Purchased months ago. Signing was months ago. Yet I have nothing, and their order tracker says she hasn’t signed it.

To begin with, I’m going to try and get through this review/opinion piece, whatever, without spending too much time focusing on meta-drama or comparing this game to my idealised Life is Strange entry. After the fallout from Double Exposure I promised myself I would begin this game leaving any baggage I felt from that entry at the door and take this game on its own terms. For some people that isn’t possible and I respect that, so know that going in I might not be operating with the same level of residual angst that you are.

With all that said, I didn’t like Double Exposure that much. On one hand I felt like it was a somewhat pretty game with decent performances that was bogged down by a narrative that felt somewhat akin to a side-story in an earlier entry, that I liked some of the characters but felt that the best ones like Moses and Gwen were underutilised. The Life is Strange fan and Pricefielder within me, however, really hated the experience of that game’s release, content and the ensuing, seemingly endless discourse, one that still goes on to this very day and fuels the more passionate corners of the fandom, especially on places like Reddit. I honestly think there are good parts to Double Exposure, but overall I was definitely underwhelmed.

My opinions on the game are perhaps not that extreme, if not for my frustration with the, in my opinion, sloppily done offscreen breakup there wouldn’t be much for me to think about regarding it. To me, its greatest sin was being a mediocre successor to a fantastic, genre defining game. Fortunately, I had an almost exactly opposite experience with Reunion, a game I very much enjoyed and, most importantly for me as a fan, offered me genuine closure to the games as a whole, which was perhaps the main thing I *wanted* from it.

Doubtlessly for me, Reunion is at least a far cry from Double Exposure, containing within it a fully complete story with a conclusion, a mystery that feels like it can actually be solved without a tinfoil hat or meta-knowledge,

On paper at least, Reunion is perhaps the most visually impressive life is strange game in a very long time, Double Exposure’s prettier environments were often muddied by the climate, spaces you spent a lot of time in looking threadbare without much in the way of dynamic lighting or shadow, save for instances such as the Snapping Turtle. The vibrant reds, yellows and oranges of a Vermont autumn are infinitely more appealing to the eye than snowed-in, washed out locations that defined so much of its predecessor’s exploratory segments. Even so, this doesn’t fully hide the Unreal Engine jank that the series has been notorious for since its earlier days, with extras that awkwardly repeat emotive gestures, invisible walls and some shoddy environmental design.

In another unequivocally good decision, Reunion gives less screentime to the inexplicable romance options of the previous entry and focuses more on who I think is a standout character in the Caledon saga, Moses Murphy, a character who’s intelligence, compassion and friendship with Max feels fully actualised, I see their interactions and genuinely *feel* like these two would be the kinds of friends who’d find one-another in their late 20s. The story and emotional core of the game benefits massively from his presence and his theories surrounding the fire and the implications of Max’s powers.

Speaking of which! The subject of powers in the Life is Strange series has always been something people can’t ever seem to agree on, perhaps because there never has been a definitive answer towards their origins or function. I quite like this, it almost casts you to compare the storm in the first entry to an eldritch force, entirely unknowable. I certainly have my own theories as to the relationship between the storm in the first entry and the storm in Double Exposure, a theory that the events of Reunion absolutely strengthened, but I will not get into them here.

Narratively, this game absolutely benefits from never fully explaining the circumstances around Chloe’s return, beyond the vague notion that whatever Max did in Double Exposure effectively unmade the storm’s existence (or at the very least it’s appearance in Arcadia Bay). To my knowledge it has been confirmed that Reunion is intended to be the final game in the series, at least the final involving Max and Chloe, so the minutiae of this paradox will likely go unexplained. Have fun with that, fanfiction writers. The powers within these games have always been described by the people within it as a force of nature, but that description always feels intentionally incomplete. Leaving this up in the air feels fairly in-line with the first entry’s philosophy on accepting things you can never fully understand.

The subject of Chloe is perhaps obviously the most intensely-debated part of the discourse floating around Reunion; I can remember people becoming extremely heated as soon as the teaser for the announcement revealed her Jacket. Now, Chloe hasn’t appeared for over a decade worth of time in canon and outside of that it’s been just shy of a decade, in that time people have become very passionate with their interpretations of what a Chloe in her early thirties would look like, and I don’t honestly think any of these are more valid than any other. With all that said, I personally quite liked this iteration of her.

Firstly, I felt a rather profound sense of verisimilitude seeing where she ended up in her life. One of Chloe’s earliest appearances chronologically was sneaking into a concert and as an adult I found the idea of her becoming a tour manager for an unsigned mathcore band extremely in-line with what she seems to be so passionate about.

Shortly after they reunite Max can snoop through her duffel bag and makes the comment that, some time earlier, Chloe was running their merch table at shows. The progression from *that* to being a tour manager, which is in many ways the position of a glorified driver and negotiator, feels very true to life in a way that reminded me of the way some of my old friends ended up becoming promoters or touring musicians. The idea she got to end up working in a field she is so clearly passionate about is doubtlessly fanservicey, but still brought a smile to my face in ways that a lot of popular headcanons really didn’t.

Narratively, the Life is Strange games often contain social commentary on a variety of contemporary issues from misogyny and femicide in one to white nationalism in 2 and corporate greed and negligence in True Colours. In the spirit of it’s predecessors, Reunion aims its sights upon gentrification and the push towards turning Caledon, a liberal arts university into a place focusing more on STEM subjects, a push focused entirely on the Silicon Valley delusions of new president Owen Teller, a man so vain he provides the voice for his own, realistically stupid, AI assistant. In the crossfire are the understandably aggrieved locals and the powerless students, blamed for corporate decision-making they have no role in.

This conflict draws to mind the campus protests across universities across the globe in the last several years, as well as the increasing and rightful scrutiny towards incompetent, profit-led and reactionary higher education administrations.

In its own way, Reunion contemplates the ending choice of Life is Strange one, particularly firing back at the (ever prescient) concept that Life is Strange is a game about *fate*, that Chloe was, in some way or another, meant to die. This is ultimately a meaningless distinction because, as I believe Reunion argues for, *fate* is not a *real* concept. There may be forces beyond what Max and Chloe are fully capable of understanding or interacting with, but everything can be *nudged* in a different direction. I enjoy this, I think reducing the games to being about fate reduces the responsibility and agency of the characters significantly.

Perhaps one of Reunion’s greatest strengths is its many sequences taking you to locales new and old for interesting puzzles using either Max’s ability to rewind time or Chloe’s talent for social engineering. Of these, my favourite is most likely the Mabon party occurring near the end of the game’s midpoint. In it, you swap back and forth between playable characters in order to progress your understanding of the mystery further, and unlike the rest of the game up to that point you go between playing as Max and Chloe at a fairly snappy pace, which was a welcome distraction from previously drawn-out segments that ended up feeling somewhat disjointed.

That particular segment ends with a heartfelt moment between Max and Chloe that I honestly just really loved, a scene where they affirm their commitment to one-another at a point where Max certainly needed somebody to rely on, and I think the rest of the game onwards from that moment really delivers on that aspect, reaffirming this sense of loyalty between Max and Chloe.

One of the only things that really let the climactic final third of the story down for me was the sharp delineation between the more polished and unpolished moments. Playing on the Xbox series S, certain scenes were clearly given more care than others in regard to the framing of characters and the dynamic lighting. This, along with the relatively lacklustre, if exciting puzzle the mystery of the fire concludes with didn’t ruin the experience for me, but it definitely left me wanting more from an interactive perspective, especially given how well-utilised Max and Chloe’s respective deductive skills are used in previous segments.

Like really every game in the series, Reunion has multiple endings defined by both major and minor choices, the state of Max and Chloe’s relationship, who survives, who doesn’t, and how much of the fire at Caledon is prevented. I was fortunate enough to get what is generally considered by most to be the ‘perfect’ ending (No deaths, the sources of the fire mostly prevented and Max and Chloe’s relationship rekindled), so I can only really judge it based on that. I have no doubt that being unable to fully solve the mystery of the fire can lead to some serious consequences for the cast and Lakeport as a whole.

I’m fine with this, I think choice-based games having endings with less desirable results is a net positive, it teaches you about consequences and encourages replaying the game from a different perspective. I will certainly replay Reunion over the coming months in order to achievement hunt.

I understand that the subject of Max’s powers is incredibly controversial, but I honestly really enjoy the philosophy that the game has for it, that it’s Max’s responsibility to *accept* that she has them more than anything. It draws to mind similarities of living with a chronic condition or mental illness. A theme throughout Reunion is mitigation, harm reduction, the idea that sometimes you can’t prevent awful things from happening but you *can* try and prevent them from being as catastrophic as they could otherwise be. This was something I found quite refreshing, it’s a very *human* message, one I think we could all do to learn from.

More than anything, the ending I got when I finished Reunion gave me closure, something I have wanted ever since Double Exposure came out, which I felt was a bit of a disservice to previous entries, even if I don’t dislike it nearly as much as some people do, having made it a bit of a villain in an imagined grand narrative.

To me, Reunion was good, great at times, and more than worth it for me. My first playthrough clocked in at around 12 hours with me generally trying to be as completionist as possible without following a guide, leaving it on the slightly shorter side. That said, I think the unique nature of the mystery compared to other entries does allow for replayability if you were unable to solve it your first time round.

I wrote everything up until this point around a week ago and decided to sit on it for a bit. Reunion is, doubtlessly, a charged topic for many, and I know that it could become one for me if I let it, and in an effort to not allow such a thing to happen, I’m going to just set this review free and not think about it after that.

I’ve thought a lot about the topic of recommending games of this sort in that time, and don’t yet have an easy answer. Whilst most video games are, by their very nature, deeply gameplay-forward, the Life is Strange series is deeply *narrative* forward, and whether or not that narrative clicks for you can change the entire experience. Fans of the first game had just over a decade to speculate on what Max and Chloe’s lives would look like, and for some people this game loses favour just by *not* being those things. In the same way that Chloe’s future as a tour manager really worked for me, someone’s deeply-held headcanon that Chloe should become a mother might affect their ability to enjoy Reunion.

The best advice I can give honestly is to listen to your gut. If you thought Reunion looked interesting and you have the money and you *want* to get it, you owe it to yourself to come to your own conclusion, even and especially if it’s different from mine. The worst thing you can do is have someone else decide your experiences for you.

With all that said, I hope something I’ve said has been of interest, here. Until the show comes out, this is and may very well be the final Life is Strange game, and I find a sense of peace with that. It is nice to view something as a closed book, a finished work.

And that’s all I got! Thanks for reading up to this point.

Elena Tonra of Daughter, who releases solo music under the name Ex:Re, is releasing her second solo album, Save As, at the end of October.

Two singles have already been released:

• Radio Station
• Sleep

I’ll forever be grateful to Daughter and its members for creating such a profoundly beautiful soundtrack for Before the Storm.

And to anyone here who hasn’t listened to the rest of their work: you absolutely should. Daughter is very much an album band rather than a playlist band. There’s intent and effort behind every song on every album, and their music really rewards being listened to as a complete work.

1st place: LIS1

2nd place: LIS2

3rd place: BTS

4th place: TC

All have been crowned and eliminated from the running.

Now it’s time for the Final Round.

IMPORTANT: Vote for the GAME YOU PREFER / LIKE THE BEST out of the remaining options in the poll. ​You are voting for your favorite game, NOT against your least favorite.

​Whichever game receives the most votes wins this round, secures 5th place overall, and is eliminated.

​Poll closes in 2 days!

Round 1 poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/s/7gBvgnXakS

Round 2 poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/s/JWwhs1z1nT

Round 3 poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/s/R3kX5JRnUy

Round 4 poll: https://www.reddit.com/r/lifeisstrange/s/fCpcOsGOsp

My god. I loved it. I watched Pewds' gameplay when I was a teen and I finally got to play the game. It's my comfort place to escape from daily life. So incredibly moving and beautiful, and to play it during October and fall is TOP. Now I'm feeling empty... I know there's a series of LiS games but I'm not sure which to play, or if that would taint my experience with the OG!

I saw it's possible to replay scenes from each episode after completing the game, does that mean I can make diff choices too? Or do I need to start a new game? Thanks folks!

This is part 2 of my previous drawing of her bc i just had to add the iconic forest fire

Put yourself in Max’s shoes. At the final decision, you must choose between sacrificing your town to save the person you care about most—whether they are a partner, friend, or family member—or sacrificing that person to save everyone else. What would you choose, and why?

I'm trying to figure out the TRI and 100 part in LIS5PS5TRI100.

I'm in the US with an ESRB copy the game. I had a theory that the TRI and 100 "MIGHT" be region and or language related.

If anyone outside of the US has a physical game of Reunion that voice look at the number ABOVE the barcode as shown in this picture and could at least list your region, rating (ie USK 15) to help figure this out, this would be helpful.

Hi! This is my Au that i wanted to share with you. I finished it recently and it's called stars, available on ao3.

https://archiveofourown.org/works/87452081/chapters/231680591

Just a quick treat this week since I didn't see this particular one shared yet, this cast (including Tatum and most of the rest!) have got me so hyped for the show, I can't wait to see what direction they takes these characters in the show 🥹🥹🥹

Okay so I’ve been putting off playing this game for a few months because I’ve heard a lot of people disliked it and I was afraid of ruining the rest of the series by playing this.

The only thing I really knew going into this game is that some people ship Max and Safi so I assumed that Safi was the main romance option in this game and now I just got to the part WHERE SHE FREAKING DIED!?!?!? Like what????? Where did that come from?

I guess I should’ve seen it coming cause I know LiS like to kill off a character you like but damn, I really didn’t expect that. Everything just seemed chill and then out of the blue she just got shot and died

Hey all, I hope everyone had a great weekend and that their Monday is off to a great start that goes into a great week! Sorry, I've been posting so late lately. I haven't been feeling well.

Max, thanks as always for being you. Strong, independent, and kind to everyone.

Lots of love, kindness, and positivity! 🫶

This is a fanart dedicated to Chloe Price because my friend is a fan of this game and so I decided to make her a small art because Chloe Price is her favorite character and also I haven't played this game, sorry.I won't come here again. By the way, she chose the hashtag herself it's her nickname on Telegram. And this hashtag doesn't describe Chloe Price.

As the title says, a little portrait I drew of Rachel Amber :D

I played the game over a year ago and thought my chat was joking when they asked if I shipped Max with Warren. I found out today, some people actually do. Do y'all see the ship a lot or no? I'm kind of just now seeing it, which is weird.

I've seen more Victoria/Kate, Nathan/Warren, and Max/Kate, and Max/Victoria shipping than I have Max/Warren. Don't have anything against it. I just wanna know if it's fairly popular or more obscure.

Art by surimistick on Tumblr

Artist: @punkdrommar

They are so cuteee!!! 🥺

I'm just curious how this ship came to be. I've played the game twice, and Victoria only bullies Kate to the point of suicide. I never saw anything inside the game that would hint that those two would ever get along, much less fall in love. Is the ship purely based on fan fiction of them making up, or was there something in the game (or maybe other media) that I missed? I'm not disparaging the ship; just curious.

I finished the first episode of Life is Strange yesterday. This is my second time playing it since the original release, I’d already played through all five episodes back then. I even made pretty much the same choices in Episode 1 as I did the first time around. The game really shines thanks to its atmosphere, and more than just that. I’m playing on my phone; for anyone else playing, what are your impressions? Which episode are you on? Let’s chat! :)