Life is Strange: Before the Storm Episode 1 Review

This video was recorded and edited directly on my Playstation 4 with SHAREfactory.

Foreword

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is an episodic story based game developed by Deck Nine and it's a prequel to the original Life is Strange which was created by Dontnod Entertainment. It’s similar in structure to the Telltale games and is essentially a choose your own adventure game. Although in my opinion the gameplay on offer is much better than what the Telltale Engine puts out. I don’t really feel comfortable offering a rating for individual episodes but I still want to share my thoughts. I really like these games and I’m hoping I can convince even just a few people to give them a chance. If VGChartz is to be trusted only 660,000 people worldwide bought the original Life Is Strange across all platforms. For a game as interesting and well executed as it was, that’s truly a shame.

I hadn’t paid any attention to the first Life is Strange game and probably never would have. It’s not the type of game I am drawn to typically. Being a fan of free things and easy trophies though I picked it up when it was a free game for Playstation Plus members. Imagine my surprise when I pretty much fell in love with it. It was just so different and so unique. It reminded me of TV shows like 13 Reasons Why and Riverdale. You know that angsty high school genre that also addresses some seriously heavy topics. The games start off slow but steadily build in intensity. The first game moved through so many raw topics including bullying, suicide, kidnapping, rape and murder. It was a real interesting and emotional story with a fantastic bunch of characters and felt almost like a playable Donnie Darko.

You Never Love Someone as Much as You Miss Them

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is actually set prior to the original game and instead of playing as the previous main character Max you play as her best friend Chloe Price. In the original Chloe was a complete wreck. Not only had her father passed away a couple years earlier but her stepdad’s a real prick her new best friend/ maybe love interest Rachel Amber has skipped town and Max her oldest friend in the world hasn’t talked to her for ages. Everyone she loved seemed to drop out of her life and it left a stain. She was a drop out that was always getting high and hanging around with a bad crowd.

In Before the Storm Chloe hasn’t hit her bottom yet. She’s still in school and her mom’s boyfriend hasn’t graduated from boyfriend to step-douche yet. It’s abundantly clear she misses her dad and Max a ton but she’s just not completely lost yet. In fact things start looking up in this first episode when she meets Rachel Amber. Yeah, that Rachel. The one she was pining over for the entirety of the first game and it’s easy to see why. Rachel is smart, beautiful and has charisma in spades. Anyone would swoon over her and Chloe sure does swoon. It’s heartbreaking knowing by the time the first game begins she’ll have already lost Rachel. At least I can find some solace in the fact Max will be there to stop her from falling away completely.

Opposites Attract

Rachel and Chloe seem like polar opposites. Chloe is a rebellious anti-authoritarian outsider and Rachel is popular, trendy, an actress in drama class and apparently a straight A student. You’d never know it from their first encounter though. The two of them first bump into each other at a underground concert in a shady old barn filled with bikers and drug dealers. Chloe is about to get the shit kicked out of her by some emasculated biker type when Rachel shows up and creates an opportunity for Chloe to get away. The biker douche is livid and starts to chase them down when Chloe’s dealer jumps between them and tells everyone to chill the fuck out. After that Rachel and Chloe party till the wee hours of the night.

The next day we meet Chloe’s mom and her boyfriend. He’s a real prick. Straight edge yes sir no sir ex-military type that’s wound way too tight. He definitely has no tact and no ability to communicate with a sixteen year old girl. Especially one that already hates him for what she sees as him trying to replace her father. After a rather intense argument he drops her off at school. She arrives to find gossip circulating about her night out with Rachel. It seems Rachel doesn’t have the same aversion to social media that Chloe does. Not exactly the social butterfly, Chloe feels awkward about the whole thing but she tries not to show it.

Two Peas in a Pod

After sticking up for another student who’s being bullied by some jock, Rachel finds Chloe. She’s flirty and charming and Chloe is eating it up. When Rachel suggests the two ditch the rest of the day Chloe can’t say no. They barely even know each other and by all accounts they are polar opposites but they have a magnetic attraction that is undeniable. Rachel takes Chloe to the tracks and convinces her to hop a train and go to a nearby wilderness park. They play some get to know you games along the way and begin to open up with each other. Something Chloe doesn’t usually do.

At the park Rachel suggests playing a game where they spy on people from a distance and then make up stories about what they are saying. Everything seems to be going great until they spot a couple making out under a tree. Suddenly Rachel begins to pull away. She’s anxious and she wants to get high or drunk, anything to take the edge off, and Chloe’s game. They steal a bottle of wine from some stranded tourists and head off back down the tracks. Eventually they come to an old junkyard where Chloe confronts Rachel about her attitude change. They get into a huge fight and Chloe tells Rachel she might have feelings for her. Rachel tells her she can’t and leaves.

The Flames of Rage

With Rachel gone, Chloe explodes into a rage and starts smashing anything and everything she can find in the junkyard. But something stops her in her tracks. It’s as if something smothers her soul. She drops the bat and slowly moves forward. She’s staring gobsmacked at an old smashed up car. But this isn’t just any car. This is the car her father died in. Grief and pain consume her as she falls to her knees in tears. Sometime later she wakes up in the backseat of her dad’s old car. She realizes it’s getting late and heads off to find Rachel. She finds Rachel standing under the tree where they saw the couple making out earlier.

Rachel apologizes to Chloe and she admits to having feelings for her as well and explains why she became so withdrawn. She tells Chloe the man under the tree was her father but the woman he was with, that wasn’t her mom. Having just caught her dad cheating she couldn’t control her emotions. Maybe the two of them have more in common than they initially thought. Rachel borrows Chloe’s lighter and decides to burn an old photo of her with her dad. A keepsake she’s held onto for years, now just a bitter reminder of her father’s transgression. As the photo burns away in a trash can Rachel let’s out a scream of rage and kicks over the garbage. The flames quickly spread and before long the tree is engulfed. Episode 1 ends as the townsfolk watch helplessly as a forest fire rages towards them.

Final Thoughts

Life is Strange is a special kind of video game. The story is so engrossing and the characters are so relatable. The whole package is so much better than the sum of its parts. As such I don’t feel justified in ranking a single episode and will defer until the whole story unfolds. For now all I can say is this episode has the same magical quality as the first game. As annoying as I found Chloe during the first game, her humanity is shining through in this outing. I actual feel for her and can see myself already starting to like her. But Rachel Amber is the standout. No wonder Chloe Price falls for her. Anyone who was a fan of the first game should definitely give this game a try and for anyone who’s been hesitant I hope you find the chance to try it out.

Bottom Line: Great Episode

Life is Strange: Before the Storm is Good. The characters are immediately captivating and their stories are raw and emotional. This is a perfect first chapter and can’t wait to see where Dotnod takes us next.

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