes – but not necessarily ones of joy.
At around 75 minutes long, this is the shortest slice of episodic drama that the franchise has played host to yet, but it packs an absurd amount of character development into its slender running-time. Deck Nine once again does an admirable job working within the boundaries of the original story, and while it does take a few teensy liberties, it’s all in service of Chloe’s character.
In fact, if you were one of those people who couldn’t stand Miss Price’s edgy attitude in the main game, then Before the Storm as a whole has really done an outstanding job of depicting her broken childhood. The best thing about this final goodbye is that it catalogues the exact moment where things go awry, and it’s hard not to feel sympathy for the potty-mouthed punk-to-be.
Of course, it all starts rather jovially. The episode leans hard on nostalgia, as it gives you freedom to explore the Prices' household, reminiscing on everything the two tweens have gotten up to over the years. A ridiculous amount of inspectable objects mean that there are an enormous number of things to interact with, each depicted in the series’ now iconic hand-drawn style.
The main thrust of the plot sees the pair digging up a time capsule, which they’d buried as youngsters when they were going through a pirate phase. One brilliant scene sees you, as Max, attempting to direct Chloe to the spot of the “treasure”, complete with the common brand of confusion over ‘left’ and ‘right’ that occurs when two people stand facing each other.
It’s a lovely little episode, made all the more poignant by original voice actors Hannah Telle and Ashly Burch reprising their roles as the BFFs. Obviously the story’s not going to hit if you haven’t followed Max and Chloe’s tale from the beginning, but this is fanservice, and the developer’s once again picked the perfect song to draw out your tears when their journey comes to an end.
Conclusion
This is a Farewell for Life Is Strange fans, but Deck Nine once again does an outstanding job of telling a heart-wrenching tale within what is, effectively, someone else’s story. DONTNOD may be the creators of this wonderful slice of life series, but the American developer’s done an impressive job of expanding the fiction with Before the Storm – and this episode ties a big fat bow around Max and Chloe’s yarn for good. Now, what’s next?
Comments 16
Farewell, Max and Chloe!
Man, I cried...
I need to play Before the Storm. I’ll be watching for a sale.
This reads like a solid 8 to me. Didn't see any negatives aside from the short length, though it is only a bonus episode. What would have made this better?
I really liked the bonus episode.
As a side note I bought the (somewhat cheap) limited edition. I liked the content but as a note the bonus episode is not on the disk rather as a download voucher. This is a bizzare choice for a complete edition.
Very much looking forward to this, downloaded it last night and will likely get to it this evening. I expected it to be short and sweet, and am pleased about the timeframe they're exploring (the prospect of actually ending up liking Chloe is pretty exciting).
Gotta get the Before the Storm special edition, hope its good.
@tabris95 Sometimes the best something can be is a 7/10. This is one of those occasions. Thoroughly enjoyed it, but don't think it should have scored higher.
Damn, I cried. Max was an awful person for ignoring Chloe after leaving.
Can someone confirm that the controller issues are still present in the PS4 version?
https://steamcommunity.com/app/554620/discussions/0/1474221865197108643/
https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/comments/6xwcbh/no_spoilers_pc_vs_ps4_controls/
@zip Haven't played PC version but it does control pretty wonky on PS4. It's not a really big issue, though — it's not an action game after all.
It’s a great series
@get2sammyb Just finished this for myself and I see what you mean. This was a quick little emotional goodbye and not much else, though I did really enjoy it. Good review as usual.
I like how Chloe's character evolved from seemingly "toxic/bad news old friend" to really one of the biggest victims, as everyone who loved her and led her to believe they'd always be there, unfairly left her, one way or another.
Kudos to the writing team for the way characters evolve and feel real, I felt the prequel and the bonus episode gave more weight, and gave a different perspective to the events of the first game.
Um... yeah, so I played this last night. I'd had a really bad day, so maybe it was thanks to my frame of mind, but I really didn't connect with it in the slightest.
It was nice for what it was, but a lot of little moments felt off and I noticed a few things that took me out of the experience. The frankly bizarre moment where Ashley Burch, incredible talent as she is, attempts to provide the voice of an eight-year-old Chloe was very odd, especially since it sounded like a child voice actor stepped in for eight-year-old Max (or Hannah Telle just did a nearly-impossible thing, especially since her usual Max voice sounds blandly stoned all the time). Also, if you're gonna feature a thirteen-year-old character in your game, please don't put her in hotpants shorter than Lara Croft's and then spend half the time giving us cutscene camera angles from the rear or waist down. It felt kinda creepy.
The story was overly cute and suffered from the common narrative problem of "anmesia padding" whereby a character, in this case Max, completely forgets everything about her own past (seconds after openly admitting she's spent half her life with Chloe and remembers it all fondly) and is totally wide-eyed in amazement at the things she discovers. When I was thirteen, I'm pretty sure I could remember who my best friends were and what we got up to when I was eight, but Max had to play dumb so that the audience would discover things along with her. It's tough to pull off, because it's unfortunately a necessary part of writing at times like these, but this was a bad example.
Life is Strange has provided some of the most incredible moments in recent gaming history. Before the Storm started strong, had a nigh-on perfect middle episode, but then ended with a whimper. I'm sorry to say that this bonus episode did nothing to elevate the experience for me, nor did it add anything to the previous Max-centric episodes, which were all wonderful. Disappointed.
Aw man that ending is absolutely heartbreaking </3
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